Hightex 2005

Hightex 2005

Textile World Asia Special ReportHightex 2005Highlights Turkey’s Nonwovens IndustryOrganizers
of Hightex 2005 hope to spotlight Turkey as an up-and-coming nonwovens and technical textiles
manufacturing base.

The nonwovens show will be held at the Istanbul World Trade Center.While all eyes have been
on China as the country to watch since the lifting of textile quotas at the beginning of this year,
Turkey has been busy expanding its participation in the global textile industry. One sector of the
industry that is gaining attention is nonwovens and technical textiles.There are 41 nonwovens and
technical textile manufacturers operating more than 50 production ranges in Turkey today, covering
the span of all nonwovens technologies, from spunbond to spunlace to thermobond to airlaid to
meltblown. These producers manufacture a range of products for a variety of industries, including
bedding and furniture, floor covering, automotive interiors, hygiene, geotextile, packaging, and
medical.Currently, the nonwovens production capacity in Turkey is nearly 125,000 tonnes, in which
16 percent is spunbond, 41 percent is punching and 14 percent is meltblown. Meanwhile, annual
spunlace production reaches 8,000 tonnes. While the majority of the finished products are for
domestic consumption, about 20 percent to 25 percent of the total production is exported to the
Middle East and North Africa.Over the past 10 years, Turkish manufacturers have invested more than
$50 billion in European Union-based technology and industry forecasters predict that the next four
years will see an additional investment of $5 billion by companies involved in exporting technical
textiles and nonwovens products.

Visitors to this year’s Hightex will have the opportunity to visit some of Istanbul’s famous
sites, such as the Blue Mosque (top) and the Bosphorus Bridge (bottom).Hightex 2005In an effort to
show the world just how much the country has to offer in the way of technical textiles and
nonwovens — the second edition of Hightex — the International Technical Textiles and Nonwovens
Trade Fair — will be held for the first time in Turkey, Wednesday, July 13, through Saturday, July
16, at the Istanbul World Trade Center.Organized by Turkey-based Teknik Ltd., the 2005 edition of
Hightex will primarily attract exhibitors and visitors — more than 20,000 are expected — from
Eastern Europe, the Middle and Near East, and North Africa.More than 40 nations and regions are
expected to be represented among the fair’s more than 163 exhibitors.Three main exhibition
categories will serve to steer visitors to areas of particular interest:• machinery and production
technologies;• raw material, fibers and yarns; and• products and smart textiles.An entire hall will
be given over to exhibitors of smart textiles — interactive fabric and apparel
technologies.Exhibitors will have on display a wide range of these products, including
antibacterial T-shirts; musical clothes; wearable computers; remote-controlled pillows; and heat-
and light-permeable curtains; among others.

Küsters Presents Compact Twin Calender

The nonwovens division of Germany-based Eduard Küsters Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG,
together with its local representative, Ilyas F. Azrak, will present at Hightex 2005 the company’s
latest developments in calendering and finishing equipment.The company will present, in addition to
the re-designed two- and three-roll calender, its Twin Calender with a compact design that has been
especially developed for carding or spunbond web ranges with a speed of up to 400 meters per
minute.In nonwovens finishing, Küsters will present the Twin KissRoll Applicator, the S-Roll Padder
and the S-Roll Squeezer.“We consider Hightex 2005 an important platform with visitors and
exhibitors from the entire region,” saidDominic Prömpler, area sales manager. “Over the past few
years, Küsters has already successfully contracted quite a number of sales in the Turkish nonwoven
industry. Leading export-oriented enterprises such as Telasis place their trust in Küsters’
calender competence.We were able to deliver to them the world’s largest calender for carded
interlining products.”

International Technical Textiles CongressFirst held in 2002, the second edition of the
International Technical Textiles Congress — organized by the textile engineering department at
Dukuz Eylul University — will run concurrently with Hightex 2005 at the Istanbul World Trade
Center.Organizers anticipate a similar offering of presentations from scientists from such
countries as Turkey, England, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Italy and Germany as was offered in
2002. These included presentations on:• end-uses of technical textiles;• high-performance fibers;•
composite materials;• automotive textiles;• geotextiles;• protective cloths;• textile coatings;
and• nonwovens.EDANA ParticipationThe Belgium-based European Disposables and Nonwovens Association
(EDANA), which has more than 180 member companies from 26 countries, will participate in Hightex
for the first time in an effort to become acquainted with Turkey’s nonwovens and technical textiles
market.“This is very much in line with EDANA’s newly defined remit in 2004, to extend its
membership to countries outside its traditional area of focus — Western Europe,” said Catherine
Lennon, external relations manager, EDANA. “Some of Turkey’s largest nonwovens producers and
converters are strong supporters of EDANA, and indeed we have numerous members from not only
Turkey, but also the Middle and Near East and Eastern Europe, all easily accessible to Istanbul,
the gateway between Asia and Europe,” said Lennon. “The aim of the EDANA stand will be both to
reiterate the benefits of EDANA to existing and potential members and to promote INDEX 08 on April
15- 18, 2008, for which we already have received many confirmed bookings for stands, following the
outstanding success of INDEX 05 [in April].”

