New technologies will slash raw material costs and allow faster, more efficient and highly flexible processing in the coated fabrics industry, according to a new report published by Textiles Intelligence.

The report, "Coated Industrial Textiles: Coating Technologies and Profiles of Three Specialist Producers", examines the history and growth of the coated fabrics industry and looks at how three European companies -- Contitech, Gamma and Sioen Industries -- have successfully resisted the threat of competition from lower cost countries through specialisation in this field.

"Coated fabrics are employed in a wide variety of applications, ranging from protective clothing to architectural materials," explains the report’s author Wilson Adams, a UK-based specialist in the international textile and apparel industry. "Established technologies involve the application of elastomers and silicones, polyurethane (PU), and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) to textiles using processes such as direct, transfer online and extrusion coating, as well as calendering. But now we are seeing the emergence of three new technologies in particular, which will have a profound impact on the sector."

One of these technologies is plasma coating -- a fast, flexible and versatile surface engineering process for adding functionality to textiles using either non-polymerisable gases or graft polymerisation employing monomers. Plasma coating has minimal impact on the environment, and enables the noxious chemicals which are employed in other conventional surface treatments and coating and laminating processes to be avoided.

Continuing research into nanomaterials, a second technology, has already led to advancements in fabric coating technologies for antiviral and biocidal properties. Permanent fabric treatments based on metallic nanoparticles which give textiles these properties, as well as making them more resistant to water, stains and wrinkles, are already commercially available. Other recent nanocoated materials are able to kill almost all known influenza viruses.

A third -- and potentially the most game-changing emerging technology -- is that of inkjet deposition. Inkjet deposition is being seen increasingly as more than just a printing technique. Its important benefits in an industrial environment will be greatly influential in simplifying manufacturing processes, increasing productivity, reducing operating costs, making mass customisation possible, achieving design flexibility and creating miniature devices.

As part of the Euro12.7 mn (US$18.61 mn) Digitex project, for example, researchers are attempting to find ways of using inkjet printheads to disperse coatings at line speeds of up to 20 metres per minute with drop sizes of between four and 120 picolitres.

"The procedure on which they are working involves three dimensional (3D) drop positioning in order to achieve a precise and tailored depth of deposition into a given substrate," explained Mr Adams. "The focus is on understanding the behaviour of drops in a substrate, and a key research task is to model this behaviour.

"The ability to predict the behaviour of chemicals at such a level could lead to huge benefits in terms of cost savings because manufacturers would be able to pinpoint precisely the right amount of a certain chemical substance required to achieve a desired effect."

Inkjet deposition would also have tremendous ecological benefits too, according to the report. Being in complete control down to the picolitre level would enable a process to be automated and thereby minimise wastage of chemicals and materials.