Versatile in use: polyester specialties for technical applications

March 2011

At this year’s Techtextil international trade fair in Frankfurt fibre manufacturer Trevira is presenting its extensive range of fibres and filament yarns for use in technical textiles. These include polyester and PLA fibres for nonwoven applications, flame retardant and antimicrobial fibres and yarns, standard and microfilament yarns, together with spun-dyed yarns for technical purposes.
Together with fibres made from Ingeo^TM Biopolymer (PLA), introduced in 2010, the focus is on further development and on the search for new end uses for hybrid yarns for bonding textiles, as well as for other special products of the company.

Hybrid yarns for bonding technical textiles 

One current issue is bicomponent yarns, which feature the special properties to open up possibilities of versatile end uses in technical fields. Trevira NSK (low melt component) is a modified polyester that is used to create hybrid yarns in combination with standard polyester, or also with flame retardant yarns.

Stiffening of textile fabrics by hybrid yarns with low-melt component.
(Photo ©: Trevira)

The low melt component causes a stiffening of the material, and in the process the proportion of the NSK element in the fabric controls the degree of stiffness. At the finishing stage this component causes the textile fabric to stiffen. It is not only possible to dye and print on the product, but also to pleat or crush it, while it can practically be shaped at will according to the desired aim.

Alongside the design, the technical possibilities and the textile look, there are important economic and ecological reasons for the use of hybrid yarns.
The textile material can be finished in a rational and energy-saving manner. The partial plasticization that occurs in the finishing stage can render a coating superfluous (e.g. acrylate). Products made of these yarns constitute a single-material substitute for technical textiles, since they enable end products in 100 % polyester that can be recycled without difficulty.

Examples of end uses are certain special applications, for instance as a stiffening agent in combination materials for the automotive industry, snowboards, windmill vanes, filtration engineering, refrigerator counters and storage space covers. Many further applications are feasible.

Where Trevira CS comes in as the second component, the resultant hybrid yarn is permanently flame retardant and makes it therefore, suitable for the contract sector. Until now such special flame retardant yarns have largely figured in interior sun protection applications (sliding panels, roller and vertical blinds), as well as in room dividers and wall coverings. With the stiffening the article gains in stability and hangs better in flat panels than conventional materials.
Further end uses for flame retardant materials include soundproofing textiles and textile air conditioning systems (textile hoses).

In addition, Trevira offers bicomponent staple fibres for thermal bonding, e.g. for insulation and filtration materials, in the automotive sector, but also for hygiene textiles and construction materials. The range comprises the most varied raw material combinations of core-sheath systems: PET/PE, PET/Co-PET and PET/PBT. There are also plans for a PLA/PLA bicofibre that is currently at the development stage.

Internal sunscreening in Trevira CS/Trevira NSK hybrid yarns. (Photo ©: MHZ)

Fibres and yarns for special applications

With staple fibres the focus is on customized product developments that are specific to the customer, a business model which is to be expanded in the future. Standard elements in the delivery programme are short-cut fibres for airlaid and wetlaid applications, for instance in hygiene products or the paper industry and they are used in both homopolymer types and bicofibres. Flame retardant fibres are also increasingly to be found in nonwoven products.

Within the large range of products for technical applications the highlight with filaments is on flame retardant yarns for the construction of exhibition stands and print base materials (Trevira CS), on antimicrobial yarns for use in medicine and hygiene textiles and on textured filament yarns as a basis for transdermal patches and bandages.

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