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Technical textiles in the work place

Fire, cold, chemicals, water, cuts, grazes and electrostatic shocks: the working world is a dangerous place. However, the indsutry is working to ensure that all workers can go home healthy and with no injuries at the end of every day.

The terms ‘white collar’ and ‘blue collar’ are used to subdivide the working world and to show in which part someone works. However, a blue overall is often fully inadequately as an item of protective clothing for those people who do not sit in an office wearing a white shirt and tie. On the contrary, the circumstances in which ‘‘blue collar’ employees work call for special garments that, in the majority of cases, protect the wearer. Thus, firemen and steel workers need protection from great heat. Track inspectors who walk along railway lines and spend all day out of doors have to be protected against the elements at the same time as making them highly visible. In the chemical industry, the focus is on protection against a broad spectrum of substances.

A process that turns clothing into protective clothing is coating or finishing. For this field, the Swiss Cavitec AG company has developed Cavilflex. The high level of demand from customers for multi-functional hot-melt coating and lamination machines was the incentive and reason for this new development. However, many companies are not interested in investing in one-sided hot-melt coating machines. The result and the new idea that has arisen from this are that Caviflex incorporates three of the four main hot-melt application systems supplied by Cavitec, i.e. a rotogravure hot-melt, a 3-roller hot-melt and a slit-die hot-melt coating system. Thus the customer can adapt the three most important hot melt application systems in one line. A fourth application system - the rotary screen printing process will continue to be offered as a separate line.

“And even if the customer has chosen a three-roller coating system as being suitable for his current needs, he will always be able to react promptly if new coating methods are needed in the future”, says Bernd Can, engineer at Cavitec.

In the case of the products made by Britain’s BestOption Textile, the safety feature does not come from a coating applied to the material. Instead, the flame-resistent qualities of the fabric and garments derive from the various basic materials used to make the newly developed yarn. According to Terry Warrener, the garments are not only functional but also comfortable to wear. Given that the range of garments includes not only outerwear but also underwear, it was important that they feel pleasant to the skin. Another advantage of the fabric is that it requires no chemical treatment to fulfill its task. And, it does not lose any of its properties after repeated washing. Wearing comfort can also be increased if Elastan is integrated into the fabric. However, the material is not only disginguished by flame resistant qualities. It can, if required, also be made antistatic”. In many fields, it is essential that garments have antistatic qualities. Accordingly, it was important that we could integrate this aspect wherever necessary”, says Warrener. Thus, people working in areas subject to electrostatic discharges face a variety of hazardous situations because explosions can occur in their immediate vicinity.

Another new development in the Protech field will be presented by Schappe Techniques S.A.R.L. The French company specialises in spun yarns that are suitable for a wide range of applications. In the protective-clothing sector, the company has developed a yarn called ‘Procut’, which is made of spun yarns and fibreglass. As the name implies, a glove made of Procut glove can protect the hand against cuts. “A thin Procut glove easily meets the requirements of Class 5 in relation to EN 388 and it remains a first-class glove even after being washed ten times”, explains Xavier Giroux. Other qualities of the material include wearing comfort, which is not always the case when it comes to materials such as fibreglass. Furthermore, the yarn is also resistant to abrasion, chemicals and water.

W L Gore and Associates has lined up something completely different: Airvantage, an individual temperature-management product for garments. Airvantage is likely to be of great iterest to everyone who works out of doors in all weathers.

The system is based on an ancient piece of knowledge, namely that air is a poor conductor of heat and, therefore, the best natural insulator. On the one hand, air enclosed in the product protects the wearer from cold and on, the other hand, retains body heat. Thus, Airvantage consists of two airtight and breathable laminates that are bonded with other. A valve controls the special air chamber structure. The degree of insulation required to compensate for the change in the outside temperature or different activities can be regulated by simply inflating or deflating the air chambers. In the first case, the additional air results in a significant increase in the thermal retention properties and the wearer soon feels warmer. In the second case, releasing air enables excess heat to be dispelled faster. Thanks to the membrane technology, perspiration vapour can escape into the atmosphere. “We have invested more than 7,000 test hours under extreme conditions in the development phase”, says Michael Haag. “For us, it is important that our products are not launched until they are fit for use, in other words until they meet the wearer’s requirements.’

Fire, cold, chemicals, water, cuts, grazes and electrostatic shocks: the working world is a dangerous place. However, the indsutry is working to ensure that all workers can go home healthy and with no injuries at the end of every day.