Textile Progress

ISSN: 0040-5167 (Print) 1754-2278 (Online) Journal homepage: www.tandfonline.com/journals/ttpr20

Advanced technical textile products

Tatsuki Matsuo

To cite this article: Tatsuki Matsuo (2008) Advanced technical textile products, Textile Progress,
40:3, 123-181, DOI: 10.1080/00405160802386063
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Textile Progress
Vol. 40, No. 3, 2008, 123–181

Advanced technical textile products

Tatsuki Matsuo∗

SCI-TEX, 12-15 Hanazono-cho, Ohtsu, 520-022, Japan

(Received 5 August 2008; final version received 1 September 2008)

This article is situated to be successive to “Fibre materials for advanced technical

textiles” in the series of “Advanced technical textiles” of Textile Progress. In the previous
article, fiber materials used for advanced technical textiles are introduced. In this article,
advanced technical textiles products are described according to the application fields
of the fiber materials. Although this article does not cover all the end-uses, it contains
major parts of advanced technical textile products, which include products for resources
and environmental issues, for automobiles, for medical uses, for protective uses, for
information technologies, for civil engineering and for electronics textiles.
Keywords: advanced technical textile products, resources and environmental issue,
automobiles, medical uses, protection uses, information technologies, civil engineering,
electronic textiles

1. Introduction
1.1 The content and objectives of this book in terms of advanced technical textiles
series
In the former article in this advanced technical textile series, fiber materials for advanced
technical textiles [1] have been published. In this article, advanced technical textile prod-
ucts, which are the application products of these fiber materials are introduced from the
technological point of view. The application fields in this article are classified as (1) re-
sources and environmental matters, (2) automobile, (3) medical and hygienic, (4) protection
and safety, (5) electric and information technologies, (6) construction and civil engineering,
and (7) E-textiles.
There are some application fields of advanced technical textiles to be added to the
above (1) to (7) items, such as sports, agriculture/sericulture, marine/fishery, packaging,
and textiles for production machines and systems. But they are not included in this article
to save the pages under the volume restriction. Although electronic textiles are still at an
infancy stage, they have now become one of the exciting application fields as to be treated
in an independent chapter.
Objectives in the concept for writing this article are as follows:

(a) to provide a wide view and systematic/comprehensive source of knowledge on advanced

technical textile products to young professionals and graduate students,
(b) to give them an understanding of how important advanced technical textile products
are meant for our welfare and for the other fields of industries as key materials, and

∗
Email: [email protected]

ISSN 0040-5167 print/ISSN 1754-2278 online

c 2008 The Textile Institute
DOI: 10.1080/00405160802386063
http://www.informaworld.com
124 T. Matsuo

(c) to give them a feeling of how large the potential of advanced technical textile products
is in its technological advancement.

The topics in the article must cover quite a wide range to cope with the above objectives
within the volume restriction. Therefore, all the description must be compact. Hence, the
readers may often want to know more in detail. In addition, many cited references in this
article are written only in Japanese. In order to avoid this difficulty to some extent, a few
important books related to technical textiles written in English are especially listed at the
end of the “references” part.

1.2 Advanced technical textiles and their structural features

In this article, the term technical textiles is used as “textiles for nonapparel, nonhouse-
hold/furnishing end uses, whose values are highly based on their technical performance and
functional properties.” The term advanced technical textiles in this article means “technical
textiles that have some technological advancement in the material and/or the application.”
Generally, the reason why textile products are selectively used for a certain specified
end use instead of other kinds of materials is that the textile products in which some of
the configurational functions of fiber are effectively utilized can become optimal in the
ratio (performance/cost), among several forms of materials. The configurational functions
of fiber are consisted of the following four elements:

(1) It is flexible (pliable).

(2) It has high ability in its axial transmission of such properties as mechanical load.
(3) It has high specific surface area.
(4) It has technological easiness in transformability into textile structural materials such
as weaves and nonwovens.

In many cases of fiber-reinforced composites, functional elements (2), (3), and (4) are
fully utilized. In several kinds of membrane hollow fibers, the element (3) is highly utilized.
Optical fiber utilizes firstly the element (2) and secondly the element (1). In tyres, (1), (2),
and (3) are main functional elements.
The required performance for textile products is varied with detailed kinds of end uses.
Then their optimum structures are fully dependent on their end uses. Therefore, technical
textile products are much wider in their structural range than apparel textiles.

1.3 Industrial considerations of advanced technical textiles

1.3.1 The features of business in advanced technical textiles
Most advanced technical textiles are commercialized by some technological development
to fill a specific requirement in the product, from a specific customer. The development is
usually conducted by a manufacturer in cooperation with the customer whose role is to eval-
uate trial sample(s) of applied product from the viewpoint of the ratio (performance/cost).
In some cases, the cooperation by its raw material supplier and/or its final manufacturer is
needed. In these cases, the manufacturer can be generally a kind of pioneer in that techno-
logical point. After the success in the commercialization of the developed product, the base
of the technology thus obtained can be utilized for other similar requirements of that cus-
tomer and/or the other customers. Therefore, the next activity to increase the sale volume of
textiles related to the developed technology is to effectively find other such new customer
requirements. By repeating this kind of evolving activity, the sale of the products can be
 Textile Progress 125

gradually increased. As understood by these descriptions, the heart of some strong enthu-
siasm and patience are generally needed for the manufacturer in the business of advanced
technical textiles. In contrast to conventional textile business, the life of commercial value
for the advanced technical textile product thus developed is usually much longer because
of the technological barrier grown by the development.
In the business of advanced technical textiles, the manufacturer must be sensitive to
patent management. In the early stages of the development, he must carefully check if
all the technologies in the development will not be obstructed by any existing patents and
must also apply the patents related to the development to guard the development and the
output products.
1.3.2 The market size of advanced technical textiles
The product forms of technical textiles for a specified manufacturer can be fiber, textiles
(fabrics etc.) or unit/parts using textile. Statistics of amount for technical textiles are
influenced by what product form is adopted for the statistics and how technical textiles are
defined in their range for the statistics. Hence market sizes of technical textiles in amount
and value are not so clear. But Table 1, which shows worldwide consumption statistics
of technical textiles reported from an investigation company [2], must be useful to have a
rough idea of the market size of technical textiles by application field. There are no statistics
for advanced technical textiles, which is fully dependent on the range defined as advanced
technical textiles. But roughly speaking, the author feels that their share in technical textiles
is over 50% in advanced countries in total size.

Table 1. Worldwide consumption of technical textiles by application fields [2].

103 Tonnes $ Million

Growth Growth
2000 2005 (% per annum) 2000 2005 (% per annum)

Transport textiles (auto, train, 2,220 2,480 2.2 13,080 14,370 1.9
sea, aero)
Industrial products and 1,880 2,340 4,5 9,290 11,560 4.5
components
Medical and hygiene textiles 1,380 1,650 3.6 7,820 9,530 4.0
Home textiles, domestic 1,800 2,260 4.7 7,780 9,680 4.5
equipment
Clothing components (thread, 730 820 2.3 6,800 7,640 2.4
interlinings)
Agriculture, horticulture and 900 1,020 2.5 4,260 4,940 3.0
fishing
Construction – building and 1,030 1,270 4.3 3,390 4,320 5.0
roofing
Packaging and containment 530 660 4.5 2,320 2,920 4.7
Sport and leisure (excluding 310 390 4.7 2,030 2,510 4.3
apparel)
Geotextiles, civil engineering 400 570 7.3 1,860 2,660 7.4
Protective and safety clothing 160 220 6.6 1,640 2,230 6.3
and textiles
Total above 11,340 13,680 3.9 60,270 72,360 3.7
Ecological protection textiles 230 310 6.2 1,270 1,610 4.9
126 T. Matsuo

1.3.3 The industrial situation of advanced technical textiles

The amount of total fiber consumption in the world is gradually growing with a rate little
higher than the increase of population. As shown in Table 1, the growth rate of technical
textiles in the world is 3.7%, which is a little higher than that of total fiber consumption.
In worldwide fiber consumption amount, the share of technical textiles is estimated to be
about 20%. That figure is about 40% in the advanced countries. But it is also noted that the
growth rate of technical textiles in developing countries, especially China, is much higher
than that in advanced countries. It means that the importance of technical textiles in the
total textile industry is also increasing in developing countries.
Some applications are hygienic and medical in which technical textiles can directly
contribute to human welfare. But most technical textile products are supplied as materials
or the units/parts to the other kinds of industries such as automobile industry, as naturally
understood by the above description. Particulary in the case of advanced technical textile
products, they are often one of the key materials or parts/units for realizing the performance
of end-use products.

1.3.4 The trends and future scope of advanced technical textiles

Historically, clothing has always been the major application area of textiles in the early
stages of textile industry. One of the important factors behind the growth of technical
textiles is the appearance of man-made fibers. Another factor is an increase in the industrial
or social needs for technical textiles. The specific additionally necessary condition for the
industry of manufacturing advanced technical textiles is an industrial base for developing
advanced technical textiles. Hence the industry of advanced technical textiles has grown
in advanced countries. Now it is gradually spreading to developing countries. In the textile
industry of advanced countries, the trend orienting to advanced technical textiles has become
significant.
Now the problems of global environment and resources have been more serious. The
needs for convenience, comfort, health, and safety have increased. These trends will surely
present several new opportunities for the business of advanced technical textiles. Therefore,
advanced technical textiles will gradually and steadily increase in the future.

2. Textile products contributing to resources and environmental issues

2.1 General scope of textile products contributing to resources and
environmental issues
Problems of global environment and resources have become one of the most serious issues
for man. The rise in oil prices directly causes the cost of making synthetic fibers to move
up. Even natural and man-made fibers that originate from plants are significantly influenced
by oil prices. On the other hand, there is a big space for fiber and textile technologies to
contribute toward this issue. It means that there can be a big business opportunity for the
fiber/textile industry.
It is believed that the technologies can be conveniently classified into defensive tech-
nologies and offensive technologies for fiber/textile industry. The former are those that can
contribute to reduce the loads caused by the textile industry on global environment and
resources. The latter are those that can contribute to reduce the loads originating from the
other kinds of industries and human living/activities. Such technologies as (1) biodegrad-
able fibers, (2) fibers/textiles made with low energy consumption and no environmentally
harmful exhaust substances, (3) recycling systems for textile wastes, (4) waste reduction
 Textile Progress 127

and energy saving at fiber plant/textile mills, (5) treatment of wastes at fiber plant/textile
mills, and (6) reuse and recycling of textile products can be classified as defensive. Offen-
sive technologies can be mentioned as follows: (1) water treatment and purification; (2) air
purification; (3) enhancement of energy resources through fibrous materials for the elec-
trode and the separator of battery/fuel cell, for reinforcement of wind turbine and through
composites for lightening transport vehicles; (4) energy saving through comfortable wears
for mild cool air conditioning in summer and for mild warm air conditioning in winter; (5)
energy saving through fibrous materials by thermal insulation; (6) recycling of polyethy-
lene terephthalate (PET) bottle into fibrous materials; and (7) water-saving systems for
plantation.
Regarding the items (1) and (2), some introductive explanations are given in the former
article [1] in this series. The items (1), (2), (3), (4), and (5) in offensive technologies and
item (6) as technical textiles in defensive technologies are introduced in this chapter.

