Molecular recycling technologies from Eastman allow plastic waste of almost any kind to be recycled an infinite number of times into feedstock that is indistinguishable from virgin materials in quality.

TW Special Report

Increased demand for recycled plastic and a rising focus on solving the global waste crisis have created demand for technology solutions to develop a sustainable lifecycle for plastics. The scope of the global plastic waste crisis — about 300 million tons of plastic produced globally and only about 15 percent of it being recycled today — means there is no time to waste in doing something about it. That reality has driven Eastman Chemical Co., Kingsport, Tenn., to apply innovation to the problem, with the result being commercialization of its Advanced Circular Recycling technologies. These molecular recycling technologies enable the company to recycle almost any kind of plastic waste an infinite number of times and deliver recycled content that is significantly lower in carbon footprint compared to processes using fossil feedstocks, and indistinguishable from virgin materials in terms of materials quality.

Eastman began this journey two years ago and, in late January 2021, took its biggest step yet: The company announced a $250 million investment to build a new molecular recycling facility that will recycle polyester.

Historically, plastic recycling is associated with mechanical recycling — this basic method is a well-known, mainstream method of dealing with plastic waste. In general, it involves gathering the product, sorting, washing for decontamination, shredding and melting. The order may vary, but the result is similar.

The downside to this approach is the level of purity. To be used effectively in a recycled polyester (rPET) fiber product, the recycled material often must be blended with virgin polyester. Keep in mind that the melt product, usually in the form of pellets, is polymerized polyester, not the monomers or raw materials that form the polymer chains that are polyester.

Eastman Develops Advanced Circular Recycling Technologies

There are seven types of plastic resins produced and identified with Resin Identification Codes (RIC) 1 through 7. Mechanical recycling only processes RIC 1 (PETE) and RIC 2 (HDPE). Eastman’s molecular recycling doesn’t impose those limitations — the company has developed innovation technologies that give it the capability to recycle almost any plastic waste. Eastman’s molecular recycling technologies complement mechanical recycling to reimagine recycling as the world knows it, creating a future where almost all plastic products, even at end of life, are still regarded as valuable and do not become waste.

Eastman’s molecular recycling can process RIC 1-7 with the exception of RIC 3 — polyvinyl chloride.

Eastman employs two molecular recycling solutions: carbon renewal technology (CRT) and polyester renewal technology (PRT).

Polyester Renewal Technology (PRT)

Eastman’s PRT is a form of molecular recycling that enables the company to process a wide range of polyester plastic waste, which includes materials such as soft drink bottles, carpet and textiles, diverting these materials from landfills or incineration. This waste stream goes beyond clear, single-use water bottles to include products such as colored plastic bottles and food containers, and polyester carpet.

PRT unzips polyesters and converts them into their basic monomers to create new materials. The molecules produced are indistinguishable from materials made with virgin or non-recycled content. This process, also known as depolymerization, allows Eastman to recycle polyester waste over and over again without degradation over time and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 20 to 30 percent compared to processes using fossil fuels.

Eastman currently has a glycolysis-based PRT process operational in Kingsport, Tenn. with a new facility using the process of methanolysis that will be mechanically completed in 2022.

Molecular Recycling Facility Will Be One Of The World’s Largest

For almost two years, Eastman has asserted its commitment to accelerate the circular economy, and on January 29, that commitment increased by orders of magnitude. That’s the day Eastman Board Chair and CEO Mark Costa announced the company’s significant investment in the new, aforementioned molecular recycling facility, in Kingsport. The facility will provide intermediates that will enable the production of between 150 and 200 kilo metric tons (KMTs) of polymer production, depending on product mix. The feedstock for the facility will be hard-to-recycle polyester waste.

In announcing the new facility — with construction slated to begin in March — Costa said this material-to-material solution will not only reduce the company’s use of fossil feedstocks but also reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 to 30 percent relative to processes that use fossil feedstocks.

Eastman set ambitious sustainability goals in December 2020. Those commitments include a goal of recycling more than 250 million pounds of plastic waste annually by 2025 and more than 500 million pounds of plastic waste annually by 2030. Eastman also set a goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

“With the growing demand for products made with recycled content and the urgent need to address the global plastic waste crisis, now is the time for Eastman to take this step,” Costa said.

Carbon Renewal Technology (CRT)

Eastman commercialized CRT first among its technologies because the company was able to convert existing assets to recycle complex plastics on the molecular level. By leveraging an existing asset, the company was able to go from announcing its plans for CRT to commercialization within nine months.

Eastman uses PRT and CRT to recycle different kinds of complex plastics, and through different processes.

PRT is specifically applicable to recycling polyester, and CRT can be used to recycle almost any kind of plastic. The technologies each provide materials with certified recycled content for different end-market products: PRT materials are used in Eastman’s polyester stream for products such as Tritan™ Renew; and CRT materials are used for products in its acetyls stream such as its Naia™ Renew cellulosic fiber. The two technologies share an important attribute in that both produce new materials from plastic waste that is indistinguishable from materials made from traditional processes.

