Nonwoven Technical Textiles: Opportunities

1. Nonwoven Technical Textiles: Opportunities Utkarsh Sata, M. Mallyah* and Seshadri Ramkumar Nonwovens and Advanced Materials Laboratory The Institute of Environmental and Human Health Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX 79409-1163, USA E-mail: s.ramkumar@ttu.edu * Tecnitex Nonwovens, Ltd., Bangalore, India Presentation given at the FICCI Agrotextiles conference held on 1st Oct 2008

2. Global Economic Situation: Public Humiliation World Economy is at Crossroads Source: Public Humiliation by James Surowiecki, The New Yorker, September 24, 2008

3. American Economy Meltdown • US is the largest consumer of commodity goods. • Latest mortgage crisis and credit crunch is hitting the • pocket books of American consumer society. • Monies to spend on consumer good such as clothing • will decrease.

4. Implications of Global Economy and Indian Textile Industry • Import of commodity textiles in developed economies • hit by credit crisis will slow down. • Increase in the price of raw materials due to global • economic situation. • Indian textile industry should diversify.

5. Diversification into Non-commodity Textiles • Indian textile industry should go on a higher gear in • diversifying into unconventional textiles. • Even after 30 years of organized sector status, the • nonwoven and technical textile industry is growing • at a rate of 8 % in USA and Europe. • This sector is at infancy in India and offers tremendous • growth and opportunities until 2050.

6. Technical Textiles& Nonwovens

7. Technical Textiles are value-added textile products that provide added functionality and applications other than regular fiber-to-fashion supply chain products. These technical textiles encompass high performance fibers, yarns, woven, knitted, nonwoven, braided and composite structures. What are Technical Textiles ?

8. Are Nonwovens Technical Textiles? • Most of the nonwovens are technical textiles as they have not yet penetrated into the apparel sector. • Nonwovens are predominantly disposable and semi durable goods. • All nonwovens are technical textiles but all technical textiles are not nonwovens

9. What are Nonwovens? • As the name indicates nonwovens are not woven fabrics. • Cost effective process as it skips intermediary processes such as spinning, weave preparation and weaving. Fiber Fabric without weaving • High speed and productivity compared to conventional/woven processes.

10. General Definition of Nonwoven Fabrics Nonwoven fabrics are flat structures mainly defined as sheets or webs made by bonding and entangling fibers or filaments by mechanical, thermal or chemical means. - Mahmud and Ramkumar, Man-Made Textiles in India, September 2001

11. Major Nonwoven Technologies • Needlepunching • Thermalbonding • Airlaid • Spunbonding • Meltblowing • Spunlacing/hydroentanglement

12. Nonwoven Technologies Spunbond – Synthetic Meltblown – Synthetic Needlepunching – Versatile (natural and synthetic) Hydroentangling – Versatile (natural and synthetic)

13. Typical Applications of Nonwovens • Technical applications • Hospital fabrics • Surgical gowns • Face masks • Geo textiles • Consumer and industrial wipes • Upholstery paddings • Military decontamination wipes • Inner liners of protective fabrics • Automotive headliners • Automotive trunkliners • Acoustic and thermal insulation materials

14. Technology and End-use Applications • Spunbonding – surgical gowns, diaper cover stocks • Meltbowning – barriers, filters and face masks • Needlepunching – Geotextiles, automotive fabrics • Thermalbonding – upholstering, cussion pads • Hydroentangling – wipes

15. Needlepunching Technology Nonwoven Laboratory at Texas Tech University

16. Contoured Needleboard Technology Width: 1.2 mts.

17. Contoured Needle Zone

18. Nonwoven Line Hopper Feeder Opening – fine beating and tuft reduction Double Cylinder Card Web forming – removal of tufts; parallel orientation Cross Lapper Web formation - high loft, layered webs H1 Needle Loom Web consolidation – Interlocking of fibers

19. Meltblown Process

20. Spunbonding Process

21. Major Machinery Makers Spunbond/Meltblow – Reifenhauser, Germany Hydroentangling – Fleissner, Germany. Reiter Perfoject, Switzerland Needlepunching – Dilo, Germany Saurer, Switzerland. Fehrer nonwoven operations have been acquired recently by Saurer group NSC (Asselin + Thibeu), France

22. Global Nonwovens Outlook

23. Worldwide Production By Region(millions of tonnes) 10 8.41 R. Of World 9 Mid. East South America 8 0.4 5.75 7 Asia Pacific 6 3.2 0.3 5 2.69 2.0 4 0.2 Europe - 27 1.2 2.3 3 0.1 1.7 0.8 2 1.3 0.8 NAFTA 1 1.8 1.5 1.2 0.9 0 1997 2002 2007 2012 Source: INDA Estimates, Ian Butler, INTC-2008

24. Nonwoven Growth By Region(%, based upon tonnes) Source: INDA Estimates, Ian Butler, INTC-2008

25. 2007 Nonwoven Production(000, tonnes) Regions • Europe (27) 1,659 • Asia-Pacific * 2,047 • NAFTA 1,491 • South America** 254 • Mid. East 174 • R. of World 126 * Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea,Taiwan,Thailand ** Top 6: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela Selected Countries • Mexico 126 • Brazil 135 • Mexico 130 • Taiwan 160 • Korea 213 • Turkey 93 • Japan 338 • S. Africa 26 • Saudi Arabia 52 • Australia 62 Source: INDA Estimates, Ian Butler, INTC-2008

