Engineering Textiles

Integrating the Design and Manufacture of Textile Products

Y El Mogahzy

• Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9781845695415
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Materials Science
• Index: Technology & Engineering

The need for manufacturers to make new products, diversify existing products and remain globally competitive is increasing. Engineering textiles: integrating the design and manufacture of textile products covers many aspects of product development and design conceptualization for both technical and traditional textiles. It also discusses several approaches to the fiber-to-fabric engineering of various textile products.Part one discusses fiber-to-fabric engineering in the context of product development and design of fiber-based products. Part two discusses the different types of fibers, yarns and fabrics suitable for the production of traditional and function-focused textiles. Chapters include key topics such as structure, characteristics and the design of textiles. Part three concludes with a discussion of the development of specific fibre applications, ranging from traditional textile products through to technical textiles such as transport and medical applications.Written by a highly distinguished author, this book is a pioneering guide to textile product design and development for a broad spectrum of readers, ranging from engineers in all fields, including textiles, material, mechanical, electrical, civil, chemical, polymer and fiber engineers. It is also suitable for textile technologists, fiber scientists and for those involved in research and development of both traditional and new-generation textile products.

• Reviews aspects of product development and design conceptualisation for both technical and traditional textiles
• Analyses material selection including structure and characteristics of various fibres
• Examines the development of fibrous products for transportation, medical and protection applications

Part I

Concepts of fabric engineering, product development and design

1

Introduction: textile fiber-to-fabric engineering

Abstract

What began as a craft and art industry is now a major industrial empire which has an impact on all aspects of life and provides a wide range of products from fashionable clothing to high tech fibrous systems. This chapter provides a brief overview of the evolution of the textile and fiber industry. In particular, the chapter discusses the turning point in the 1990s, which led to a historical transition from a manufacturing focused, to a development focused industry. This significant transition made a ‘fiber-to-fabric engineering’ approach, which is the theme of this book, inevitable to meet the new challenges facing the industry. Fiber-to-fabric engineering is the science and art of optimizing the utilization of fibers (natural or synthetic, conventional or high-performance) in various applications (traditional or function-focus and existing or potential) using solid engineering concepts so that their ultimate benefits can be realized by all mankind. Its basic elements are discussed throughout the 15 chapters of this book.

Key words

commodity products

traditional fibrous products

function-focus fibrous products

fiber-to-fabric engineering

1.1 The textile and fiber industry, past and present

The history of the textile industry reflects the evolution of the industrial world from the time of the ancient Egyptians until today. What began as a craft and art industry has continued to contribute to the welfare of human being over the years. Indeed, at just about every turning point that the industrial world encountered, the textile industry was there to spark it, create it or contribute heavily to it. This great industry sparked the industrial revolution in the late 18th and into the 19th centuries.¹ In the early 1700s, one manual loom required four spinners and ten persons to prepare yarn to keep up with its slow production rate; weavers had to remain idle for lack of yarn. In 1733, this dilemma reached its peak when John Kay, a Lancashire mechanic, invented the first flying shuttle, speeding up the weaving process and imposing more pressure on the spinners to keep up with the speed. It took about 40 years to solve this problem when James Hargreaves invented his spinning jenny and Richard Arkwright introduced his ‘water spinning frame’ in the 1770s. These machines were capable of producing multiple threads simultaneously and in quantities. The increase in spinning production imposed pressure on the speed of fiber production. This pressure was soon lifted by the invention of the cotton gin by the American Eli Whitney in 1793; it was an invention that not only sparked the industrial revolution but also forever changed consumer appetite from the traditional woolen clothing to cotton textiles. By the early 19th century, the cost of making cotton yarn had dropped dramatically and the labor cost of making fabric had fallen by at least 50%. Today, spinning speeds have reached over 400 m min⁻¹, fibers are rotating in air before consolidation at a rate reaching millions of revolutions per minute and yarns are inserted into the fabric via air and water since the shuttle loom was put to rest.

In the face of limited resources and constrained properties, the textile and fiber industry had a momentous vision for new fibers that has continued over the years, from mainly flax and wool in the 17th century, to cotton in the late 18th century and into the 19th century, to the first man-made fiber, rayon, before the end of 19th century. In the first half of the 20th century, a research team headed by Wallace Carothers of EI du Pont de Nemours & Company proved that a purely synthetic fiber can be made by chemical synthesis from readily available resources such as air, water, and coal or petroleum. By the 1930s, this team introduced nylon to the world, a fiber that has contributed to numerous products and never ceased to make a difference to human life. This marked the beginning of the synthetic fiber revolution with many synthetic fibers such as polyester, acrylic, polypropylene, and a host of regenerated man-made fibers being developed in the same century. Today, these fibers are used in many traditional fibrous products such as apparel, furnishing and household products. They are also integrated in many function-focus product categories such as speciality sports wear, agro-fiber products, geotextiles and medical products.

Realizing that the unique characteristics of fibers drive the developments of a wide range of fibrous products, the industry has developed high-performance fibers that can be used for high strength and high temperature applications.² These include: aramid fibers, gel-spun polyethylene fibers, carbon fibers, glass fibers, metallic fibers and ceramic fibers. These fibers can be consolidated into different types of fibrous assemblies so that not only are their original properties efficiently translated into the desired performance characteristics of the end product, but also they can be enhanced and perhaps modified to accommodate special needs and hightech applications. The industry developed different forms of yarn from continuous to spun yarns, flat to texturized, twisted to twistless, and plain to compound or fancy yarns. Numerous fabric types were developed within the three major categories of fabric, namely woven, knit and nonwoven. Many speciality fabrics were also developed including crepe woven, dobby, piqué, Jacquard, pile-woven, double-woven, braided and multiaxial-woven structures. Finally, when fibrous assemblies needed additional performance enhancement or modification of some form, the industry has always been ready to offer numerous types of chemical and mechanical finishing treatments or special coating and lamination.

1.2 The 1990s: a turning point in the textile and fiber industry

Despite the great contributions that the textile and fiber industry has made over the years, it has generally been perceived as a commodity industry that relies on massive manpower and conventional technology to manufacture products that are essential for human needs. This perception has been a direct result of the fact that the industry has primarily been manufacturing-focused. The term ‘manufacturing’ is commonly used to describe operations that utilize well-known, often systematic, approaches to make product components in a highly consistent manner. Accordingly, basic tasks performed in a manufacturing environment include:³

• performing systematic analysis of technological and cost factors required to produce product items

• selecting of appropriate raw materials required to meet the specifications of intended products at the lowest cost possible

• setting and adjusting machines so that product units can be produced according to the desired specifications and at the highest efficiency possible

• monitoring and testing intermediate and final products

• implementing quality control and statistical process control (SPC) techniques to detect quality problems and diagnose their causes and effects

These tasks have represented the primary activities of the textile industry for many years and thousands of companies around the world are still performing these tasks in their daily operations. Indeed, the internal structure of a conventional spinning or a weaving mill is basically the same worldwide; a general manager, an assistant manager, operations supervisors, maintenance personnel, testing...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright page
• Author contact details
• Woodhead Publishing in Textiles
• Dedication
• Preface
• Part I: Concepts of fabric engineering, product development and design
• Part II: Material selection
• Part III: Development and applications of fibrous products
• Index