Textile World recently had the opportunity to speak with Tim Dell, vice president, Corporate Innovation and Circular Economy, Eastman, to learn more about the company’s molecular recycling technologies.

TW: Why is it the right time for molecular recycling? What products has Eastman developed and with which systems and in what forms?

Tim Dell: Molecular recycling isn’t new for Eastman — we actually were pioneers of advanced recycling technology more than 30 years ago when our company was part of Eastman Kodak. Back in the 1980s, there was a need to recover silver from PET film. We developed and operated a commercial scale methanolysis facility that converted the scrap film to monomers used to produce polyesters. We revisited the technology at different times through the years, but Eastman’s technology was ahead of the marketplace, even as recently as five years ago.

The time is right now because the market has changed. The world has changed. More sustainable solutions are in demand by our customers and their consumers. Many of the world’s biggest brands have announced ambitious goals for recycled content in their products, and for brands to meet those goals, recycled materials from molecular recycling must be part of the mix. It would be nearly impossible for all brands to meet their goals with mechanically recycled content alone.

In 2019, we commercialized CRT, our first molecular recycling technology. We use waste plastics to replace hydrocarbon feedstocks in the production of our cellulosic products. In 2020, we commercialized PRT, which we use to convert waste polyester to new polyester products. Our Eastman Renew materials are contributing to the right choice — now — in end markets that include eyewear, cosmetics packaging, textiles, reusable water bottles, kitchen appliances, medical equipment, and more. In our specialty plastics portfolio, customers are choosing Eastman Tritan™ Renew and Cristal™ Renew.

In textiles, which utilizes CRT, we’re incredibly excited about what Naia™ Renew can do for fashion by offering sustainability without compromise. Naia Renew launched in September 2020, and it was only a couple of months later that H&M announced it would be first to market with its Conscious Exclusive A/W20 made from Naia Renew.

It’s an exciting time for our circular economy program because we see this as an important element of our innovation-driven growth strategy, and we can help contribute impactful solutions to significant world challenges.

TW: Do you see other forms of chemical recycling showing promise?

Dell: A number of different companies are at various stages of developing chemical recycling technologies for material-to-material solutions. We’re supportive of these efforts and would like to see more innovative technologies in use. The magnitude of the global waste issue is so large that no one company or single technology can solve it alone. Eastman is committed to doing our part by investing in our own molecular recycling technologies, which have been at commercial scale for more than a year. We’ve already recycled millions of pounds of plastic waste and have set recycling goals that we think will make a difference and serve as a crystal-clear example that this can work. I can say this for sure — we can’t solve the global waste crisis without molecular recycling.

TW: How do you for see these technologies being implemented in the future?

Dell: Circularity is a core solution to addressing big, global challenges — such as climate change and the waste crisis — which is why Eastman is taking a leading role. We believe that plastic and textile waste must not only be eliminated but used, reused, recycled and recreated over and over again.

It’s also important to note that no one entity alone can solve the problem. It’s going to take multiple stakeholders — all of us, really — working together to solve this. We’ve learned at Eastman that no collaborative effort is complete without advocacy. The technologies alone aren’t enough. We need a reimagined recycling infrastructure that collects and delivers plastic to a better end than landfill or incineration. We need smart policies that will drive investment in economical, efficient infrastructure that gets more discarded materials into recycling facilities and then back into new, high-quality products.

TW: Eastman’s new molecular recycling facility will be a big step forward towards circularity. How easy is it to replicate your methanolysis technology? What makes Eastman’s approach different?

Dell: This technology is not easily replicated. Methanolysis requires significant expertise and know-how. We’re a science-based company with a 100-year history that possesses world-class competencies in process chemistry and polymer science, and those elements are significant in building and operating a methanolysis recycling facility. But those aren’t the only elements. We are world experts in this chemistry in particular, and we also have engineering competencies and site-integration advantages that enable us to scale up a commercial operation quickly.

January/February 2021

Rice lab makes case for high-performance carbon nanotube fibers for industry

By Mike Williams

Carbon nanotube fibers made at Rice University are now stronger than Kevlar and are inching up on the conductivity of copper.

The Rice lab of chemical and biomolecular engineer Matteo Pasquali reported in Carbon it has developed its strongest and most conductive fibers yet, made using long carbon nanotubes processed through a wet spinning process.

In the new study led by Rice graduate students Lauren Taylor and Oliver Dewey, the researchers noted that wet-spun carbon nanotube fibers, which could lead to breakthroughs in a host of medical and materials applications, have doubled in strength and conductivity every three years, a trend that spans almost two decades.

While that may never mimic Moore’s Law, which set a benchmark for computer chip advances for decades, Pasquali and his team are doing their part to advance the method they pioneered to make carbon nanotube fibers.