Hightex 2005 Application AreasHightex 2005 exhibitors will represent the entire spectrum of
nonwovens and technical textiles markets. Application areas represented will include:• agricultural
textiles;• building textiles;• geotextiles;• apparel;• home/furniture textiles;• industrial
textiles;• food textiles;• cosmetics/hygienetextiles;• medical/hygiene textiles;• transport
textiles;• ecological textiles;• packaging textiles;• protection textiles;• sports textiles; and•
smart textiles.

Venue HighlightsThe Istanbul World Trade Center — also known as the Istanbul Dunya Ticaret
Merkezi IDTM — is the newest exhibition center in Turkey. Located just 200 meters from the
international airport, the center offers 18,000 square meters of exhibition space, 2,500 square
meters of foyer space, and 16,000 square meters of parking space.The center also offers two
conference rooms, a business and press center, and a variety of dining options. Transportation,
including highway, subway and seabus, is available from the center to the airport.

Dilo Presents New TechnologiesAt Hightex 2005, Dilo System Group, Germany, will exhibit a
range of nonwovens and technical textiles technologies that serve industries such as automotive,
geotextiles, filtration, insulation and isolation, and composite materials.Spinnbau GmbH, a Dilo
subsidiary, will showcase its carding expertise with the Spinnbau Delta-Sigma-Card and the
DeltaCard.The Delta-Sigma-Card is described as a direct card because it operates without a
cross-layer or a lap drafter.The DeltaCard is a high-capacity universal card for needle felting
installations with a cross-lapper and a web drafter. It works like a double card because of the
Delta transfer system, resulting in a higher web uniformity and better blending quality for a large
range of web weights and fiber finenesses. According to Spinnbau, compared with a conventional card
with single transfer roller between the breast and main sections, the DeltaCard provides a
considerably better quality at the same through-put or a higher throughput with the same quality
parameters.Both the Delta-Card and the Delta- Sigma-Card work with web speeds of up to 200 minutes
per minute (m/min).

Dilo’s Hyperlayer cross-lapper

Spinnbau Delta-Sigma-CardIn addition to the range of carding equipment, Spinnbau also will
display its aerodynamic web forming machines,Turbo-Unit and Turbo-Card, which according to the
company, are good alternatives for the production of lightweights when higher cross-directional
strengths are required.The new Turbo-Unit M’s advantages include high throughput and evenness of
the weight profile.With a coefficient of variation value of around 5 percent, the speed range is up
to 60 m/min. Depending on the fiber fineness and web speed, a weight range of 30 to 250 grams per
square meter (g/m2) is possible.Other than Spinnbau products, Dilo System will have at its booth
the new Dilo Hyperlayer cross-lapper. It will demonstrate using webs that are 2.5 meters wide and
up to 3.5 meters in layering widths.Tests have shown that the Hyperlayer, designed for high-speed
webs with low weights and fine fibers, may be run at web speeds of up to 50 percent higher than
those of conventional crosslappers, according to the company.Besides water-entanglement technology,
mechanical needling of fine fleeces at low weights also is gaining importance.According to Dilo,
for weights ranging from 30 g/m2 to 80 g/m2 with fibers measuring less than 2 dtex, elliptical
needling with Hyperpunch technology is a must because only with elliptical needling can dimensional
changes, such as draft and cross-direction shrinkage, be minimized.Among the Hyperpunch range for
double-sided needling, model series DI-LOOM OUG HVL and HAL are particularly ideal for use with the
fine fleeces that are required for automotive applications. Moreover, the DILOOM OUG Hyperpunch
needle looms also can be equipped with the new DBF batt feeder for precompacting and predrafting
the fiber batt. In web forming and consolidation, Dilo offers the ProfiLine CV1 system as a
standard to even out the cross-direction weight profile and therefore reduce the fiber consumption
at low CV values.Other than the above, Dilo also provides equipment for opening and blending, web
forming with cards and crosslappers, aerodynamic web forming, and needle looms for consolidating
batts.The company said practically any fiber material for fleeces in the weight range of 30 g/m2 to
several kilograms per square meter may be processed.

July/August 2005

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