International technology group Andritz will present its innovative nonwovens production and textile solutions at Techtextil in Frankfurt, Germany, from June 21 to 24 in hall 12, booth B99. For Techtextil, the company’s special focus will be on technologies for textile recycling, needlepunch, airlay, wetlaid glass fibers and textile calendering.

The broad Andritz product portfolio covers state-of-the-art nonwovens and textile production technologies, such as air-through bonding, airlay, needlepunch, spunlace, spunbond, wetlaid/wetlace, converting, textile finishing, recycling, and natural fibre processing. The use of nonwovens in the automotive sector has increased dramatically in recent years. Based on decades of experience, Andritz develops cost-efficient and reliable turnkey needlepunch and airlay lines, the company said in a press release.

With the acquisition of Andritz Laroche SAS, Andritz has expanded its product portfolio to include airlay and recycling technology as well as bast fiber processing technologies. Complete recycling lines for post-consumer and industrial textile waste to produce fibres for re-spinning and/or nonwoven end-uses are one focus of this product range. Customer awareness and regulations are forcing clothing brands to recycle their textile waste in their own products. Recycled fibres can also be used in the nonwovens industry for various applications, for example in the automotive industry, for insulation, mattresses, and furniture felts. Andritz Laroche offers a complete process range of tearing lines from 50 up to 3,000 kg/h, which can be used for almost all types of pre/post-consumer textile waste.

The aim is to preserve the character of the original fibres, for example cotton, by maximising fibre length, strength and feel. The EXEL and JUMBO EXEL tearing machines from Andritz are user-friendly and equipped with tailor-made automated solutions to remove the non-textile parts from post-consumer waste and unsold items. The EXEL tearing machine has a production capacity of 400 to 800 kg/h depending on the raw material for spinning quality. The JUMBO EXEL tearing machine has a high production capacity of 600 to 1,200 kg/h depending on the raw material for spinning quality. This technology enables complex industrial waste to be processed into fibres such as trunk liners, door trims, floor and dash pads, and various needlepunched felts. A team of experts assists Andritz customers in conducting customer-specific trials at the state-of-the-art technical center of Andritz Laroche, in Cours, France.

Another focus will be the ProWin technology for profile weight correction in the needlepunch industry. This device is used to optimize processes, provide a faster return on investment, and save raw materials. The unit combines the well-known systems ProWid and ProDyn, enabling even better performance. ProWin minimizes the level of instantaneous acceleration as well as the maximum internal speed. As a result, the same machine can run faster with less mechanical stress. Andritz will also be presenting its ProWin technology at the VDMA spotlight talk, to be held on June 21 at the VDMA booth and which will also be live-streamed.

Moreover, the airlay technology also plays a major role in durable nonwovens, such as in the automotive industry, building insulation, carpet underfelt, the mattress industry, and furniture applications. This process includes blending, metering, opening, the airlay process and finally, mat consolidation, by needling, thermobonding, a combination of both, or by spunlacing. Andritz offers three different types of airlay: Airlay Flexiloft, Airlay Flexiloft+, and Airlay Resinfelt.

Andritz Airlay Flexiloft and Airlay Flexiloft+ have been designed to form mats from all types of fibres, from short, recycled fibres to long and coarse natural fibres, and from blends with non-fibrous components, such as plastic, foam, wood chips, and many more. Used fibres and blends within different weight ranges can be processed on these lines, depending on the line configuration. Line widths range from 1.5 m up to 4 m. Airlay Resinfelt has been designed for thermoforming processes in the automotive and appliance industries. Manufacturers can offer weight ranges from 500 to 2,500 gsm over 2.4 m working width. Airlay Resinfelt retains the advantages of true air-forming technology and is especially designed to add resins to the mat, which is then semi-cured in a steam oven.

Customers can conduct trials together with experts and compare the different options available in the technical centre for needlepunch processes at Andritz Asselin-Thibeau in Elbeuf, France, and/or on the airlay pilot line at Andritz Laroche in Cours, France.