The lab’s threadlike fibers, with tens of millions of nanotubes in cross section, are being studied for use as bridges to repair damaged hearts, as electrical interfaces with the brain, for use in cochlear implants, as flexible antennas and for automotive and aerospace applications.

They are also part of the Carbon Hub, a multi-university research initiative launched in 2019 by Rice with support from Shell, Prysmian and Mitsubishi to create a zero-emissions future.

“Carbon nanotube fibers have long been touted for their potential superior properties,” Pasquali said. “Two decades of research at Rice and elsewhere have made this potential a reality. Now we need a worldwide effort to increase production efficiency so these materials could be made with zero carbon dioxide emissions and potentially with concurrent production of clean hydrogen.”

“The goal of this paper is to put forth the record properties of the fibers produced in our lab,” Taylor said. “These improvements mean we’re now surpassing Kevlar in terms of strength, which for us is a really big achievement. With just another doubling, we would surpass the strongest fibers on the market.”

The flexible Rice fibers have a tensile strength of 4.2 gigapascals (GPa), compared to 3.6 GPa for Kevlar fibers. The fibers require long nanotubes with high crystallinity; that is, regular arrays of carbon-atom rings with few defects. The acidic solution used in the Rice process also helps reduce impurities that can interfere with fiber strength and enhances the nanotubes’ metallic properties through residual doping, Dewey said.

“The length, or aspect ratio, of the nanotubes is the defining characteristic that drives the properties in our fibers,” he said, noting the surface area of the 12-micrometer nanotubes used in Rice fiber facilitates better van der Waals bonds. “It also helps that the collaborators who grow our nanotubes optimize for solution processing by controlling the number of metallic impurities from the catalyst and what we call amorphous carbon impurities.”

The researchers said the fibers’ conductivity has improved to 10.9 megasiemens (million siemens) per meter. “This is the first time a carbon nanotube fiber has passed the 10 megasiemens threshold, so we’ve achieved a new order of magnitude for nanotube fibers,” Dewey said. Normalized for weight, he said the Rice fibers achieve about 80 percent of the conductivity of copper

“But we’re surpassing platinum wire, which is a big achievement for us,” Taylor said, “and the fiber thermal conductivity is better than any metal and any synthetic fibers, except for pitch graphite fibers.”

The lab’s goal is to make the production of superior fibers efficient and inexpensive enough to be incorporated by industry on a large scale, Dewey noted. Solution processing is common in the production of other kinds of fibers, including Kevlar, so factories could use familiar processes without major retooling.

“The benefit of our method is that it’s essentially plug-and-play,” he said. “It’s inherently scalable and fits in with the way synthetic fibers are already made.”

“There’s a notion that carbon nanotubes are never going to be able to obtain all the properties that people have been hyping now for decades,” Taylor said. “But we’re making good gains year over year. It’s not easy, but we still do believe this technology is going to change the world.”

Co-authors of the paper are Rice alumnus Robert Headrick; graduate students Natsumi Komatsu and Nicolas Marquez Peraca; Geoff Wehmeyer, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering; and Junichiro Kono, the Karl F. Hasselmann Professor in Engineering and a professor of electrical and computer engineering, of physics and astronomy, and of materials science and nanoengineering. Pasquali is the A.J. Hartsook Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular engineering, of chemistry and of materials science and nanoengineering.

The U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Robert A. Welch Foundation, the Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office and the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy supported the research.

Editor’s Note: Mike Williams is a senior media relations specialist in Rice University’s Office of Public Affairs.

January/February 2021

A combination of its traditional business combined with a special PPE project enabled family-owned Beverly Knits to grow year-over-year.

By Rachael S. Davis, Executive Editor

In 2018, more than 30 million small businesses — companies employing fewer than 500 people, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration — operated in the United States, and many of these businesses are family-owned. The textile industry is no stranger to family-owned businesses, with some of these companies owned by the same family over multiple generations. Gastonia, N.C.-based Beverly Knits Inc. is an example of one such family-owned textile business.

The pandemic brought about challenges and changes for many companies and weathering the storm has been difficult for many small businesses. Many had to pivot and rethink their business models, but the flexibility to do so resulted in growth for some companies.

Beverly Knits is celebrating 41 years as a family business this year, and according to Owner Ron Sytz, the company’s associates have stepped up to the challenges presented by COVID. “A culture of continuing to work as a tightly knit family business is our focus,” Sytz said.

The company was established in 1980 by Bob and JoAnn Sytz as a commission circular knit operation serving the North American textile industry. Today, the business — one of the largest circular knitting companies in the United States — is owned by Ron and Janet Sytz who have expanded the company’s capabilities and diversified its customer base. The company comprises Beverly Knits, Altus Finishing, Creative Fabrics and Creative Ticking; and employs approximately 325 associates.

