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Oerlikon makes advanced fibres & yarns for textile in cars

07 May '15

2 min read

The Swiss Oerlikon Group has made high-performance and intelligent fibres, yarns, and compound materials for use in cars, that offer better comfort, safety, acoustic and fuel-saving functions for light-weight construction.

Oerlikon Barmag, the leader in manufacture of spinning and texturing systems for man-made fibre, has made yarns for safety belts in cars. The lint-free PET yarn offer high tenacity, with titers around 1500 denier perfect for safety belts. The special SFL (Single Filament Layer) technology guarantees an extremely gentle yarn path with even heating and drawing of the individual filaments using five pairs of heated godets.

The company has also made finer airbag yarns made from polyamide or polyester. The production of these yarns is also cost-effective, as up to 12, in specific cases also up to 16, polyester filaments can be manufactured on the machine using special spin packs. Here, the technology excels not just in terms of its high productivity and low energy consumption, but also with regards to its precision. Threads used for airbags have particularly fine filaments as a result of the special fabric construction and are therefore more sensitive to friction, the company said in a statement.

Oerlikon Barmag also produces machines for HMLS (high-modulus low-shrinkage) yarns. These preliminary polyester products are primarily deployed for manufacturing tire cord. They are extremely tear-resistant, while nevertheless remaining highly elastic and stable in terms of their dimensions and temperature. This is important to ensure the tire also retains its shape when it is insufficiently inflated and heats up more due to the corresponding increased friction on road surfaces.

HMLS or HT (high-tenacity) yarns with higher tenacities and medium shrinkage are also used for fan belts and hoses. The HT concept is also deployed for the manufacture of yarns with low shrinkage values (up to 4 percent) for vehicle tarpaulins, with values of as little as 1.5 percent achievable with the X-SLS (super-low shrinkage) concept.

Oerlikon Barmag has also made automobile POY yarn solutions that enable textile yarns to be dyed during the manufacturing process. The spun-dyed POY is further processed into air-textured yarn and used in seat upholstery, roof linings and door claddings. (GK)

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India