2.2 Water treatment and purification

2.2.1 Water treatment by filtration and bioreaction using fibrous materials
2.2.1.1. Filtration systems. Sand filtration is widely used for water treatment. But some
filtration systems using fibrous materials have been developed. The main purpose of such
systems is to significantly reduce the area of filtration process. In a fibrous filtration system,
filtration medium is a layer piled with a number of fiber-mass blocks. Periodically filtrated
particles on the medium are removed by counterwashing accompanied by aeration. Figure 1
schematically shows one of noticeable systems [3] in which filtration is continuously carried
out on the inner surface of a rotating drum. The filter medium is composed of a double-
layered satin fabric whose surface is covered by raised microfibers of the weft yarn. Filtrated
particles on the surface are removed into condensed wastewater by counterwashing. It is
especially useful for the treatment of water containing large amount of planktons.
The uses of ultrafiltration (UF) and microfiltration (MF) membrane hollow fibers (see
Figure 6 in the former article [1]) for nonbionic wastewater treatment have been increased.
Large numbers of hollow fibers are contained as a bundle within a module. There are also
other forms of UF/MF membrane such as tubular, spiral, and plane. But hollow fiber form
is advantageous in unit compactness and simple handling over the other forms.

2.2.1.2. Bioreaction systems. In case that the filter medium is a layer piled by large number
of fiber-mass blocks sustaining microorganism, the filter systems described in section

Figure 1. Filtration system using rotating drum covered by a microfiber woven fabric [3].
128 T. Matsuo

Figure 2. Bioreactor using membrane hollow fibers. (a) reactor [4] (b) actions to a hollow fiber;
MBR indicates membrane bioreactor.

2.2.2.1 can act as not only a filtration vessel, but also as a bioreaction vessel to reduce the
biological oxygen demand of organic wastewater. Figure 2 illustrates a bioreactor using UF-
/MF-membrane hollow fiber. In the system, large numbers of the fiber module are dipped
in activated sludge aeration tank. Water suction is applied in the hollow part of the fiber.
Activated sludge filtrated on the outer surface of the fiber is removed by the bubble made
by aeration. As compared to conventional bioreactor tank, it can be much more compact
and the quality of treated water is much higher [4].

2.2.2 Reverse osmosis and UF/MF using membrane systems for the production of purified
water
2.2.2.1. Reverse osmosis. Figure 3 shows the principle of reverse osmosis (RO) hollow
fiber, whose membrane is nonporous (see Figure 6 in the former article [1]). By applying
higher pressure than the RO pressure, water permeates through the membrane into its
hollow part. Such materials as salt, virus, and pyrogen can be rejected at the surface of

Figure 3. Principle of reverse osmosis by membrane hollow fiber.

 Textile Progress 129

Figure 4. An example of RO desalination plant from seawater [5].

active separation layer in membrane. Figure 4 shows an example of an RO desalination

plant [5]. Large numbers of RO modules are installed, which contain hollow-fiber bundle.
Another type of RO membrane than the hollow fiber is planer membrane wound in spiral
form, in which nonwoven is used for the substrate of membrane. The main end use of RO
membrane is the production of drinkable water by the desalination of seawater.

2.2.2.2. UF and MF for water work. In water work, the requirement to remove pathogenic
microorganisms has been enhanced, especially in developed countries. Most of UF- and
MF-membrane hollow fibers are very feasible for the requirement (see Figure 6 in the
former article [1]).

2.2.2.3. Reuse and recycling of water. In order to efficiently utilize water, several techno-
logical systems for the reuse of wastewater or water recycling have intensively developed.
In these systems, RO-, UF- and MF-membrane hollow fibers have been utilized according
to water-quality requirements

2.2.3 Water purification by some specific fibers

2.2.3.1. Activated carbon fiber. Activated carbon fiber is often used in combination with
the UF-/MF-membrane hollow fiber as a major component of water-purifying equipment
for drinking water. The main role of activated fiber in the equipment is to remove such
substance as chlorinated organic chemical and smell constituents.

2.2.3.2. Photocatalyst fiber. A water purification system using conical nonwoven units
made of photocatalyst fiber has been developed [6]. The constituent of the fiber is gradually
varied from silica at the core part to TiO2 (photocatalyst) at the surface. In the system, an
ultraviolet (UV) lamp is located at the axial center of the conical units line. Contaminants
in the water are oxidized and degraded by the photocatalyst under the UV light during the
passage of water through the conical units line. The system is going to be widely applied
130 T. Matsuo

for purifying several kinds of water in recycled water usages such as public bath, spring
bath, swimming pool and industrial use water.

2.2.3.3. Ion-exchangeable fibers. There are some kinds of ion-exchangeable fibers. They
can be effective to remove toxic ingredients of heavy metal from water. The fiber made of
ion-exchangeable polystyrene resin is used for purification of recycled water from atomic
power plants.

2.2.4 Separation of oil and water

2.2.4.1. Separation and removal of oil from seawater. The flow out of oil into sea or river
has often caused a serious environmental problem. Oil fence is used to limit the area of
oil contamination on the water surface. It is typically composed of (a) sheet fence made of
woven fabric reinforced by belt, (b) float made of foamed polystyrene covered with woven
fabric, and (c) weight for stabilization.
Oil floating on water surface can be removed by making use of oil-adsorptive fibrous
sheet. The material of this sheet is usually nonwoven made of polypropylene (PP), kapok,
or cotton. It can take several forms according to oil removal situation. Oil-skimming net
can also be effective to prevent oil contamination. Oil-floating zone can be reduced by
simultaneous action of oil removal by the adsorptive sheet attached to net and the enclosure
operation of net.

2.2.4.2. Separation and removal of oil from water. This section concerns removing small
amount of water from oily materials, or small amount of oil from water. Figure 5 is a typical
example of the system for the removal [7]. The coalescer cartridge medium is composed of
microfiber nonwoven felt having very small pore size. Small size of oil particles can quickly
coagulate by the microfiber network as schematically shown in the figure (a). The separator
cartridge is made of membrane, screen or nonwoven having surface of water repellency.
This kind of system is used for such end uses as the removal of water from aircraft fuel, the
removal of water from petroleum products, and the removal of oil from cooling water for
chemical plants.

2.3 Air purification

2.3.1 Bag filter
Bag filters are widely used for cleaning the exhaust gas from several kinds of incinera-
tors. They are usually made of glass fiber-woven fabric or synthetic fiber needle felt or its
combination with woven fabric. Polyphenylene sulfide, m-aramid, polyimide, and polyte-
trafluorocarbon are typically used as the synthetic fiber material. A typical example of bag
filter system is shown in Figure 6. The dust contained in exhaust gas is accumulated on
the surface of a bag filter whose shape is tubular. When the inlet pressure increases up to a
settled value by the layer-up of accumulated dust, it is dropped off from the bag surface by
counterpulse jet or mechanical vibration. Acid gas and some other harmful gas substances
can also be removed by introducing such materials as slaked lime and activated carbon in
the bag.

2.3.2 Air filter

Air filters used for the removal of dust for clean room and office contribute to energy
saving by the recycling of conditioned air. The filter medium is usually nonwoven. With a
decrease in the fiber diameter, the removal efficiency of filter is increased. But its pressure
 Textile Progress 131

Figure 5. Oil/water separator [7]: (a) principle of separation at coalescer medium and (b) separator
tank with coalescer and separator cartridges.

drop is also increased. Removal efficiency is the lowest at 0.05–0.1 µm of dust particle
size, because inertial collision effect for catching dusts within airflow by fiber within the
medium becomes more significant for larger particles with particle size above 0.1 µm,
and diffusion effect is more effective for small particles, below 0.05 µm. Filter medium is

Figure 6. Schematic illustration of a bag filter system [8].

132 T. Matsuo

Figure 7. Removal system for toxic gas using honeycomb bed made of activated carbon paper [9].

usually pleated in the filter of high removal efficiency, because pleating increases the area
of filtration and can reduce the pressure drop of the filter by lowering the velocity of air
passing through the filter medium.
Electret filter can have higher removal efficiency with comparatively low pressure drop
by making the use of electric static traction force between dust and fiber. The filter unit
whose medium is exchangeable after its pressure drop increases up to the settled value has
been developed in order to save unit frame.

2.3.3 Toxic-gas removal and solvent recovery

Activated carbon fiber is useful as the key material for both the removal system of toxic
gas and the solvent recovery system. Figures 7 and 8 are typical examples of system using
activated carbon fiber for harmful exhaust gas and for solvent recovery, respectively [9].
In the former system, the honeycomb bed for adsorption is formed by piling corrugated
board made of activated carbon paper. The exhaust gas containing harmful substances passes
through the main part of the rotating honeycomb, and the harmful substances are removed
by the adsorption at the honeycomb wall. In the fixed zone of smaller angle, they are
desorbed by hot air. The air containing condensed harmful substances thus produced is re-
treated by much-smaller-scale system of oxidization or of adsorption for solvent recovery.
This system is feasible for treating exhaust gases from several kinds of industries such

Figure 8. Solvent recovery system using activated carbon fiber felt [9].
 Textile Progress 133

as semiconductor production, liquid crystal display production, and automotive painting,

which generates large amounts of airflow containing small amounts of harmful substances.
In the solvent recovery system, activated-carbon-fiber nonwoven is wound on a plural
of cylindrical cages. Solvent adsorbed by the cylindrical bed is periodically desorbed
by steaming. Thus solvent removal can be performed with continuous operation. The
advantages of this system include the higher quality of recovered solvent and the smaller
size of system over systems using conventional granular activated carbon, because of much
higher absorbing and desorbing rate of activated carbon fiber.

2.4 Contribution to energy and resources matters

2.4.1 Fiber materials for battery and for fuel cell
2.4.1.1. For electrode. The electrode of fuel cell must have high gas permeability with
high electric conductivity. Carbon fiber sheet is useful as the material for this electrode.
Activated carbon fiber is also promising as the electrode material of battery for the storage
of night electric power. Carbon nanofiber and nanotube are very useful as electrode material
for several kinds of battery because of their good electric conductivity and high specific
surface area.

2.4.1.2. For separator. Wet-formed nonwoven made of such fiber material as PP is used
for the separation sheet of nickel/hydrogen battery. The sheet is composed of fine fibers
and is finished by hydrophilic treatment, which enhances its working life, its electric power
and its ability to suppress self-discharge.

2.4.2 Composites for high-pressure vessel, wind turbine blade, and the rig of deep-water
oil plant
2.4.2.1. High-pressure vessel. Compressed natural gas (CNG) is more environmentally
friendly than gasoline because CNG emits less CO2 than gasoline. Its vessel can contain
the CNG of 250 atm pressure. The CNG vessel made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic
(CFRP) is 70% lighter than that of steel. The former is generally fabricated by filament
winding on Al liner.
Highly pressured hydrogen is one of the most realistic candidates as the fuel source
for the fuel cell of automobile. Its pressure is required to be about 700 atm. Hence CFRP
vessel using high-performance carbon fiber is indispensable to keep the weight of vessel
lighter than 50 kg/unit.

2.4.2.2. Wind turbine blade. The total amount of electric power produced by the installed
aerogenerators has been growing rapidly. Most of their turbine blades are made of glass
fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP ). But with an increase in their size in order to attain higher
efficiency, CFRP becomes a more suitable material for their blade. It is usually fabricated
by vacuum-assisted resin-transfer molding [10] method using multiaxially layered warp
knit [11].

2.4.2.3. Rig tools of deep-water oil plant. In order to cope with the growing demand of oil
and saturation tendency of its production amount, the necessity of oil digging in the area
of deep-sea water has been more serious. The tether and riser made of steel for such a rig
134 T. Matsuo

Figure 9. Comparison of weight reduction effect by panels made of several materials under the
condition of same stiffness [12]; SMC indicates Sheet molding compound; CFRP, carbon fiber-
reinforced plastic.

cannot resist their own heavy weight. Then CFRP composites have become indispensable
material for them.