Beverly Knits’ capabilities include specialized knitting, dyeing, finishing, and cut and sew operations. The company’s products are used in performance wear, athletic footwear, intimate apparel, outdoor products, mattresses and bedding, automotive, and industrial applications as well as medical products including personal protective equipment (PPE).

Knitting machine capabilities range from 8-inch machines up to 60-inch-diameter machines in gauges of 7 to 42 gauge in single knit, double knit, electronic jacquard and specialty knitting machines. Beverly Knits uses a variety of yarns — from natural to man-made, fine deniers to coarse, as well as specialty high-performance yarns — to realize the targeted performance characteristics and properties required by the application. The company works in conjunction with its customers to develop, design and create innovative fabrics.

After knitting, fabrics are processed through Altus Finishing using its state-of-the-art finishing equipment. The performance of the fabrics may be enhanced in a variety of ways from adding tactile aesthetics to antibacterial properties or water and soil repellency.

Creative Fabrics is the sales arm of the company, which sells finished products into a variety of markets including the bedding industry under its own Creative Ticking brand. The Creative Ticking division offers customers a one-stop-shop for bedding components and products via its cut-and-sew operation. Products available from Creative Ticking include pillowcases, sheets and full mattress covers, as well as the more recent addition of face masks and protective gowns in a range of personal protective equipment (PPE)

Textile World recently had the opportunity to speak with Ron Sytz to learn more about the company, the challenges presented over the past 12 months and the company’s future outlook.

TW: What markets are the most important to the company today? What markets do you see as important in the future?

Sytz: Beverly Knits has long been an important supplier to the performance athleticwear market and, in more recent years, has invested in capabilities to penetrate the bedding industry. With continued de-risking and reshoring of supply chains, most all markets will look to have a domestic resource for a larger portion of their demand. However, we see high performance industrial fabrics — including products that make their way into the auto market via seats, headliners and backing for simulated leather — will provide important growth opportunities . Beverly Knits has made recent investments of more than $1.5 million to develop more capabilities to service this market, including the preparation of fabrics for digital printing.

TW: Are technical/medical textiles important to your business? Is this a growing area?

Sytz: Beverly Knits works directly with high-performance technical yarn manufacturers to help engineer specialized technical and medical textiles, with the objective of achieving specific performance characteristics. With continued advances in yarn and fabric chemistries as well as recent investments in specialized finishing capabilities, we see growth in the development and application of high-tech fabrics designed to address specific needs. Medical textiles will continue to be an important growth area for us, both for PPE and unique applications in post-surgical care.

TW: What did the company look like pre-2020 and how has COVID impacted your business? Have you changed your business model at all, or have you introduced any new products as a result of the pandemic?

Sytz: With steady investments in specialized knitting and the expansion of fabric finishing processing, along with cut-and-sew capabilities, our enterprise has experienced growth during the years leading up to 2020. Demand for our traditional book of business started strong in 2020, but clearly slowed significantly during the second quarter with the onset of the pandemic. However, with consumers spending more time in their homes, the second half of the year saw exceptionally strong demand for bedding products. We also saw initial signs of reshoring of products for multiple market segments, generating volumes which just about made up for the reduced volume of the first half of the year.

Additionally, late in the first quarter, we pivoted very quickly to develop facemask PPE products made using circular knit fabric for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We tasked our own assets and quickly developed a network of more than twenty cut-and-sew operations across the country to supplement our own assembly capabilities that produced more than 20 million masks in three months.  a result, we were able to keep all of our associates employed during the entire year.

In summary, the combination of our traditional business and the special PPE project actually enabled our enterprise to grow year-over-year.

TW: Have you made any recent investments, or do you plan to make any investments in the near future? What technologies are of interest to you to maintain/grow your business?

Sytz: Beverly Knits continues to invest in high efficiency and specialized electronically controlled knitting machines. Within Altus Finishing, we recently invested in an additional finishing line and added state-of-the-art topical application technology that allows us to better engineer fabric performance by employing advanced topicals in addition to the properties of the underlying circular knit yarns. In particular, we are developing enhanced cooling fabrics and have developed products with antivirial and antibacterial technologies to build solutions tailored to today’s ever-changing needs.

TW: How do you view the current business climate and how do you see the next several years?

Sytz: We are currently projecting continued growth as we bring on more assets and expand our facilities during 2021. We believe that bedding will continue to provide strength, that apparel supply chains will begin to require more production as they work through inventory gluts from 2020, and that reshoring will gain momentum across all segments. Supply chain managers will continue to de-risk their networks by reshoring more of their critical needs, which will create more opportunities for domestic manufacturing.

TW: What changes have you seen in the knitting industry over the past several years? Are there any particular trends in the United States or particular products in demand?

