The ITA construction composites research group has successfully developed innovative semi-finished fibre products with leading textile machinery manufacturer, Karl Mayer’s, high-performance warp knitting machine, Biaxtronic Co. ITA is one of the top five-institutes at the RWTH Aachen University, which was awarded by the German Federal Excellence-Initiative.
With the procurement of the high-performance warp knitting machine with course-oriented weft-insertion system, further development and production of reinforcement structures for concrete matrices are aspired. Furthermore, 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, manufacture of unidirectional (UD) fabrics for fibre-reinforced plastics and plain knitted fabrics for thermal textiles in the mobility sector, and reinforcement of wound dressings in the medical textiles sector, according to a press release by ITA.
The new machine platform comes with new features which open up new research avenues for ITA and its research partners. The possibility to feed in base substrate will allow ITA to fundamentally research applications in the field of geotextiles. The installed Karl Mayer Command System, KAMCOS, includes an ethernet interface for integration into an existing network, which fulfils the requirements for research topics in the field of Industry 4.0, inline quality control, sociology, networking of the process chain etc. The newly developed electronic guide bar control system and the possibility to vary process parameter inline will improve the product quality substantially and help in producing locally adapted tailored textiles.
ITA thrives on the development of new innovative technologies and products, which mainly result from bilateral research projects between industry and universities. Thus, with the acquisition of the Biaxtronic Co, ITA is looking forward to undertake collaborative projects with national and international partners in the coming years.