2.5 Contribution to energy saving

2.5.1 Lightening transport vehicles
As suggested in Figure 9, changes from metal to GFRP and CFRP composites can reduce
the weight of transport vehicles. The weight reduction can be connected to energy saving.
In the case of passenger aircraft, use ratio of CFRP has gradually increased. Figure 10
schematically shows the materials used for new aircraft B787. The use ratio of CFRP in
the weight base of B787 has reached about 50%, and some of its parts are made of GFRP.
In the case of automobiles, many metallic parts such as bumper beam, engine cover,
battery bracket, front end, underbody shield, and battery tray have been objective parts to be
replaced by GFRP. Figure 11 shows some examples of such replacements. In the case (a),
the intake-manifold is fabricated by injection molding and ultrasonic adhesion. Its weight

Figure 10. Materials used for Boeing B787 [13].

 Textile Progress 135

Figure 11. Examples of automobile parts made of glass fiber reinforced plastic: (a) Intake-manifold
made of PA6/GF [14], (b) Mount bracket made of PA66/GF [15], and (c) Engine head cover made of
PA66/GF [15].

reduction ratio is 40% from previous aluminum part. In the case (b), the mount bracket is
fabricated by injection molding, and its weight reduction rate is 50%. On the other hand,
the use of CFRP parts to passenger cars has been fairly limited. Figure 12 is an example
of the advanced cars in which many parts are composed of CFRP. In this case, most of
the exterior panel, most of the chassis, and the shock absorber are made of CFRP. Its use
of carbon fiber is more than 110 kg/unit. In the near future, introduction of CFRP into
136 T. Matsuo

Figure 12. SLR-Maclaren (CFRP richly used car) [16].

automobile parts and frame will be gradually increased with an increase in the demand of
energy saving.

2.5.2 Thermal-insulation fibrous materials

We can mention glass wool, rock wool, and fiber fill as thermal-insulation fibrous materials
related to technical textiles. Glass wool is widely used for such end uses of insulation as
house, building, and refrigerator. In these cases, the high performance of air-stagnant layer
is utilized for thermal insulation.

2.6 Recycling and reuse in terms of technical textiles

In this section, recycling of textile wastes into technical textile products is discussed.
The former corresponds to defensive technologies and the latter to offensive technologies
through material saving.

2.6.1 Recycling and reuse from textile wastes

There are two kinds of textile wastes: (a) processing wastes in manufacturing textile products
and (b) wastes of used products.
In the former case where we can selectively take fibrous material from these wastes,
recycling can be effectively carried out, because it does not usually contain so many different
kinds of fibrous materials. Wastes consisted of PET fiber can be chemically recycled [17].
Fibrous material of nylon 6 taken from such products as carpet can also be chemically
recycled [18]. Nylon 66 fabric taken from airbag can be reused as a main material for
engineering plastic [19].
But in case the fibrous material is firmly combined to other kinds of material, recycling
is not easy. In the case of CFRP wastes whose matrix is made of thermoset resin, the resin
is removed after its chemical degradation and then the remaining carbon fiber can be reused
as valuable reinforcing material of short fiber. Waste of GFRP is usually broken into small
particles which are then used as filler of cement etc. Reuse of general shredder dust from
 Textile Progress 137

automobile is extremely difficult. But the dust sorted as mixture of fibrous materials and
urethane has been transformed as automobile silencer boards settled between engine, cabin,
and under-floor carpet [20].
The automobile parts made of technical textiles are necessarily reused in the reused car.
This is one of the most popular examples of reuses of technical textile products.
2.6.2 Recycling of fibrous materials into technical textile products
Recycled fibrous materials have been widely used for cushion material and wiping sheet.
In addition to these applications, several trials for recycling into technical textile products
have been conducted. We can mention such applications to man-made wood, floorboard,
substrate sheet for cultivation, reinforcement of earth, and silencer as mentioned above. An
example of a boat made of the man-made wood produced from recycled fibrous material has
been reported. One of the other examples of recycling from textile mills is the application
to substrate sheets for lawn cultivation.
2.7 Water-saving system for plantation
There is a large area of land in the world where water resource is too insufficient to make
and to keep plantation. Therefore it is thought that the efficient use of water for plantation
is very important to be developed. Nonwoven has been widely used for controlling sunlight
by covering agricultural plant. But the use of fibrous materials for irrigation and water
retention for plantation has been very limited. But there have been several remarkable
proposals of irrigation system for water saving.
3. Textiles products for automobiles
3.1 General scope of textile products in automobile sector
The automobile sector is the largest user as estimated from Table 1. The amount of fiber used
for a standard passenger car is about 25 kg. This is now increasing because the requirements
for the safety and comfort of passengers and for car weight reduction, which means an
increase of reinforcing fibers for hard composites, are being intensified. Furthermore, the
worldwide demand for automobiles is growing. Hence, the total amount of automotive fiber
is increasing. These facts indicate the industrial importance of automotive fiber in terms of
end use.
The selection criterion for automotive-use materials is “performance/cost” similar to
most other technical textile materials. But it is generally more strictly applied to automotive
use. For example, steel cord is usually used as a reinforcing material in tyre-belt plies for
passenger cars. The reason is that steel has the largest value for “tensile modulus/cost” of
the existing materials. But if car weight reduction becomes more important in the future,
the selection criterion may become “specific tensile modulus/cost” and then steel could be
replaced by a high-performance fiber such as polyketone fiber [21].
Fiber is used in the manufacture of several kinds of parts in automobiles such as (a) tyres,
driving belts, tubes, and hoses; (b) seat belts and air bags; (c) seats, roof trims, and floor
coverings; (d) noise control materials; (e) cover sheets; (f) filters; and (g) mechanical parts,
exterior body panels, and bumper beams. In the near future, optical fiber for the information
and driving-control system and reinforcing fiber for the fuel pressure vessel may also be
widely used. The percentage use of automotive fibers for main parts is summarized in
Table 2. “Hard composites” is the second largest user group, as shown in the table. They are
reinforced mostly by glass fiber through compression molding and/or injection molding.
With regard to the shares in the total amount of automotive fibers used, PET fiber takes
up about 42% and nylon 66 fiber about 26% [22].
138 T. Matsuo

Table 2. The amount of automotive fibers by end use share [22].

End uses (main parts) Share (%)

Rubber composites (tire, driving belt) 36

Safety system (seat belt, airbag) 4
Car interiors (seat, door trim, roof trim, floor covering) 17
Hard composites (body, mechanical parts) 30
Others (filter etc.) 13

3.2 Rubber composite parts

3.2.1 Tyres
Tyre structures can be classified as bias tyres and radial tyres. These are illustrated in Figure
13. Bias tyre has a higher energy-absorption capacity; therefore, it is more feasible to use
it on rough roads. But it also has a lower wearing resistance. Hence it has been gradually
replaced by radial tyre with the increase of smoother road surfaces. In bias tyre, nylon fiber

Figure 13. Structures of tyres for passenger car [23]: (a) bias tyre, (b) radial tyre, and (c) the
cross-sectional structure of radial tyre.
 Textile Progress 139

Table 3. Properties of nylon 66 and HMLS PET tyre cords comparing with other materials [24].

High-modulus
low-shrinkage
polyethylene Polyethylene Rayon
Nylon 66 terephthalate naphthalate (PEN) super III p-Aramid Steel

Thickness 1400/2 1670/2 1670/2 1840/2 1670/2 −

Twist (T /10 cm) 39 × 39 39 × 39 39 × 39 47 × 47 32 × 32 −
Strength index of flat yarn 100 90 80 55 210 −
Elongation of flat yarn (%) 19 11 9 9 3.6 −
Thermal shrinkage of flat 5.5 3.0 1.5 ≥ 0.3 ≥ 0.3 −
yarn (%)
Elongation at fixed load 7.0 4.0 2.0 2.0 0.9 −
(%)
Creep index 100 50 − 70 10 −
Adhesiveness Good Fairly good Fairly good Good Fairly good Good
Specific gravity 1.14 1.38 1.36 1.52 1.44 7.81
Melting point (◦ C) 265 260 272 Degrade Degrade 1450
Glass transition − 70 113 − − −
temperature (◦ C)

Note: Rayon super III indicates the third-generation super-tenacity rayon.

is usually used for body ply cord because of its excellent toughness. In radial tyres for
passenger cars, PET fiber is mainly used for body ply cord because its higher modulus can
contribute to improved driving comfortability by the reduction of flat spotting. Nylon 66
fiber is mainly used for cap ply cord because of its higher strength and higher toughness.
A high-modulus low-shrinkage type of PET multifilament is usually used for tyre cord
because higher modulus and higher heat resistance in shrinkage are important requirements
of tyre cord. But an important problem that needs to be improved for PET is its comparatively
low adhesiveness to matrix rubber. Regarding nylon, a high-strength type of multifilament is
required for tyre cord. The properties of tyre cords made of several materials are summarized
in Table 3 in which yarn thickness/number of plies is also shown.
There are some other methods for the fiber reinforcement of tyres than using cord. One
is a direct blend of short fiber such as p-aramid with matrix rubber. Another example is the
use of the composite made of p-aramid nonwoven and rubber, which is inserted into the
inner part of a truck/bus tyre to increase run-flat capability.

3.2.2 Driving belts

Driving belts can be generally classified as V-belts, V-ribbed belts, cogged belts, and metal-
combined belts, as shown in Figure 14. For subsidiary automotive equipment such as air
conditioners, V-belt is used. Cogged belts and V-ribbed belts are used for engines. Recently,
a metal-combined belt has been used for speed variation in small passenger cars. PET fiber
is applied to the cord of V-belt and the cloth of its upper part. p-Aramid fiber is applied to
the cords of V-belts, V-ribbed belts, and metal-combined belts.

3.3 Passive-safety inner parts for automobiles

Seat belts and air bags are very important as passive-safety systems for automobiles.
140 T. Matsuo

Figure 14. Structures of several kinds of driving belts [24]: (a) wrapped V-belt, (b) raw edge V-belt,
(c) V-ribbed belt, (d) block, (e) rubber belt (f) belt with cog, and (g) composite V-belt.

3.3.1 Seat belts

A seat belt is used to prevent a passenger in a car from being thrown off his or her seat
in an accident by fixing him or her to the seat and absorbing the impact shock. PET
woven fabrics are usually used for their webbing. PET is more suitable than nylon for the
webbing because PET has a higher impact-energy-absorbing capability and suffers less
discoloration by sunlight. There are several standards for the webbing such as the Federal
Motor Safety Standard, Economic Commission for Europe and Japan Industrial Standard.
The main mechanical requirements of these standards are strength, width, elongation, and
energy absorption ratio. There are also requirements related to durability such as wearing
resistance, cold and heat resistance, water resistance, light-degradation resistance, and color
fastness. Typical examples of specification values of PET fiber for this end use are yarn
thickness 1000–2500 dtex with 4–25 dtex of its monofilament thickness and strength 8–10
cN/dtex.

3.3.2 Air bags

The function of an air bag is to cushion a passenger from collision impact. The bag is
instantly inflated by heated gas after a collision stronger than a certain limit. Air bags can
be very effective as a passive-safety system in combination with a seat belt. There are
several kinds of air bags – driver bag, front passenger bag, thorax bag, curtain bag, rear
bag, and knee bag. Figure 15 shows photographs of several kinds of air bag inflated.
 Textile Progress 141

Figure 15. Examples of inflated airbags [26]: (a) front airbags, (b) thorax bags and curtain bag.