Sytz: Knitting machine manufacturers continue to advance the technology within their offerings and we have steadily incorporated these capabilities into our fleet. These new technologies allow for faster machine speeds and improved efficiencies for the processing of fabrics for all markets.  Additionally, we continue to see demand for the production of custom engineered mattress covers which lend themselves to the growth of the roll packed bed-in-a-box. There continue to be increases in requirements for the performance enhancements related to the elastification of fabrics to support consumer comfort and fabric recovery. And with the move to lightweight vehicles to increase energy efficiency, more textiles are being incorporated into automotive design and assembly techniques.

TW: Do you have any brands that you promote within the industry? Do you promote any brands at the consumer level?

Sytz: Our Creative Ticking business has developed B2B industry focused brands.

Several years ago, we began to develop and market TioTec® fabrics with technology to help bedding companies to assemble beds faster. The TioTec® technology incorporates the required fire barrier into the decorative cover fabric making it easier and faster to assemble mattresses.

Additionally, we developed and launched Zone 55^TM, a performance technology that applies enhanced fabric cooling chemistry to the focused areas of mattress covers that matter most for the consumer to moderate the temperature swings experienced in the bed.

TW: How does your workforce contribute to producing a high-quality product? Do you have skilled workers with a long history at the company?

Sytz: We are fortunate to have a large number of long-term employees, with more than 20 percent having greater than 10 years and 40 percent more than five years with the company.  And we have employees with 20, 30 and even 40 years of service! Over the years, we have trained and developed many experts in circular knitting. This was achieved by giving them the opportunity to play and work on multiple machine types, helping all to be more creative. We have also recruited employees who have many years of experience in the knitting, finishing and cut-and-sew industry. This experience not only helps with the efficient production of high- quality commercial programs, but also supports our product development and prototyping processes.  And we are interested in continuing to build our team with great people that can help us create value.

TW: Over the past decade or so, numerous consumer-driven issues have arisen. For example, issues such as sustainability and full-value traceability have become more important. Are these issues of concern to your company?

Sytz: Initially focused on apparel, we have seen interest in sustainability spread to all markets, including textiles for automotive production. We have always focused on using yarns and fabrics that are environmentally friendly including cotton, wool, and polyester yarns made using reclaimed bottles. We have also helped to develop new fabrics that reduce microfiber shedding. Additionally, as a company we have also attempted to reduce our waste by selling fabrics to recyclers whenever possible. Through this process, fabrics are processed and re-extruded into yarn to be used again.

TW: How does the company manage change?

Sytz: With a heritage of commission knitting, we have always knit a wide variety of styles for the market. So, managing change is inherent to our company culture — where we are accustomed to managing the production of a complex mix of products. An important element of managing change is the development of a diversely skilled workforce, where intentional cross training of our associates enables them to back each other up and to more efficiently flex with changes in demand and product mix.

TW: What are the company’s biggest challenges?

Sytz: Securing and developing manufacturing labor will be very important, and the companies that do this well will be positioned to grow. We are particularly focused on growing our workforce in order to task our expanding asset base.  And with that, we will look to attract capable leaders with specific skills to help our team grow.

TW: What do you see as the company’s greatest strengths?

Sytz: We have developed and attracted technical and operational expertise to support the research and development and the commercialization of custom solutions to our customers’ unmet needs.  We also apply this expertise to generate innovative proprietary modifications to our equipment, further enhancing our ability to innovate products for our customers.

TW: Please give a quick synopsis of your company’s value proposition. Please tell the readers what makes you special and sets you apart? Please let us know what to expect from your company in the future.

Sytz: Our value proposition is a combination of unparalleled knitting capabilities, tremendous research and development capabilities paired with top notch customer service and fast turnaround times. In a globalized economy, where we compete with companies across the world, we are able to add value through accomplishing what others cannot. In some cases, this means providing faster lead times than can be achieved by foreign competitors, in others it means providing customers with fabrics that can only be manufactured through our proprietary capabilities.

TW: Why do you do what you do? What motivates you?  

Sytz: When Beverly Knits was founded, it focused on developing new fabrics. Our family/team has grown under the creative spirit cultivated by Founder Bob Sytz who was a leader in the industry known for his can-do attitude and ability to create what was needed. The daily challenges are what we use to motivate our team. We believe in creating value and careers for our associates through innovation and manufacturing right here in the United States. We create the opportunity for each of our associates to support themselves and their families and strive to do so with a family environment and strong core values.

January/February 2021

Knitting innovations continue to add value for textile manufacturers during a difficult time.

TW Special Report

Courses, wales, loops, gauge, warp, weft, raschel, jersey, interlock … just some of the terms familiar to people working in the knitting industry. Knitting technology comes in a variety of types and sizes and may be used to make all sorts of products from small vascular heart grafts (see “Prototype Graft Designed To Replace Damaged Heart Vessels Shows Promise In Cell Study”, TW, January/February 2021), to shoe uppers and apparel fabrics all the way to large-scale bedding components and anything in between that requires comfort, stretch and seamless shaping, among other attributes.

