ITA acquires composites 4.0-enabled BIAXTRONIC warp-knitting machine from Karl Mayer

 

The Institut für Textiltechnik (ITA) of RWTH Aachen University (Aachen, Germany), a renowned institute worldwide in the field of textile technology and member of the composites consortium AZL Aachen, has procured a BIAXTRONIC high-performance warp-knitting machine with course-oriented weft-insertion system from Karl Mayer (Obertshausen, Germany). ITA will use the BIAXTRONIC for the development of knitted open-meshed textile grids and non-crimp fabric structures for fiber-reinforced composites and reinforced concrete applications.

Technical textiles play a central role in all areas and application fields of ITA. The ITA Construction Composites research group, as part of the Collaborative Research Centre 532, have developed textile reinforcement structures for concrete matrices with the help of the current in-house machine (Karl Mayer Malimo) from 1999 to 2011. Procurement of the BIAXTRONIC will enable further development and production of reinforcement structures for concrete matrices. The new machine will also be used for the development of functional samples/prototypes in other application fields such as:

• Production of hybrid knitted fabric structures over a non-woven substrate;
• Reinforcement of wound dressings in the medical textiles sector;
• Manufacture of unidirectional (UD) fabrics for fiber-reinforced plastics and plain knitted fabrics for thermal textiles in the mobility sector.

The new machine platform features technologies that open up new research avenues for ITA and its research partners. The possibility to feed in a base substrate will allow ITA to fundamentally research applications in the field of geotextiles. The machine also includes the Karl Mayer Command System “KAMCOS” with an ethernet interface for integration into an existing network. This fulfills the requirements for research topics in the field of Industry 4.0, as well as inline quality control and networking of the process chain. The newly developed electronic guide bar control system and the possibility to vary process parameters inline will improve the product quality substantially and help in producing locally-adapted and tailored textiles.

ITA thrives on the development of innovative technologies and products, which mainly result from bilateral research projects between industry and universities. Thus, with the acquisition of the BIAXTRONIC, ITA is looking to undertake collaborative projects with national and international partners in the coming years. ITA also plans to unveil the BIAXTRONIC on Jan 21,  2021 and cordially invites interested partners to attend the one-day industry event in Aachen.

This acquisition of the BIAXTRONIC is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, project number INST 222/1264-1 FUGG. ITA extends its gratitude towards the DFG and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for their financial support.

Please contact Shantanu Bhat at shantanu.bhat@ita.rwth-aachen.de regarding more information or further interest.