The base material of an air bag is nylon 66 weave because nylon fiber can be more
compactly contained and has higher resistance to small burning particles. The thickness of
nylon filament used for air bags ranges from 235 to 700 dtex. The number of monofilaments
ranges from 70 to 220. A high-strength type is needed. There are two types of base material –
coated and noncoated. The coating material is now mainly silicone resin. The advantages of
the coated type are better nongas permeation, easier bag-pressure control, and greater heat
resistance to burning particles. On the other hand, the noncoated type is lighter in weight,
thinner, more flexible, and less expensive. For noncoated cloth, some special products
have been developed by weaving with an ultra-high yarn density, with a filament of lower
monofilament thickness, and with a filament whose fiber cross section is flat.
3.4 Car interiors
The main interior components of an automobile are the seats, door trim, roof trim, and floor
covering.
3.4.1 Seats and door trim
Polyester fiber is used for most of the seat skin sheet and for some seat cushion material.
It is also used for some door trim skin material because PET fiber has a higher modulus,
higher heat stability, higher resistance to color change, and higher durability for sunlight
degradation and is less expensive.
There are several kinds of seat skin sheets such as pile weave, weave, tricot with
raising, pile double raschel knit, and pile circular knit. General trends are toward an
increase in knit fabrics (tricot, double raschel, and circular knit) that are less expensive
and have more formability than weave fabrics. Recently, a suede fabric, using a PET
microfiber nonwoven as base material, has been introduced. Skin sheets containing phase-
change material (PCM) have also been developed, which can increase the microclimate
comfortability of the seat. The essential properties of seat skin sheets can be classified as
aesthetic effect, physiological comfortability, strength/wearing durability, color fastness,
flame retardancy, heat resistance, and nonvolatile substance content. They are also often
required to have some special functions such as antibacterial, deodorizability, antistatic
and stain-resistant properties. Pile or raising of these sheet fabrics is usually related to an
increase in the values of tactile and visual aesthetic effects. An extremely high level of color
fastness in sunlight is usually required because automobiles can be used in the environment
of high temperatures and strong sunlight.
142 T. Matsuo

Urethane foam is usually used for seat cushion material under the skin sheet. But
some special PET nonwovens have recently been developed such as a fiber mass stabilized
with elastomer fiber-fused bonding, a folded web and stitch-bonded web, and a PET three-
dimensional knit fabric with super water absorbancy. One of the most important advantages
of these fibrous materials over urethane foam is their good moisture permeability, which
keeps passenger’s physiological comfort.
The material of door trim skins is usually made of plastic such as vinyl chloride and
polyolefin. But textile sheets are also used for higher-class cars. In most cases, the textile
material is the same as the seat skin fabric. However, the fabric needs to have high enough
formability to be made into the complicated shape of a door trim. Its lower end is usually
covered by the same carpet as the floor because the door often gets kicked.
3.4.2 Roof trims
PET nonwoven and tricot are used as roof trim skin sheets. The use of needle-punched
nonwoven in particular has increased, and nonwoven patterned using velour by needling
is especially common. But there are also spun-laced nonwovens and stitch-bonded
nonwovens. They are usually formed into roof trim by integration with base materials.
Pigment-dyed PET has been widely adopted. Sheets need to have color fastness for sun-
light, heat resistance, mechanical durability, light durability, formability, and nonvolatile
substance content and stain resistance in addition to lightness. Certain levels of sound-
absorbing capability and heat insulation are also needed.
The base materials for roof trim can be mainly classified as polymer foam sheets and
fiber-reinforced porous polymer sheets. Glass fiber is usually used for reinforcing these
sheets.

3.4.3 Floor coverings

Floor coverings can be divided mainly into liner coverings and optional coverings. Needle-
punched nonwoven carpet and tufted carpet are used for liner coverings. The usage of
nonwoven carpet has significantly increased because it is more economical and has better
formability. There are three main kinds of surface patterns – plain, loop like, and velour like,
as schematically shown in Figure 16. The latter two patterns can be made by the combination
of specific needles and needling patterns. The surface material of these needle-punched

Figure 16. The illustration of three main types of surface patterns for needle punched carpet [27]:
(a) plain, (b) loop like, and (c) velour like.
 Textile Progress 143

carpets consists mainly of pigmented PET fiber and/or pigmented PET recovered from
bottles. Its fiber thickness is reduced from 11 to 6 dtex to increase its covering factor. Quite
attractive aesthetic effects can be achieved with needle-punched carpet by the specific
patterning described above. The main performance requirements are mechanical durability,
sunlight durability, heat resistance, sunlight color fastness, sound absorbability, sound
insulation, antifogging, nonvolatile substance content, flame retardancy, stain resistance,
and formability. With an increased requirement for weight reduction, sound absorbability
has become more important than sound insulation.
Tufted carpet has usually been used for optional carpets, where its aesthetic effect and
appearance of high quality to the customer is of greater importance. Its weight ranges from
350 to 2000 g/m2 on the basis of the wide variety of customer requirements. Its surface
material fiber is nylon, PET, or PP. PP is now increasing its usage share.

3.5 Filters for automobiles

Automotive filters can be divided as engine filter, cabin filter, oil filter, and filter for diesel
engine exhaust gas.

3.5.1 Engine filter

Its function is to remove the dust of such materials as sand and carbon particles, which are
contained in the air taken into automotive engine. There are two kinds of filter materials –
paper and nonwoven. The paper is usually made of wood pulp and such a material as cotton
linter or man-made fiber. Its main advantage is high removal efficiency. It is used in highly
pleated form. But its use life is still comparatively short because its filtration is carried
out only at its surface. In the case of nonwoven, filters having fiber thickness gradient and
density gradient structure have been developed. They can effectively remove both coarse
and fine dust particles by bulk filtration.

3.5.2 Oil filter

It is used for purifying engine-lubricating oil. The objective particles to be removed by
the filter are carbonized fine particles grown by the heat of the engine and metallic parti-
cles/sludge contained in the oil. Its filter material is paper made of such materials as cotton
linter, wood pulp, rayon, and PET fiber or nonwoven that is formed by wet process and then
finished by phenol resin. In the case of filter used for diesel engine, specially high removal
efficiency for carbonized fine particle is required. Highly fibrillated man-made fiber has
been applied to this kind of filter.

3.5.3 Cabin filter

Removal of the dust that comes from the outside and the inside of cabin and deodorization
of such smell as smoking are the purposes of settling cabin filter. In order to remove
fine particles from exhaust gas from engine and fine mists from smoking, electret filter is
conveniently utilized. Deodorization can be done using sheet sustaining activated carbon
particles chemically modified.

3.5.4 Filter for diesel engine exhaust gas

Figure 17 shows a system for removing particles contained in the exhaust gas from diesel
engine using felt made of SiC group fiber [33]. The felt is pleated into cylindrical forms.
Particles filtrated by the filter are burned out at times by electrical heating. Its removal
efficiency is more than 95%.
144 T. Matsuo

Figure 17. System for removal of particles exhausted from automotive diesel engine [32]; ACG
indicates alternating current generator.

3.6 Noise control materials for automobiles

The sound insulation capability of a sheet is generally proportional to its weight. For
example, 10 kg per car is needed for a good-sound-insulation floor covering. In order to
reduce car weight, the strategy for noise reduction within the cabin has been changed to
adopting the use of parts having higher sound absorption capability instead of higher sound
insulation. Interior parts such as floor covering and roof trim are typical targets in this
strategy, as stated above. Multilayered nonwovens are used for the engine silencer and
sheet supporting dumper to reduce unusual sounds in line with this strategy. Figure 18 is
an example of such an engine silencer.

4. Textile products for medical and hygienic use

4.1 Medical uses
4.1.1 General scope of textiles in medical/biological uses
Requirement for higher level of medical treatment and higher quality of life has been
increasing the importance of applications of textiles to medical uses. In addition, medical
science based on biology is now rapidly progressing. Therefore, there is still a big space
where fiber and textile technologies in this field can further be effectively utilized.

Figure 18. An example of engine silencer [34].

 Textile Progress 145

Figure 19. Several kinds of separation functional fibrous products for medical use in terms of pore
size [35].

There are many kinds of fibers and textiles that have their own separating functions
for medical use, as shown in Figure 19. These functions are originated from the action
of sieving molecular/particle through the pore or molecular spacing of their own specified
size.
In the first part of this section, membrane hollow fibers for artificial kidney, artificial
lung, and some other medical treatments are introduced. Then a system using fibrous
material for leukocyte reduction, which is also medically used, and some applications of
fiber/textiles to tissue/biological engineering will be introduced. Finally, miscellaneous
applications of fibrous materials to medical and paramedical uses are described.

4.1.2 Membrane hollow fibers for artificial kidney, artificial lung, virus removal and others
4.1.2.1. Artificial kidney. With a fall in the functional ability of kidney, water and the
waste substances such as urea that should be discharged as urine gets accumulated in
blood, causing uremia.
Artificial kidney is the system that artificially purifies the blood on the basis of dial-
ysis. Its module is consisted of a large number of hollow membrane fibers, as shown in
146 T. Matsuo

Figure 20. Artificial kidney module containing a bundle of hollow fibers.

Figure 20. Water and waste substances contained in blood are introduced into the hollow
part and diffuse through fiber membrane on the basis of their concentration gradient. The
typical example of inner diameter and membrane thickness of the fiber is 200 and 10
µm, respectively. Several kinds of materials for the membrane have been developed such
as regenerated cellulose, triacetate, polyacrylonitrile, polymethylmethacylate, polyvinyl
alcohol, and polysulfone. The material is selected and/or modified in order to avoid
bioincompatibility troubles such as complement activation and/or leukocyte reduction.
Several kinds of countermeasures to realize the uniform contact of dialyzing liquid with
membrane fibers have been taken. They include uniform fiber crimping, spiral winding of
thin yarn on fiber, and the introduction of a certain projection to fiber.
Human kidneys have sharp sieving characteristics, as shown in Figure 21. Sieving
characteristics of previous conventional artificial kidneys was so much different from that
of a human kidney that the accumulation of β2-microglobulin has caused the problem of
serious symptom. Thereafter, the improvement of artificial kidneys in sieving characteristics
toward human ones has been carried out.

4.1.2.2. Artificial lung. Artificial lung is used for backing up heart surgery. Hollow fibers
whose pore size is less than 1 µm are a key component in the lung system. Pressured oxygen
and carbon dioxide-rich blood are introduced into the inside and the outside space of the
hollow fiber, respectively. Gas exchange between oxygen and carbon dioxide is carried out

Figure 21. Sieving characteristics of artificial kidney and human kidney [36].
 Textile Progress 147

Figure 22. Enlarged view of membrane hollow fiber used for artificial lung [37]: (a) the cross-
sectional view of the membrane where an active layer is located in the center and (b) the view of the
outer surface.

by diffusion through the membrane. Figure 22 shows an example of hollow fiber used for
the system, whose gas exchange rate is extremely high because of a very thin active layer
in the middle. The active layer consists of amorphous polyurethane and is supported by the
two outer porous layers made of high-density polyethylene (PE).

4.1.2.3. Virus removal filter. The filter must have both sufficient permeability for plasma
protein whose range is from about 1 to 10 nm and sufficient removal rate for virus including
HIV whose size ranges from about 10 to 100 nm. The material of this UF membrane hollow
fiber is cellulose. A kind of specific capillary-void structure is extended within the membrane
in its thickness direction, whose size is strictly controlled to satisfy the above condition.
Figure 23 shows an enlarged cross section of the membrane, which is capturing HIV.
It is said that this method is excellent in easy use, nondegradation of blood and removal
reliability than the other method of virus removal methods such as heating and low-PH
treatment.

Figure 23. Cross-section view of virus removal filter and captured HIV [35].
148 T. Matsuo

4.1.2.4. Artificial liver. Artificial liver is expected to substitute the human liver up to the
time when it will restore its functionality. The liver is a kind of bioreactor in which many
biochemical reactions take place, making it almost impossible to artificially realize its
function on the basis of these biological reactions. Hence, in the artificial liver that has
been recently developed, a liver taken from an animal such as a pig is introduced into the
hollow part of fibers to make a cylindrical cell organ. The blood or plasma of the patient is
circulated in the outside space of the fibers.