Since ITMA 2019 — ITMA typically paving the way for new innovations — and despite difficulties in the machinery market because of the pandemic, knitting technology manufacturers are still innovating and helping their customers provide value. Here is a look at a few new products available to knitters.

Mayer & Cie

After completing field tests, Germany-based Mayer & Cie reports its OVJA 2.4 EM circular knitting machine now is ready for the market. The fully electronic model is designed for mattress cover fabrics with high output and a wide pattern variety. This ready-for-market version builds on the model introduced during ITMA 2019 with the addition of a new thread fluctuation control system positioned on every second feeder. A controlled air stream maintains constant yarn tension especially at high revolutions per minute, which helps avoid thread loops and dropped stitches.

“With a feeder density of 2.4 the OVJA 2.4 EM tallies precisely with the current trend toward higher feeder densities that make higher productivity possible,” said Thomas Zizmann, area sales manager at Mayer & Cie. “The OVJA 2.4 EM produces up to 30 kilograms of fabric per hour. That makes it demonstrably the most productive machine of its kind in the world, as shown by its speed factor of 950.”

Relatively new to the mattress market, knitted fabrics have taken off over the last 20 years according to Mayer & Cie in part because of their elasticity and flexibility. However, the market is increasingly competitive, and Mayer & Cie. aims to add value for its customers — mostly premium manufacturers in the United States and Belgium in this sector — by increasing the production output of its mattress machines.

Mayer & Cie also offers the OVJA 1.6 EE/2 WT double jersey jacquard machine for multi-colored designs and microstructure elements including tuck structures, spacer fabrics and double-knit fabric with a lay-in thread. The machine features three-way electronic needle selection in the cylinder and two-way technology in the rib dial. When special needles are employed, the machine can knit yarns up to 1,200 denier in gauges as coarse as E16. Applications include mattress covers, upholstery, transportation seat covers, shoe uppers and outerwear.

In keeping with the digitalization trend, Mayer & Cie. also offers a cloud- and web-based digital solution for the knitting industry via its knitlink technology. knitlink records data from each machine and provides operators with a visual record of the data on a personalized dashboard.

my.shop was recently launched in selected countries, and a web shop for spare parts will be widely available in the near future, according to the company. Additional functions also are in development.

Karl Mayer

On the business side, in 2020 Germany-based Karl Mayer Textilmaschinenfabrik GmbH acquired H. Stoll Ag & Co. KG., an established name in the flat knitting arena. The purchase broadens Karl Mayer’s product offerings to include both warp knitting and flat knitting solutions. Stoll now operates as an independent business unit within the Karl Mayer corporate group.

In the United States, the Stoll and Karl Mayer North American subsidiaries were consolidated into one location in Greensboro, N.C. An investment at the site, scheduled for completion in March 2021, includes a state-of-the-art textile development and visitor center, which offers demonstrations, training, collaboration opportunities with industry partners, prototyping and an assembly operation for both Karl Mayer and Stoll technologies. Stoll’s core team in Greensboro offers business and technical management, textile design and product development, machine programming and customer service.

“With the new development and visitor center and the synergies that come with combining our capabilities, we offer textile producers and all industries that can imagine the use of textiles an extremely strong resource in North America” said Tony Hooimeijer, president of KARL MAYER North America.

The company also has created a Textile Makerspace platform intended to help connect the textile industry with new technologies to encourage innovation. One focus, Textile Circuit, looks at smart textiles and wearables, and projects are underway at the company’s headquarters in Obertshausen, Germany. The Greensboro location also offers a Makerspace area with a modified standard machine and competent service technicians, according to the company, where U.S.-based customers can develop and implement ideas for e-textiles with support from Sophia Krinner, textile technology product developer, who was charged with setting up Textile Circuit. “Customers can come to us with their ideas and work with us to try out different ways to make their ideas a reality,” Krinner noted.

On the technology side, Karl Mayer offers some new technologies for the knitting sector. Its RD 7/2-6 EN double needle bar raschel machine offers up to 30-percent higher speed compared to its predecessor the RD 7/2-12 EN, according to the company. First introduced in 2019, the machine can knit 3D fabrics using a trick plate distance of 2 to 6 millimeters. Its EN pattern drive and maximum shogging movement of 1 inch allow patterning variety with up to 12,000 stitch repeats. The machine is available in working widths of 138 and 77 inches in gauges E 18, E 22 and E 24. Fabrics may be used for footwear, clothing and mattress applications.

Karl Mayer’s HKS 3-M ON was one of the first machines connected with the company’s digital solutions. The machine can directly download pattern data from the KM.ON secure cloud and does not need to use pattern disks, which allows for easy pattern changes found with EL gears at the speeds associated with N pattern drives. The machine recently was issued in a wider working width of 300 inches for wider or side-by-side production, and is up to 15 percent faster than its predecessor, according to the company.

