Specialty Fabrics Review November 2021 - 44

[ MARKETS ] ADVANCED TEXTILES
the failure was lack of adequate weatherization
of the natural gas pipelines.
Commonly used housing
Energy is the heart of
manufacturing; process
optimization, machinery
maintenance and regular
energy audits are,
therefore, essential.
infrastructure products play a vital
role in conserving energy and are
indeed industrial textile products.
Home furnishing items, such as
window blinds and draperies, or
coated textiles in PVC finished
products find applications in many
ready-to-build structures. Temporary
shelters used as COVID-19 testing
centers and vaccination sites were
erected quickly and efficiently to deal
with specific crises, without requiring
the material and energy resources of
a permanent structure.
There are many less obvious, but
equally useful, products worth noting.
The HVAC filters used in homes filter
dust in the ventilation and humidity
control pipes, thereby reducing
the energy load and increasing the
efficiency of heating and cooling
units. Normally these pleated filters
are made using bonded staple fiber
nonwoven webs. Floor mats and
carpets not only provide aesthetic
value, but more importantly serve as
insulating materials.
It is estimated that there are about
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40 different textile-based items in an
automobile. High-loft nonwovens
are used as heating, ventilation
and acoustic insulators. Air filters
and engine filters are necessary
components to keep an automobile
running. Automobile manufacturers
are looking into utilizing recycled
materials to replace metal components
wherever possible to reduce the
overall weight of an automobile.
Other industrial textile materials in
an automobile-headliners, trunk
liners and insulators, for example-
help to reduce fuel consumption.
Textile substrates and composites
are used in energy harvesting, as
44 SPECIALTY FABRICS REVIEW / November 2021
well. Windmill blades are relatively
lightweight composites, made strong
by using carbon fiber and other hightech
fibers for strength. Lithium-ion
batteries use fiber-based separators
to separate the anode and cathode
electrodes. Cellulose-based wet-laid
materials are common separators, in
addition to those made from natural
and synthetic fibers.
Hollingsworth & Vose, a global
supplier of advanced textile materials,
has been a pioneer in developing
battery separators, building on
its years of experience in the
development of wet-laid nonwovens.
LIELSORT®
, a product from Japanese
producer Teijin Ltd., utilizes
microporous polyethylene to develop
the separators. But with recent supply
chain interruptions, one can expect
developed economies to invest heavily
in these advanced products to reduce
dependency on producers in other
countries for the materials.
A way forward
The Biden administration has a plan
to invest about $1.2 trillion over eight
years to rebuild infrastructure in the
U.S. This will offer an opportunity
for using advanced and sustainable
materials in building energy-efficient
structures. Particular attention is being
paid to climate change in this initiative,
which necessitates reduced greenhouse
gas emissions throughout the process.
Geosynthetics, insulation products
and soft composites will be amply
utilized in future construction
projects, spurring more research
and development. This suggests that
manufacturers of advanced textile
products can undoubtedly anticipate
growth in the near future.
Seshadri Ramkumar, Ph.D., is a professor in the
Nonwovens & Advanced Materials Laboratory,
Texas Tech University, Lubbock.
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Specialty Fabrics Review November 2021

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