4.1.3 Filter for leukocyte removal

Leukocytes, whose role is mainly to attack foreign substances invading the human body,
are contained within 1% in the blood. But this function often causes several side effects in
blood transfusion.
A system using special PET nonwoven has been developed, which can remove leuko-
cytes with the efficiency of more than 99.99% while retaining the sufficient number of
thrombocytes. The key points of the nonwoven used are (a) use of fiber having an ultra-
small diameter, (b) introduction of a small amount of positive ion residue to a coating resin
on fiber surface, and (c) selection of suitable blood flow rate through the filter.
This filter is widely used for the prevention of side effects at blood transfusion in the
world. Another recent application to be noted is leukocytapheresis for the ulcer of the large
intestine.

4.1.4 Application of tissue engineering

4.1.4.1. Artificial blood vessel. The structural material of an artificial blood vessel of
middle and large diameter is usually PET fabric or polytetrafluoroethylene membrane. The
tubular vessel is corrugated like bellows, to be flexible. In the case of PET fabrics, some of
them have velour surface and/or are made of microfiber. Tissue culturing to such a tube is
easier because cell has a tendency to be more easily cultured along fine fiber. To avoid the
leakage of blood, some vessels have usually a barrier layer made by filling such materials
as gelatin or made of a biocompatible elastic polymer.

4.1.5 Miscellaneous fibrous products for medical and paramedical uses

We can mention endotoxin removal module, wound dressing goods, surgical thread, ar-
tificial ligament, and medical plaster as the other medical goods using fibrous prod-
ucts. Gauze/towels, surgical gown, surgical drape, scrub suit, surgical cap, masks, sheets,
paramedical plasters, etc., can be mentioned as fibrous products for paramedical use. Many
surgical goods are disposable and are required to be lint free and to have bacteria barrier
capability. Nonwoven made by fluid jet entanglement [38] and melt-blown [38] web re-
inforced by spun-laid [38] web such as SMS (nonwoven made by the process which is
combined of spunlaying (S), melt blowing (M) and spunlaying (S)) are major materials
for these goods. Some goods must be water repellent and some other goods must be wa-
ter absorptive. In this section, three kinds of goods based on a noticeable technology are
introduced.

4.1.5.1. Fibrous absorbent for the treatment of septicemia. The absorbent fiber can selec-
tively remove the endotoxin from blood, which is the cause material of septicemia. It is a
bicomponent fiber of sea-and-island type whose sheath material is polystyrene. Polymyxin
B, which is a polypeptide antibionic, is chemically fixed to the porous styrene sheath of the
fiber, as shown in Figure 24. The removal is carried out on the basis of the chemical affinity
 Textile Progress 149

Figure 24. Fixation mechanism of polymyxin B to fiber [39].

between the endotoxin and polymyxin B. The knitted fabric made of the adsorbent fiber is
wound on a tube and contained in the module, as shown in Figure 25. The circulating blood
in the treatment system is purified while passing through the module.

4.1.5.2. Products for wound dressing. Several kinds of materials for wound dressing have
been developed. But in this part, the following three examples are introduced as their
representatives.
Chitin fiber made from crab shell is widely used for wound covering/artificial skin
carrier in the form of nonwoven/paper and sponge. It is dissolved into human body by
human enzyme and effectively enhances the healing of wounds. These wounds include
burns/scalds, bedsores, ulcers, and several kinds of external injuries. It is also used as the
carrier for cultured skin [40].
Partially carboxymethylated cellulose fiber has high absorbencies of both water and
saline. Then cotton gauze modified with the carboxymethylation used for wound dressing
can take up wound exudates. Cohesive gel sheet obtained by carboxymethyl treatment on
solvent-spun cellulose fiber has been widely used in wound management [41].
Combined sheet called as Biobrane, in which perforated silicone rubber and nylon fabric
are bonded by collagen-peptide gelatin, has been developed. The gelatin is biocompatible

Figure 25. Module containing adsorbent fiber knit for sepsis [39].
150 T. Matsuo

and can ease the pain of the patient. Rapid cell proliferation and migration into nylon fabric
occur. It can lead to faster healing of a variety of wounds including full-thickness burns
[42].

4.1.5.3. Fiber material for reusable paramedical goods. Disposal of surgical goods
through incineration causes an environmental problem. PET fabrics are rather inferior in
reusability because PET tends to be easily degraded by hydrolysis by autoclave treatment
for sterilization. Higher temperature treatment is required for higher sterilization efficiency.
A partially aromatic polyamide fiber that is feasible to such high-temperature treatment has
been developed as fiber material for reusable paramedical goods [43].

4.2 Hygienic uses

In this section, sanitary napkins and diapers are shortly explained as representative goods
for hygienic uses. The amount of nonwoven used for such hygienic goods is the largest in
share among all the application fields. In such developing countries as China, they are now
rapidly growing.

4.2.1 Sanitary napkin

Sanitary napkins are usually composed of three layers. Their inner surface layer that contacts
the skin is made of nonwoven. The performance items required are (a) the quick transfer
of menstrual blood from the inner surface to the central layer and the stop of counter blood
flow to the inner surface, (b) to give feeling of comfortable softness and pliability, and
(c) wet mechanical sustainability. Its central layer composed of super absorbent polymer
absorbs the transferred blood. Its outer surface layer is usually made of polyethylene (PE)
film to guard the leakage of the blood.
The nonwoven is usually made by spun-laying [38] or SMS (see section 4.1.5 in the
former book [1]) combined with thermal bonding [38] or with water jet entanglement [38].
Some nonwovens have pore size gradient for better efficiency of blood transfer by the
enhancement of capillary effect.

4.2.2 Diaper
Diapers can be classified as pant type and pad type according to their form, and as baby use
and aged person use according to user. But the layer components are almost the same among
all these diapers and are similar to those of sanitary napkins. In some cases, nonwovens
having fairly high stretchability are used.

5. Textile products for protection and safety

5.1 General scope of textiles in protection and safety
Strengthening of the belief of humanism and increase in several kinds of external physical
threats to human life and activities have made protective/safety textile goods more impor-
tant. Hence their market demand is steadily growing. Higher level of functional performance
has also been required from the goods.
There are such typical external threats as natural disaster, traffic accident, war, fire,
criminal offense, working accident, and leisure/sport accident. Textiles of protection/safety
are defined as textiles used for the goods that can personally avoid, guard, or reduce
 Textile Progress 151

the damage caused by external threats. But the performances required from these goods
and their product structures to realize the performances are fully dependent on their own
objective of protection.
In this section, textiles protective from bullet/stab disaster, danger of fire fighting, and
several harmful environmental offenses, etc., are introduced.

5.2 Bulletproof and stabproof

5.2.1 Bulletproof
Bulletproof jackets usually take the form of panel structure piled by woven fabrics with high
yarn density, which are made of organic fibers that have mechanically high performance
properties, such as p-aramid, UHMW-PE, and p-phenylene-2,6-benzobisoxazole fibers
(see sections 3.4, 3.5, and 3.7.1 in the former article [1]). The kinetic energy of the
bullet is dissipated by the fabric into (a) the deformation of the panel, (b) the breaks and
the deformation of fibers, and (c) the deformation of the bullet. The performance of a
bulletproof textile depends positively on the aerial weight of the fabrics and the breaking
energy of the fiber, and negatively on the single-filament thickness.
There is another kind of panel for bulletproof textile whose manufacturing method and
structure are schematically shown in Figure 26. In this panel, fibers are straightly aligned
and can carry the impact energy of the bullet more effectively than the fibers in the woven
fabric.

5.2.2 Stabproof
In the stab resistance, the key for its countermeasure is how effectively it makes the apex
point round by hard material. One example of panel structures is composed of woven fabric
with high yarn density, which is made of UHNW-PE fiber and glass fiber. Another example
is composed of p-aramid-fiber-woven fabric covered by ground-stone particles [44].

Figure 26. Manufacturing method and partial structure of a panel for bulletproof [44].
152 T. Matsuo

5.3 Suit for fire fighting

Suits for fire fighting are usually composed of three layers – outer surface layer, central
layer which functions as breathable waterproof, and inner layer whose function is thermal
insulation. m-Aramid, p-aramid, p-phenylene-2,6-benzobisoxazole, polyamide-imide (see
sections 4.3 and 3.7.1 in the former article), or flame-retardant finished-wool are examples
of fiber materials used for these layers. For breathable waterproof layer [45], coating or
laminating is applied to the central-layer fabric. Thermal insulation is made by the effective
use of air layer that is contained in the inner layer [46].

5.4 Chemicals protection and nuclear particles, biologically toxic materials

and chemically toxic materials (NBC) protection
The chemical protective clothing functions as a barrier from outer harmful chemicals,
which may be liquid, gas, mist, or particles. There are several kinds of clothing belonging
to this category, such as those of industrial use, agricultural use, and military use. Fibrous
clothing material is usually fabric finished or laminated so that it can function as waterproof,
water-repellent, gas barrier, mist barrier, or dust barrier, according to its protective object.
In the case of agricultural use, breathable waterproof and water-repellent clothing is usually
desirable. Military gas barrier clothing is composed of fabric coated with nonpermeable
material or laminated with activated carbon fiber fabric [47, 48]. The latter has advantage
in the breathability over the former.
The basic principle for the protection of NBC is the same as that for chemical protection
except for the additional protection of radioactive particles. The key point for radioactive
protection is to prevent attaching of the particles on the fabric and sucking into the fabric
[49].

5.5 The other kinds of protection and safety

As for other kinds of protection, we can mention (a) protection from injury of cut-
ting/abrasion at hand works, (b) protection from metal splash and sputtering, (c) protection
from cold environment, (d) protection from cold water immersion, (e) protection from
hot environment, (f) sunlight protection, (g) electric static protection, (h) protection in the
space, and (i) protection from electromagnetic wave.
As safety textile goods, there are (a) such goods related to fire accident such as hose,
life chute, and rope ladder; (b) goods related to water accident such as life jacket and life
raft; (c) goods related to impact damage such as helmet, safety shoes, and protectors as
sporting goods; and (d) eye-catching mark attached to wears for safety.
In this part, some textile products related to some specific kinds of protection/safety are
introduced.

5.5.1 Protection from cold environment

The primary measure of cold protection for clothing is thermal insulation by air layer within
the fabric.
In cold foul weather, it must also act as a wind barrier. Insertion of reflective layer into
the laminate for the radiation from human body is also effective. Exothermal heat of PCM
contained in fibrous material, oxidizing heat of iron powder sustained in fibrous sheet, and
electrical heating can also be available. But it must be noted that the effect of PCM is
temporary.
 Textile Progress 153

Figure 27. Composition of space suit [52].

5.5.2 Protection from hot environment

Protection from radiation heat is quite easy. But protection using textile products from
hot atmosphere is quite difficult. Some trials using Peltier element have been carried out
[50, 51]. PCM can be utilized for temporary cooling.

5.5.3 Space suit

Figure 27 shows a typical example of the space suit composition. In the figure, layer 1 is
made of nylon woven fabric. Layer 2 is made of nylon/spandex fabric co-woven with thin
tube in which water is circulating for thermal regulation. Layers 4 and 5 work as barrier
layers for oxygen leakage whose materials are resin-coated fabrics. The roles of layers 6–13
are thermal insulation and protection against meteorite particle collision. Layer 14 is made
of lamination by m-aramid fabric, porous polyfluoroethylene membrane, and p-aramid
woven fabric with high yarn density, whose role is to protect from the collision and surface
covering of the suit.