Karl Mayer offers three interchangeable options for purchasing lappings for the HKS 3-M ON — SwapKnit 36 and SwapKnit 36 Flat for designs up to 36 stitch courses; as well as a variant developed for pattern repeats of more than 36 stitch courses. Patterns for the machines are downloaded from Karl Mayer’s Webshop Spare Parts and loaded on to the knitting machine for fast and flexible pattern changes. According to Karl Mayer, the hybrid machine combines the patterning possibilities of a typical N and EL pattern drive in a single machine.

Shima Seiki

In the early days of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, Japan-based Shima Seiki Mfg. Ltd. released free knitting data for masks that could be produced using a variety of its knitting machines including the Wholegarment® technology. The goal was to help Shima Seiki machine owners who were looking to switch production to masks to alleviate the shortage of surgical masks as quickly as possible. The patterns were for 3D form-fitted masks featuring integral ear loops that could be knit in one step with no further sewing required. The designs are available at Shima Seiki’s user website located at shimaseiki.com/user/samplesearch.

Officially launched in September 2020, Japan-based Shima Seiki Mfg. Ltd.’s yarnbank™ online web service allows users to search and view the latest yarns from a wide variety of companies around the globe, and then download the yarn data for use by fabric simulation and virtual sampling on the Shima Seiki SDA®-onE APEX4 design system. The goal is to give designers the ability to create accurate representations of garments that may be created using yarns that are available for production.

Existing Shima Seiki APEX users can register to use yarnbank free of charge.  In October 2020, the company also launched a subscription-based design software option named APEXFiz™. This offering breaks with Shima Seiki’s tradition of offering only all-in-one proprietary hardware and software packages and allows customers to install the software — available in five different configurations: Design Jr.; Design-Standard; Design-Knit; Design-Weave; and Design Pro — on their individual computers. APEXFiz users also have access to yarnbank.

Shima Seiki reports it “has traditionally promoted design simulation and virtual sampling as an essential part of its ‘Total Fashion System’ concept wherein virtual samples replace physical samples in an effort to reduce time, cost and materials wasted in the sample making phase, further realizing overall efficiency and reduced waste for a sustainable manufacturing supply chain.”

Yarn companies can register their products on yarnbank under a number of different plans. The advantage to yarn manufacturers, according to Shima Seiki, is the ability to “present their yarns directly to their customers.” The yarnbank technology can save time, costs and materials for yarn manufacturers by reducing the dependence on traditional sample books for product promotion.

Shima also recently released the SHIMANAVI™ e-learning system that provides online training for its APEX series users. The flexible system offers support at the user’s pace when and where it is convenient. Several of the courses are available in multiple languages.

Comez

Some recent technology introductions from Jakob Müller Group company Comez Internationl S.r.l., Italy, include the DNB/600-2B, DNB EL-32 and 800 ACO/EL.

The DNB/600-2B is a high-speed mechanical double needle bed warp knitting machine designed for mass production of items including ear loops for masks and sportswear accessories. The low stitch density required for such articles and high operating speed of the machine equate to very high productivity, according to Comez. Equipped with two mechanically controlled guide bars, the DNB/600-2B can process all types of yarn into double face fabric structures. A compact design and reduced working width result in fast changeovers.

The company’s DNB/EL-32-12B, was first introduced at ITMA 2019. The electronically controlled warp knitting machine is designed for sample production using any yarn in all possible gauges on a single, compact machine. Items that may be produced using the DNB/EL-32-12B include technical textiles, medical textiles, shoe uppers and apparel textiles. The machine’s 12 guide bars and electronic long-throw device with a maximum stroke of 560 millimeters allow more advanced technical fabrics to be produced such as reinforced fabrics, fabrics with continuous weft insertion and technical furnishing fabrics.

Comez’s 800 ACO/EL crochet knitting machine features compound needles, electronically controlled yarn tension and stitch density regulation. Comez reports the machine is suitable for the production of elastic and rigid fabric and tapes, and is ideal for products requiring a lock-stitch structure such as medical and orthopaedic textiles, closed-loop Astrakhan-style fabrics, furnishing ribbons and tapes, and sportwear ribbons, among other articles. The machine is equipped with eight weft bars and is available with an 800-mm working width.

Groz-Beckert

Germany-based Groz-Beckert KG recently introduced the SANT™ SF special application needle and Sinker SNK SF for use when knitting staple fiber yarns with increased fiber fly on large diameter circular knitting machines. In such manufacturing processes, fiber residue, fiber abrasion and dirt can cause deposits in the channels of the needle carrier channel that eventually result in uneven needle seating, tight movement and needle and sinker overheating, which leads to poor quality fabrics and damage to the machine components. The SAN SF needle and SNK SF sinker were designed to reduce dirt accumulation and extend required cleaning intervals to reduce machine downtime.

The staple fiber needle features a closed shank on the back of the needle, and cushions to support the cylinder walls. According to the company, the needle also enhances uniform loop structure.

The sinker has an opening in the front area for lint removal that creates a self-cleaning effect. Use of the sinker reduces fabric defects and wear on machine parts.

