Although this is a market dominated by woven, braided and warp knitted textiles, the exceptional stretch and elastic properties of circular knitted fabrics are making this a highly interesting field for wide areas of application.
This development prompted Mayer & Cie. to exhibit a circular knitting machine at the TechTextil in Frankfurt for the very first time this year. The model on show is capable of processing modern “technical” yarns and threads such as steel, copper or silver threads, Kevlar, para-aramides and many more – also in conjunction with cotton.
The exhibited model – a Relanit 0.8 single jersey machine – is already proving a highly valuable workhorse in the production of this type of technical fabric in practical operation. The relative movement technology developed by Mayer & Cie. which gave the machine its name (needles and sinkers move relative to each other) offers the benefit of
halving the number of deflection points passed by the yarn. The substantially reduced degree of friction associated with this technology naturally provides a particular benefit when working with these new materials.
As many visitors and exhibitors to the show (users and yarn manufacturers) were previously unaware that this type of material can be knitted at all, interest in the new technology was understandably high. Yarn manufacturers are looking forward to the opportunity of running tests with Mayer & Cie., and textile fabric manufacturers as well as producers of finished fabrics will be including the subject of “circular knitted technical textiles” on their agendas. The potential fields of application are varied and encompass protective clothing, medicine, the building industry, geotechnology – but in particular also the complete automotive and aerospace industries.
So-called spacer fabrics with guaranteed elastic recovery properties offer an interesting and varied application spectrum. They can be used just as successfully for all types of seating covers as for fields in which cushioning properties are required: In the clothing market for use in brassiere cups or as a temperature equalizing lining fabric in the field of mattress production.
Wherever fabric elasticity is called for, circular knitting is all set to make major inroads into the technical textiles market. And the circular knitting technique – still the most economical way to manufacture textile fabrics – unarguably takes pole position in this field. Impressive evidence of this has been provided not only from practical experience, but also from the knitting machine expert Mayer & Cie. itself.
For more information as well as samples, anyone interested in finding out more should contact Mayer on sales@mayercie.de