5.5.4 Protection from impact damage

In this category, there are two types of protective materials – flexible type and rigid type.
Regarding the flexible type, there has been almost no material that can effectively protect
the human body from impacting damage by a projection having much larger curving radius
than a bullet. But a system material of flexible type illustrated in Figure 28 has been
recently developed. The central textile architecture of the material is capable of absorbing
some impact energy. The material can easily stitch to such clothing as motorcycle wear.

Figure 28. Flexible fibrous material protective from impact damage [53].
154 T. Matsuo

Composites can be useful as rigid-type material protective from impact damage. Helmet,
the toe part of safety shoes, and some protectors for sports are representative examples based
on rigid-type protection. There are two types of helmet by its material – fiber-reinforced
plastic and thermoplastic (acrylonitrile/butadiene/styrene terpolymer resin etc.). The former
can resist higher impact loading. As reinforcing fiber, glass fiber is usually used. But organic
super fiber such as p-aramid is also used for reducing its weight. Safety shoe has a toe
part that can resist high impact loading. Some examples of toe parts are made of fiber-
reinforced plastics. The part of a commercial shoe, which is made of long fiber-reinforced
thermoplastic, can sustain even the weight of standard passenger car [54].

6. Textile products for electric and information technologies

6.1 General scope of textile products in electric and information technologies
There are many kinds of textiles used for applications related to electric and information
technologies. We can mention the following as the application examples: (a) print circuit,
(b) battery and fuel cell, (c) insulation and cables, (d) electric conduction and shielding,
(e) communication using optical fiber, (f) communication system parts utilizing fibrous
materials, and (g) acoustic uses. In this section, items (a), (c), (d), (e), (f), and (g) are
introduced. Battery and fuel cell are described in section 2.4.1.

6.2 Printed circuit

6.2.1 Printed circuit rigid board
The circuit is made by etching copper foil laminated on the board and/or by metal plating
or by electric conductive paste printing on the board. The circuit is usually patterned by
screen printing and/or photoresist method. Figure 29 is an example of printed circuit. In
many cases, the circuit on one side of the board is connected to the circuit on another side
through holes covered by metal plating. Recently, the board built up by circuits in multiple
integrated layers has been developed.
The board is usually made of rigid paper or glass cloth impregnated by thermoset
resin. In some cases, it is reinforced by woven fabric or wet-formed nonwoven of organic
high-performance fiber.

Figure 29. An example of printed circuit on the board [55].

 Textile Progress 155

Figure 30. Structure of plasma display [56].

6.2.2 Screen for printing

Fine screen (mostly plain woven fabric made of monofilament) is one of the key materials of
screen printing for electric devices. In many cases, the monofilament is made of sheath–core
bicomponent fiber. Its typical examples of sheath/core are (a) nylon/PET, (b) toughened
PET/PET, and (c) wholly aromatic polyester (see section 3.6 in the former book [1])/wholly
aromatic polyester-reinforced flexible polymer. The screen made of (c) is the most feasible
to precision screen print, because it has high resistance for mechanical deformation.
Screen printing using such materials is used for patterning of printed circuit, printing
of fluorescent pigment for plasma display, as shown in Figure 30, printing dielectric paste
for condenser, and printing of dam wall for liquid crystal of liquid crystal display [56].

6.3 Electric insulation and cables

6.3.1 Electric insulation materials
Electric insulation textiles are used for the insulation in several electric devices such as
transformer and cables. They are in the form of nonwoven and woven fabrics impregnated
in such liquids as varnish, mineral oil, unsaturated polyester resin, epoxy resin, silicone and
polyimide resin, etc. As typical fiber material, cellulose, PP, nylon, PET, aramid, glass, etc.,
are used according to the required level of its thermal resistance. For the highest thermal
resistance, glass-woven fabric impregnated by a liquid having high thermal resistance such
as silicone, polyimide, polyimide-amide is used. In some cases, glass cloth impregnated in
varnish is transformed into fabricated insulation parts [57].

6.3.2 Cables
Cables are used for several applications such as electric power transmission, telecommu-
nication, and wiring for electric devices. According to the object of use, their structures
are much varied. Relationships among the function of fibrous material, the kind of fiber
material in cable, and its applied cable are summarized in Table 4. Figure 31 shows the
cross-sectional structure of optical fiber cable used for main line.

6.4 Electric conductive materials and shielding materials

6.4.1 Electric conductive materials and their applications
There are several kinds of fibers having electric conductivity such as metal fibers, carbon
fibers, fibers made of electric conductive polymer, metal plated organic fibers, organic
156 T. Matsuo

Table 4. Relationships among the function of fibrous material, used fiber material, and cable
applied [58].

Function of Fiber Cable

fibrous material material applied

Tension member p-Aramid, glass Optical cable

Tearing tool p-Aramid, polyethylene Cable for wiring
terephthalate
Water absorption Super absorptive fiber (see Optical cable, copper cable
section 3.5.4)
Thermal/fire resistance Glass Motor wiring cable, cable for fire
fighting devices
Cushion, filling Cotton, polyethylene Multicore cable
terephthalate, nylon, rayon
Reinforcement Nylon, glass Cable for aircraft wiring, cable
for flectional motion

fibers coated with electric conductive material, organic fibers in which electric conductive
particles are dispersed, and bicomponent fibers having electric conductive part in which
electric conductive particles are dispersed.
Fibrous materials having electric conductivity are applied to such uses as antielectro-
static goods such as carpet, working wear, air filtration, conveyer belt, and clean room
clothing, and to grounding within electric equipments, shielding of electromagnetic wave,
circuit wire for electronic textiles, and the blush of electrostatic charging and discharging
for copy machine and laser printer using electrophotograph.

6.4.2 Shielding of electromagnetic wave

The importance of electromagnetic shielding of electronic equipments has significantly in-
creased. Fibrous materials can be effectively utilized for shielding. In this section, shielding
technologies based on a fiber material developed by a Japanese company are introduced as
examples of their utilization.
The electric conductive fiber is produced by electroless copper plating on PET fiber.
Then it is further plated by a thin layer of nickel alloy for chemical resistance and for

Figure 31. Optical fiber cable of slot type used for main line [59]; FRP indicates fiber-reinforced
plastic; PE, polyethylene.
 Textile Progress 157

Figure 32. An example of electric conductive fiber and its woven fabric [60]; PET indicates polyethy-
lene terephthalate.

making its color black, as shown in Figure 32(a). The fabrics (Figure 32(b)) made of
the fiber have the shielding efficiency of about 80 dB. Some of them are transformed to
adhesive tape, which can be easily applied to cover plate, and the box to be shielded. The
sheet composed of its knitted fabric, electric conductive urethane foam, and its nonwoven
are used for electric grounding by inserting between circuit boards. The screen made of
the fine monofilament fiber is laminated to plasma display panel to cut the excessive wave
emitted from plasma display, as shown in Figure 33.

6.5 Textile products related to communications

6.5.1 Optical fiber for telecommunication
The telecommunication by optical fiber (see section 6.2 in the former article [1]) has
great advantages in the capacity of information transmittance, and in the security for outer
disturbance and information diffusion over those of the other media. Electronic information

Figure 33. Electromagnetic shielding of plasma display by mesh cloth [61]; RBG indicates red, blue,
and green.
158 T. Matsuo

is transformed by E/O transformer and then is transmitted by optical fiber cable through
some relays. Optical information received is transformed again to electronic information
by O/E transformer.
For the long-distance transmission, single-mode quartz fiber whose core diameter is
about 10 µm is usually used. For middle-distance transmission, quartz fiber whose core
diameter is 200 µm is usually used. Plastic optical fiber is used for short-distance trans-
mission. Its main end uses are expected to be the LANs of automobiles, buildings such as
offices, hospitals, universities, and apartments.

6.5.2 Optical fibers for other uses

We can mention (a) image guide such as fiber scope, pattern detecting rod for facsimile, and
scanner; (b) lighting and illumination; and (c) sensing as the other uses of optical fibers.
Plastic optical fiber is used for most of them. In the case of (a), fiber is usually used in the
form of a fiber bundle. The sensing using optical fiber is generally useful for watching an
unusual phenomenon in such cases as structural systems, land, and factory products.

6.5.3 Materials for satellite

Main structures are usually made of honeycomb sandwich in which carbon woven fabric-
reinforced polymer composites are used. Solar panel is usually supported by thin board
made of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer composite.
Triaxial woven fabric-reinforced composites are especially feasible to reflector antenna,
because they are the thinnest among quasi-isotropic sheets. Recently, inflatable antenna and
other structures made of triaxial woven fabric composites, which are expanded by spring
back from folded form has been developed. In these uses, carbon fibers of high modulus
type are especially used to realize higher stiffness of composites.
6.6 Acoustic uses
6.6.1 Speaker diaphragm
Material of speaker diaphragm is required to have high tensile modulus, high internal
friction loss, and low specific gravity for getting good vibration characteristics. Therefore,
a fiber such as carbon fiber, organic fiber having high modulus, and glass fiber is used for its
reinforcement. The examples of high-quality diaphragm are (a) composites sheet composed
of carbon fiber and thermoset resin, (b) glass fiber-reinforced thermoplastic board made
by injection molding, and (c) paper blended with such a high-performance fiber as those
mentioned above [62].
Screen integrated with speaker that is made of PEN (see section 11.4.1 in the former
article [1]) woven fabric has been developed. The screen can be an image display medium
and speaker diaphragm at the same time, as shown in Figure 34. The high modulus and
reasonable price of PEN fiber make the material suitable for this application. Its sonic
features are (a) simple system, (b) clear-cut sound quality by its high-vibration damping,
and (c) no sound directivity with higher sound pressure [63].
6.6.2 Musical instrument parts
Felt used for a musical instrument such as a piano is usually made of wool whose functions
are (a) providing cushion, (b) damping of vibration, and (c) absorption of sound. But in
some electronic pianos, synthetic fiber and/or fiber combined with elastic foam is used for
its felt part [64]. For the stringed instrument, several kinds of materials such as silk yarn,
gut, synthetic fiber, and steel wire are used [65].
 Textile Progress 159

Figure 34. Screen speaker [63].

7. Textiles for construction and civil engineering

7.1 General scope of textiles in construction and civil engineering
There are several kinds of textiles used for construction and civil engineering, such as (a)
fiber reinforcement of concrete and polymer composites for construction uses; (b) fiber for
antiseismatic reinforcement; (c) fabric membrane for building; (d) reinforcement by flexible
tube for gas pipe; (e) reinforcement of concrete pipe for water service; (f) geotextiles for
the reinforcement of ground, slope, and road; (g) geotextile for such uses as drainage,
protection of water corrosion, separation, and fabric form; and (h) fibrous materials for heat
insulation, sound control, moisture control, and waterproof of construction uses. In this
chapter, these textiles are introduced by the following three sections: (1) fiber reinforcement
for construction/civil engineering uses containing (a) and (b), (2) geotextiles containing (f)
and (g), and (3) miscellaneous construction/civil engineering materials containing (c), (d),
(e), and (h).

7.2 Concrete/cement reinforcement

7.2.1 Short-fiber reinforcement of concrete by blending
Short fibers are used for reinforcement of concrete in dispersed blending, whose volume
fraction is less than a few percent. Its major fiber materials are polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)
(see section 11.1 in the former article [1]). But in some cases, such fiber materials as
alkali-resistant glass, PP, acrylonitrile, and carbon are used. The fiber-reinforced concrete
is applied to construction through such a method as the use of prefabricated board, filling
to form work, or spraying. The increases in tensile strength and bending strength by the
reinforcement are not so significant. But the reinforced concrete has 10 to 20 times higher
breaking energy (toughness) than the unreinforced cement [66].
Highly toughened concrete has been developed by using high-tenacity PVA fiber of
high thickness, which is produced by solvent gel spinning method. It can be nailed and has
toughness almost equivalent to aluminum board, as shown in Figure 35(a). The mechanism
of such a high toughness is related to the growth of fine cracks, as shown in Figure 35(b),
which can be explained by the theory named ‘ECC’ by V.C. Li [68]. It has been applied
to several constructions such as the floorboard of a large bridge, the connecting beam of a
large building, and the wall surface of a tunnel.
160 T. Matsuo

Figure 35. The deformation behaviors of concrete board reinforced by high tenacity PVA short fiber
[67]: (a) bending test of the concrete board and (b) microcracks of the concrete board grown by tensile
load.