26. Emerging Markets Early Development Markets Developed Markets High export volumes Nonwoven Consumption Per Capita(kilograms) Source: INDA Estimates, Ian Butler, INTC-2008

27. Taiwan Europe NAFTA Japan Korea Turkey Czech Rep. China now Brazil India now India, 2012 Nonwoven Consumption Rises as GDP Per Capita Increases * Kg/Capita Trend line * PPP in US$ equivalents Source: INDA Estimates, Ian Butler, INTC-2008

28. Worldwide Consumption of Technical Textiles (000 tonnes) Source: David Rigby Associates

29. Worldwide Consumption of Technical Textiles (000 tonnes) Source: David Rigby Associates

30. Growth Prediction of Technical Textiles in India

31. Consumption Of Nonwovens/TT in India Vs. GDP Per Capita (Assuming An Increase Of 13.27% In Per Capita Every Year) GDP per capita source: World Bank

32. Consumption Of Nonwovens/TT in USA vs. GDP Per Capita(Assuming An Increase Of 4.6% In Per Capita Every Year) GDP per capita source: World Bank

33. India vs. USA Per Capita Nonwoven/TT Consumption (2005-2050) GDP per capita source: World Bank

34. India’s Per Capita Consumption vs. Income Levels (2005-2050) GDP per capita source: World Bank

35. Agrotextiles(Few Examples)

36. What are Agrotextiles ? Agricultural Textiles are used for Increasing yield, quality and safeguarding agricultural products. Agrotextiles are basically technical textiles that have specialty applications in agriculture, horticulture, aquaculture, animal husbandry & forestry. Agricultural Textiles find applications right from sowing to harvesting. They offer new insight on solving the problems faced by agricultural industry. Various technical textiles such as woven, nonwoven, knitted, nets and coated textiles are used as agrotextiles.

37. Applications of Agrotextiles Sunscreening (shade cloth) Frost Covering Harvesting Wind protection Landscape covering Bird protection Insect protection Turf protection Irrigation Drainage Aquaculture Insulation Horticulture Animal Husbandary

38. Agro Shade Cloths Shade cloth/Shade Netting These are sunscreens and provide necessary protection to the plants against: Excessive heat, Burning of the crops due to direct sunshine and UV damage. Source: www.karatzis.gr/products/agricultural/04s.jpg • Range of shade percentages are: • 25%, 35%, 50%, 75% and 90% Examples: Knitted or woven polyethylene fabrics. Should not rot or become brittle & should avoid mildew formation

39. Frost Covering Adverse Effects of Frost Frost can kill the seeds and adversely affect the ariel portion of the plant. Frost makes the plant loose its moisture and dry out. Frost Covering Minimizes moisture and heat loss. Keeps the plant warm and healthy. Nonwoven fabrics are preferred for Frost Covers: Lightweight, breathable and those which dry quickly are used. These fabrics should provide open spaces for crop treatments. Source: http://www.anti-frost.com/ Examples: Nonwoven spunbonded mesh fabric and nonwoven UV resistant polypropylene fleece. Source: http://www.anti-frost.com/

40. Harvesting Aides Harvesting nets are used to collect the fruits falling from a tree. This helps to keep the cost of cultivation low by eliminating additional labor associated with harvesting. Harvesting nets are predominantly grip structures which can be developed using warp knitting technology. Source: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3169/2638810726_a4ceefdcc6.jpg?v=0 Source: http://lh3.ggpht.com

41. Windshields • Windshields are used to protect the crops from high velocity wind damage. • These can also be used to control the temperature by hindering cooling due to the wind. • These are installed perpendicular to the direction of the wind to reduce the wind speed. These Prevent: Breaking of branches, Early falling of the fruits and Damage to the leaves and flowers. Source: http://www.arrigoni.it Examples: Woven and knitted UV stabilized windshields using high density polyethylene monofilaments. Source: http://www.karatzis.gr

42. Landscape Covers • These are used for weed control and prevent penetration of thin roots of weeds. • In addition they also maintain optimal soil temperatures for rapid plant growth. Source: http://www.terramdirect.com Examples: Biodegradable needlepunched nonwovens and coated fabrics

43. Spunbonds with Phase Change Materials Agrotextiles in Experimental Strawberry Rows Spunbond PP Row Cover Fabric Source: Wadsworth L. C. et al. Nonwoven & Technical Textiles, Oct-Dec 2007

44. Pesticide Protective Clothing

45. Pesticide Protective Materials Three layered Chemical Protective Fabric: Patent Pending

46. Conclusions • It is extremely important for the Indian textile industry to diversify into durable technical textiles and disposable nonwovens. • Technical textiles should at least contribute 15 -20 % of the total textile sector by 2015-2020. • Our growth prediction is that the industry should grow in double digits around 13 %.