7.2.2 Reinforcement aligned fiber structures

There are three kinds of major reinforcements using aligned fibers: alternative to steel or
prestressed steel reinforcement of concrete, alternatives to steel beam, and reinforcement
of wall panel.

7.2.2.1. Alternatives to steel or prestressed steel reinforcement of concrete. As an alterna-

tive material to steel for the reinforcement of concrete, there are continuous fiber-reinforced
polymer or cement composites for which fiber having high tensile modulus, such as carbon
fiber and p-aramid fiber, is used. Figure 36 shows examples of the reinforcement materials.
Most rodlike materials have some rugged surface, as shown in the figure. Some of them
take such forms as three-dimensional lattice and hoop. In some cases, they are used as
 Textile Progress 161

Figure 36. Fiber-reinforced alternatives of steel reinforcement of concrete [69].

prestressed reinforcement in order to effectively utilize their resistance to tensile loading

within concrete beam.
They have the following features compared with steel reinforcement: light weight,
no corrosion, and no electromagnetic wave interference (except the case of carbon fiber
reinforcement).

7.2.2.2. Alternatives to steel beam. Fiber-reinforced polymer composite beam is used as

an alternative to steel beams in some cases. It is used for roof structure usually by a pipe
truss, because of its lightness. It is also used for bridge beam and its floorboard.

7.2.2.3. Reinforcement of concrete board. There are concrete boards reinforced by woven
fabrics. They are used for such applications as internal wall, external wall, floor, ceiling,
and formwork board. Their thickness can be less than that of the nonreinforced board.

7.2.3 External reinforcement

It is used for the reinforcement of existing constructions. Reinforcement for preservation of
historical construction, aseismatic reinforcement, and refreshment of old constructions are
its typical applications. The reinforcement is conducted by winding of the tape or strand of
high-mechanical-performance fiber, such as carbon fiber impregnated by resin, on pillars.
In some cases, the tape is used by winding and laminating to pillars, as shown in Figure
37. The board of polymer or cement composite reinforced by such a fiber is also used by
laminating or mechanically fixing to pillars and walls. Figure 38 is an example of pillar
reinforcement using short-fiber-reinforced concrete board and mechanical fixing by the
winding of steel wire.

7.3 Geotextiles
In this section, geotextiles are defined as materials for civil engineering in which fibrous
materials are used at least as one of its key materials.
162 T. Matsuo

Figure 37. Pillar reinforced by making use of tape [70].

7.3.1 Reinforcement of filled slope, soft ground, and mud

Figure 39 shows the reinforcement of slope using geotextile sheet. The weight of earth
tends to cause a slippage at the shoulder along circular face. The key factors of the sheet
to prevent such a slippage are its tensile loading capability and the friction force between
earth and the sheet. Figure 40 is an example of reinforcement structure for sharp filled
earth using geotextile sheet, gabion (this is also a kind of geotextile), and concrete. In

Figure 38. Pillar reinforced by making use of board and wire [71].
 Textile Progress 163

Figure 39. Reinforcement of slope by geotextiles [71].

several earthquakes that recently happened in Japan, it was proved that reinforcements
using geotextiles are far better than other kinds of reinforcements. Figure 41 illustrates a
typical reinforcement of soft ground by geotextile sheet. By laying the sheet, bulldozer can
operate on even muddy ground.
Spun-laying nonwoven and geo-grid are usually used as a geotextile sheet for this kind
of reinforcement. The geo-grid belonging to geotextiles is usually fabric of mesh structure.
There are still other kinds of reinforcements using geotextiles. The following are some
of their examples: (a) short-fiber reinforcement of earth by blending; (b) blending short-fiber
material and absorbent particles with mud; (c) filling earth into textile bag; (d) reinforcement
of slope by bump jacket anchor composed of textile circular rugged tube, steel rod, and
grout intruded into the tube, as illustrated in Figure 42; and (e) reinforcement of slope and
muddy ground by specific sheet combined with jacket filled with grout. The features of the
specific sheet are that it can be very rigid after the filling of grout and that its setting work
is fairly simple.

7.3.2 Materials for drainage, separation, filtration, protection, and water barrier
7.3.2.1. Drainage. There are several kinds of geotextile material for drainage, as shown in
Figure 43. Some examples of their materials are as follows: spun-laid nonwoven and gravels,
in Figure 43(a), tube made of monofilament in (b), monofilament nonwoven board covered
by spun-laid nonwoven in (c), and plastic-corrugated board laminated with nonwoven
in (d).

Figure 40. Sharp filled earth using geotextiles and concrete [71].
164 T. Matsuo

Figure 41. Reinforcement of soft ground by geotextile sheet [72].

There are vertical drainage and horizontal drainage in the earth. There are also drainages
on the slope and on the wall. Figure 44 is an example of vertical drainage system making
use of vacuuming.

7.3.2.2. Separation. The function of separation is to separate two different layers such
as (a) two kinds of earth layers, (b) earth layer and small stone layer, or (c) water, silt,
etc. In many cases, a geotextile has separation function and the other function such as
reinforcement, protection, and filtration at the same time. In the example of Figure 41, the
geotextiles sheet has the roles of both reinforcement and separation. But we can mention
silt protection membrane and pumping protection as typical application examples related
to separation function. Figure 45 shows an example of railway cross section using four
kinds of geotextile sheets: for pumping protection, for ballast net, for reinforcement, and
for grass control.

7.3.2.3. Filtration. In the case of drainage, water flows along the sheet surface. But in the
case of filtration, water flows out across the sheet through which earth particles are filtrated.
A typical example of geotextile related to filtration function is the prevention of the sand
flowing out by suction at shore protecting work, as illustrated in Figure 46. Nonwoven or
fiber-reinforced nonwoven is usually used for these kinds of sheets.

7.3.2.4. Protection. Geotextiles belonging to this category are mainly used for protecting
water-barrier membranes of such uses as pond, tunnel, and landfill place. Figure 47 is an
example of use for landfilling in which two protective layers made of thick nonwoven are

Figure 42. Reinforcement by expandable anchor bolt using textile jacket [73].
 Textile Progress 165

Figure 43. Several kinds of drain/drain materials.

Figure 44. Vertical drainage system using drain board [75].

166 T. Matsuo

Figure 45. An example of railway cross section using geotextiles [76].

used. Protections from mechanical damage and light degradation are the main functions of
the surface layer.

7.3.2.5. Water barrier. Some water-barrier sheets are made of fiber-reinforced rubber. They
are often used in double layers with protective fibrous sheets for landfill place, as shown
in Figure 47. Another structural example for water barrier is composed of two protective
nonwoven sheets, two water-barrier rubber sheets, and a porous drainage layer in which
sensors to watch water leakage are installed.

7.3.3 Materials for some other kinds of geotextile uses

There are geotextiles for the other kinds of uses such as fabric formworks, sheet for greening
to protect riverbanks from erosion caused by water flow, artificial turf, bag net for containing
stones, and flexible tubular dam. Figure 48 shows some types of fabric formworks in which
concrete is filled. In the Figure, (a) is water sink type, (b) is grid type for greening, and (c) is
water-barrier type. Figure 49 is the sheet for greening to protect riverbank. The part of grass
near its root is guarded by the sheet from water flow, and thus, the riverbank covered by
the sheet can be protected from erosion. Figure 50 is a dam system using flexible tube that
is made of fabric-reinforced rubber. The height of the dam can be automatically controlled
by its internal pressure.
Recently, a new system using optical fiber to watch unusual strain growth for civil
engineering construction has been developed. In the system, if optical fiber that is settled

Figure 46. An example of protection for sand flow out at sea shore work [77].
 Textile Progress 167

Figure 47. An example of wasteland filling place using geotextiles [78].

Figure 48. Various fabric form works [79].

Figure 49. Sheet for greening to protect riverbank from erosion caused by water flow [80].
168 T. Matsuo

Figure 50. Dam made of flexible tube [81].

along the construction is strained, the light frequency of Brillouin backscattering is shifted.
Thus, such events in the range of 10 km as the crack of tunnel and the microslip of earth at
slope can be monitored.

7.4 Miscellaneous construction/pipeline materials

7.4.1 Materials for sound control and waterproof in construction
7.4.1.1. Sound control. There are three kinds of materials for sound control: (a) sound
absorption board, (b) sound insulation board, and (c) antiacoustic vibration sheet. Glass
wool is the main material for sound absorption board, which usually has dressed face made
of such material as glass cloth and polyvinyl chloride sheet. It is used for the ceiling and
the walls of offices, hotels, schools, hospitals, etc.

7.4.1.2. Waterproof in construction. The waterproof materials for roof of building can be
classified into asphalt, resin-coated sheet, and thick paint coating. But the most popular
method is asphalt roofing. In this method, the nonwoven made of synthetic fiber is used for
reinforcing and stabilizing the asphalt layer.
Recently, the paper sheet that can be breathable and nailed with keeping high water
tightness by using super water absorbable fiber has been developed for waterproof roofing
of woody house [82]. It is used by laying under-roof tiles.

7.4.2 Material for membrane construction

Representative material for big membrane construction is usually composed of glass fiber
plain woven fabric coated with polytetrafluor oethylene (PTFE) resin as illustrated in
Figure 51. On the other hand, the material for small membrane construction is usually
PET fabric coated with polyvinyl chloride. Membrane construction can be classified into
pneumatic structure and tensioned structure using rigid bones. Typical examples of the
former are air domes. An example of the latter is shown in the bottom illustration of
Figure 51. The need of membrane construction having open structure for UV protection
has increased by the matter of health.
 Textile Progress 169

Figure 51. Material structure of membrane construction [83].

7.4.3 Materials for pipelines

There are several kinds of pipelines for such uses as water supply, drainage, irrigation, gas
supply, electric power supply, and telecommunication. Hose made of circular woven fabric
coated with elastomer resin is used for the renewal of these lines made of steel pipe. The hose
is inserted into old steel pipe to be renewed by inverting using pressured air as illustrated
in Figure 52. In some cases for such uses as drain, gas supply, the hose impregnated with
B-stage epoxy is used. In these cases, after its insertion, curing is conducted by steaming
and then fiber-reinforced polymer composite rigid pipe fixed to the internal surface of old
steel pipe is formed.
For new settled pipelines, plastic pipe has replaced the steel pipe because of its low
maintenance cost. But it cannot be used for the line that should bear high inner pressure
and/or high apex pressure. The pipe composed of plastic internal surface layer, fiber-
reinforced concrete layer, and concrete outer layer has been developed for such pressured
pipelines [85].

Figure 52. Insertion of hose into pipe by inversing using pressured air [84].
170 T. Matsuo

Figure 53. Definition of E-textile and its differences from wearable computer and smart textiles;
PCM indicates phase-change material.

8. Electronic textiles
8.1 General scope of electronic textiles
It must be reasonable to define “electronic textiles (E-textiles)” as system products in
which electronic devices are integrated with textile products for information exchangeable
functions. We can mention “wearable computer” and “smart textiles” as concepts similar to
E-textiles. But it must be noted that there are some differences among them, as schematically
shown in Figure 53. E-Textiles are also a kind of computer network system product close
to the human body along ubiquitous environment.
In the former part of this chapter, materials, parts, and circuit systems for E-textiles are
introduced. In the latter part, several application systems of E-textiles are overviewed.

8.2 Materials, parts, and circuit systems for E-textiles

8.2.1 Circuit materials and circuit systems for E-textiles
The necessary conditions to ensure that the circuit is feasible to E-textiles are (a) the circuit
material must be flexible enough, (b) it should have enough mechanical toughness, and (c) it
should have enough washability. It is also desirable that it is stretchable and can be colored.
We can mention the following wiring methods for the circuit: (a) weaving or knitting of
electric (or photo) conductive yarn into the cloth, (b) embroidering or stitching of such a
yarn on the cloth, (c) printing of conductive material on the cloth, and (d) laminating of
conductive tape on the cloth.
There are electric conductive yarns, which are mixed with ultra-fine metal fiber and
organic electric conductive fiber (see section 7 in the former article [1]). Recently, electric
conductive fiber made of conventional material such as PET and PVA, whose conductivity
is at the level of 1 /cm has been developed [86,87]. Electric conductive and stretchable
yarn whose core consists of elastomeric yarn spirally covered by such an electric conductive
fiber have also been developed. Such yarns must be useful because they can be stretchable
and dyeable and have enough toughness as textile products.

8.2.2 Power sources for E-textiles

At least some power source is necessary for E-textiles. We can mention such candidates as
(a) conventional battery, (b) thermal battery driven by wear’s body heat, (c) battery driven
by wear’s motion, and (d) flexible solar battery as the power source. It is said that solar
battery does not have enough power to run a personal computer. Organic radical battery
[89] seems to be one of the most hopeful candidates for the power source because it is
extremely thin and flexible.
 Textile Progress 171

Figure 54. Examples of fabric parts for switching and controlling [91]: (a) a controller part for
portable audio player and (b) a flexible keyboard made of fabric.

8.2.3 Transmitting and receiver devices and interfacing technologies for E-textiles
Microslit antenna for satellite communication and transmitter using fabric substrate have
been developed. Recently, the technologies of communication through the human body
have been developed. Its features are no disturbance by external interference and easy
communication by only human touching action. One of the technologies utilizes the changes
of electric field at the surface of the human body by a specific photonic electric field sensor
[89]. This kind of technology seems to be one of the hopeful communicating and interfacing
tools for E-textiles.
There can be such input tools for E-textiles as touch panel, keyboard, and audio instruc-
tion. Figures 54(a) and (b) are examples of input tools that have been commercialized.
Visual output tools are ranged from an indicating lamp to image display panel for
visual. Audio output is more desirable for some useful purposes. For wearable computer,
head-mount display is conventionally used for image display. Figure 55 illustrates a sleeve
display integrated into a working wear and a watch-type controller.
172 T. Matsuo

Figure 55. A sleeve display integrated into a working wear [91].

Recently, a robot suit system utilizing an innovative interfacing technology has been
developed by Sankai [92]. In the technology, the signal of very small amount of bio-ion
current from his brain to move the muscle is detected by sensors attached to his muscle. On
the basis of the signal, a small-sized computer settled on his back instantly orders to start
the movement of the suit part related to his muscle. The fact must be noted that the wearer
and the suit are intimately integrated in this system.

8.2.4 Sensing technologies for E-textiles

Ghosh gave a perspective article on E-textiles in which several kinds of sensing technolo-
gies for such objectives as motion, physiological condition, damage of human body, and
chemical protection are introduced [93].
Several technologies for location sensing have been tried [94, 95], but these have been
unsuccessful in practical sensing for the wandering location of dementia in elderly people.
Sensing of human motions is an important item to be studied for E-textiles related to
rehabilitation, sport training, and assistance in human works. In most cases, it is based on
changes in electric resistance, which is caused by the deformation of elastomeric substrate
attached on the human body surface.
Sensing of human physiological condition and psychological condition through E-
textiles must be useful for both health monitoring and medical treatments. Several studies
have been carried out for E-textiles on sensing changes in such physiological parameters
as (a) electric resistance and temperature of human skin, (b) blood flow rate, (c) heart rate,
(d) electrocardiogram, and (e) motions [93, 96–98].

8.2.5 Polymer photonic fiber for E-textiles

Polymer photonic fibers and fabrics that have functions of generating, transmitting, mod-
ulating, and detecting photons have been developed. They can be used for sensors, wave
guide, and pattern display of E-textiles. Photosensitive polymeric optical fiber was irradi-
ated by UV laser, and then Bragg grating structures were fabricated in the fibers [99].
 Textile Progress 173

Figure 56. An example of simultaneous observation results on heart rate, electrocardiogram (ECG)
and motional acceleration [101].

8.3 Application systems of E-textiles

8.3.1 Audio entertainment
Clothing integrated with audio player system and portable phone, such as that shown in
Figure 54, has been commercialized.

8.3.2 Medical monitoring of physiological conditions

Research on medical monitoring systems must have been most intensively carried out among
the application researches of E-textiles. Sensors for monitoring physiological condition
items necessary for medical judgment are attached to underwear. Information collected by
these sensings is transmitted to data processing unit. Monitoring these data is continuously
or intermittently conducted.
Portable phone network systems can be utilized for the transmission [100]. Figure 56 is
an example of simultaneous observation data of heart rate, electrocardiogram, and motional
acceleration rate. Research on monitoring system for rehabilitation motions of patients has
also been carried out [102].
Some monitoring systems for practical trial have been conducted. The usability of a
system for long-distance monitoring of heart physiological conditions of patients who are
under rehabilitative process was tested. In the system, the data are wirelessly transmitted to
a central monitoring computer consisted of Web module, database module and diagnosis
module. If some problem happens, its signal is transmitted to the light-emitting diode (LED)
lamp and alarm of the patient for alarm [103].

8.3.3 Assistance of human power/motions

Several kinds of systems for enhancing human power needed in workings have been
developed, which are generally called as wearable robot. For these systems, several kinds
174 T. Matsuo

Figure 57. The structure and working principle on McKibben type man-made muscle [104].

of the motive-power sources such as man-made muscles and motor have been utilized.
Figure 57 shows the working mechanism of a typical man-made muscle, which is called
a McKibben type driven by pressurized air. Another example of a wearable robot driven
by a motor, which is previously introduced in section 8.2.3, is shown in Figure 58. The
procedure for lifting work using the muscle system includes (a) thinking to lift up the
object by hand, (b) electric signal is transmitted from brain to human muscle, (c) sensors on
human arm surface detect biovoltage, (d) computer forecasts to do lifting up motion with
the biovoltage, (e) computer orders to operate the motor of power unit, and (f) just before
the human lifting up motion, the motor starts to assist the human lifting up motion. It is
expected that these systems are useful for care working, rehabilitation, military use, and
rescue working. But strictly speaking, this robot suit cannot be classified as an E-textile
because any textile is not used as a key material in the suit.
Recently, a robot suit system assisting the rehabilitation of patients who have half
their body paralyzed has been developed. Man-made rubber muscle driven by pressured
air is integrated into the arm part of the suit. The muscle is actuated to move the par-
alyzed arm in the same manner as a normal arm by detecting the motion, as shown in
Figure 59.

8.3.4 Intelligent assistance of workings

We can find some reports on the systems of intelligent assistance of workings using wearable
computer. Averett introduced several examples of their practical uses for such workings as
order picking, maintenance of aircraft, medical operation, and construction [107]. They be-
long to wearable computers but cannot be classified as E-textiles except oral communication
system integrated to working wear protective against very cold environments.
There have still been some examples of research on working wear system through
which wearers can communicate with each other and the commander [108,109]. Such
systems seem to be useful for insuring the worker’s safety in dangerous work environments
and cooperative workings with complicated and harmonized operations in each separate
position.
 Textile Progress 175

Figure 58. Wearable robot for assisting human power in working [105].

Figure 59. Robot suit assisting rehabilitation of patients who have half their body paralyzed [106].
176 T. Matsuo

Figure 60. Examples of decorative uses based on light-emitting pattern by an E-textile system [110].

8.3.5 Fashion, decoration, and advertisement

By docking some units for output by such forms as signal light, display, and sound with
textiles, we can positively make use of them for fashion, decoration, entertainment, adver-
tisement, and safety visibility. This kind of E-textile has the following significant potentials
by their nature – to be flexible, dynamic, modular, and interactive.
A system that has LED array display unit driven by designed plan input into personal
computer using specified software has been developed. Figure 60 shows some examples of
its decorative uses. Several trials of application to fashion [111], decoration, advertisement,
and the on-stage action have also been tried.

8.3.6 Assisting sports and actions for health

A system of training wear for running by which heart rate, speed, and distance can be
monitored by using the sensors snapped at its heart position and shoes has been commer-
cialized. Data are sent to a wrist-mounted computer, which can display and record in real
time [112]. A wearable health monitoring system in which a heart rate sensor is attached
to a sports shirt has also been commercialized [113].

8.3.7 Positive control of microclimate temperature

In this section, “positive control” means that the system utilizes at least some electrical
devices for control. For heating, we can conventionally utilize electric resistance heating.
There are many textile systems using this type of heating for thermoregulation of such
products as carpet, blanket, and gloves. On the other hand, Peltier cell can work for both
cooling and heating, as schematically shown in Figure 61. But in the system using Peltier
cell for cooling, the problem is how to effectively and practically liberate heat from the
external surface of the cloth. In a system, heat sink made of stainless steel filaments and
small fans is adopted for the liberation [50]. Such a cooling system is useful for work
clothes in very-hot-air environment and for clothes of congenital anhidrosis patients.

8.3.8 Intelligent tag

A textile intelligent tag has been developed. It is washable and has transmission and
receiving functions, as well as a computer chip. By the tag, the recording of the owner’s
name, manufacturing and distribution data, cleaning data, and care indication is possible
[114].
 Textile Progress 177

Figure 61. Principle of thermoregulation using Peltier cell embedded in textiles [50].

8.3.9 Intelligent interiors

A system of intelligent carpet has been developed, which can be used for a guide of the
way, a control panel for lights and air conditioning, fire alarm, indication of room, and
setting robot-moving route [115]. Such technology can be easily extended to other kinds
of interiors.

8.4 Future perspectives

Presently (in 2008) E-textiles are still at the developmental stage as a whole, but it can be
understood that there is a big potential for E-textiles if existing technological elements are
effectively utilized for the system that is properly designed to answer social potential needs.
Key points for their success must be (a) patient and successive efforts of developmental
activities, (b) finding negotiable solutions for customers between their cost and performance,
and (c) realizing their easier handling for customers.

9. Concluding remarks
While writing this article, the author took special care of the following: (a) systematic
introduction by setting the general scope for each chapter or some sections, (b) system-
atic constitution of contents, (c) orientation to only applied products, (d) introduction of
advanced technologies, but not too advanced technologies from a practical point of view,
(e) orientation to technologies, but to be based on scientific knowledge, and (f) the use of
many figures and tables for easier understanding for readers. One section in this article is
dedicated to E-textiles, which are now rapidly progressing. Hence, the author is afraid that
this section might be outdated in a few years.
178 T. Matsuo

As described in the beginning of this article, it is published successive to the former

article Fiber Materials for Advanced Technical Textiles [1] in the advanced textile series.
Hence, the author would like to suggest that readers who want to have the complete
knowledge of advanced technical textiles, read both articles.
The author is also afraid that the readers may counter some inconvenience for the
literatures referred to in this article because many of them are written only in Japanese.
But this fact also brings one advantage here, because it can supply a lot of information
on advanced technical textiles developed in Japan to the readers who do not have easy
access to Japanese literature. In order to compensate the inconvenience to some extent, a
few books are listed at the end of the references.
Finally, the author will be very pleased if readers can read this article with an intellectual
satisfaction.

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