Also new from Groz-Beckert is its Academy Mobile Knitting. The company extended its Groz-Beckert Academy with the addition of online seminars that can be accessed from anywhere.

Currently, a new online seminar is available the second Tuesday of each month. Seminars are live and interactive, and attendees can ask the presenter questions using the chat function. The March seminar is titled “Reduced costs when knitting on large diameter circular knitting machines.”  The planned April session is named “Needle handling — Correct cleaning of flat needles.” More information about the seminars can be found at the company’s website.

January/February 2021

Knitted vascular graft prototype shows promise in preclinical findings.

By Laura Oleniacz

In a proof-of-concept study, Raleigh, N.C.-based North Carolina State University (NC State) researchers reported promising preclinical findings for a prototype of a vascular graft designed as a replacement for a damaged or blocked coronary artery, which supplies blood to the heart.

The findings, which were made in partnership with researchers from Case Western Reserve University, are part of an effort to develop a man-made graft that could replace a damaged or blocked coronary artery when a patient’s own vessels are not available as viable replacements after a heart attack. Ultimately, the graft is designed as a scaffold to aid in regeneration of the patient’s own blood vessels. And while their work is still in early stages, the researchers said their design will help to move the field forward.

In the journal Materials Science and Engineering: C, researchers reported they made their prototype vascular graft by knitting a collagen material with a man-made yarn. They found their design showed improved strength compared to a model that used the collagen material alone, and flexibility that compared to the human coronary artery. Also, in studies with human endothelial cells, they saw increased growth and adhesion of cells on the graft, indicating it could aid in the regeneration of the coronary artery lining.

“We see this as a new direction for research into coronary artery replacement grafts,” said the study’s senior author Martin King, professor of biotextiles and textile technology in the Wilson College of Textiles at NC State. “The use of collagen yarns is very new. We relied not just on one material, but we mixed the materials together and showed the two yarns can provide both mechanical strength and the biological response that we’re looking for.”

Currently, researchers said the “gold standard” is to use a patient’s own blood vessel, such as a vein from the leg or the mammary artery, to replace the coronary artery, but some patients do not have viable blood vessels that can be harvested and used.

“There is a need to find an alternative solution for this kind of patient,” said Fan Zhang, the study’s first author and graduate student at NC State in the Wilson College of Textiles. “That’s why we’re looking to use tissue-engineered vascular grafts.”

There are multiple challenges to designing a synthetic vascular graft that could replace a coronary artery, the researchers said. Some models have failed due to problems with clotting and narrowing of the arteries. Meanwhile, other models aren’t able to stretch and relax with the beating heart.

“The coronary artery is only about three to four millimeters in diameter so it’s a very fine artery, and it’s very easy for it to get blocked,” King said. “The question is: Do we have materials that will serve as a conduit without provoking this clotting on the arterial wall? That is one of the challenges. The other is that the heart is continually expanding and contracting, so we need a structure that can stretch and relax with every heartbeat.”

To develop their design, the NC State investigators collaborated with researchers at Case Western Reserve who have designed a biological yarn made of collagen. They combined that collagen yarn with a man-made fiber made of polylactic acid (PLA), which is biocompatible. When the fiber degrades, it forms lactic acid, researchers said, which is easily tolerated because the muscles in our bodies continuously generate lactic acid.

Researchers said their model is designed to form a temporary scaffold that can regenerate a cell lining similar to the patient’s own blood vessels.

“We’re not designing a prototype that is a ‘final product,’ we’re putting in the ingredients that will allow the patient to heal and use this construct to heal and function as a coronary artery,” King said. “The fibers would eventually degrade and be absorbed into the body.”

Researchers found that by knitting the collagen fibers together with the man-made PLA yarn, human endothelial cells stuck to the scaffold 10 times as much as to the man-made yarn alone. The experiment also showed three times greater cell growth after adhesion.

Also, they found it had excellent bursting strength and compliance, properties that will allow the graft to expand and contract with each heartbeat — similar to a healthy coronary artery.

“We were able to mimic the compliance of the coronary artery,” Zhang said. “This is the most important finding. In addition, with the addition of the collagen yarn component, we were able to promote endothelial cells to grow faster within this structure. That is very important for recovery of the endothelium.”

Their work is still at a preclinical stage and has yet to be tested in a living animal. They still have work to improve their prototype to overcome additional design challenges, including how to reduce the porous nature of the hybrid graft.

However, the team believes their findings show it is possible to combine both biological and man-made materials in the design of a man-made coronary artery graft. They are working on solutions to prevent blood leakage.

“With this combination of materials, we have been able to balance the mechanical performance with the biological response,” King said. “We were also able to manufacture the prototype graft using high speed textile production machinery, which will facilitate future manufacturing scale-up and translation to a commercial graft and the clinic.”

The paper, “A hybrid vascular graft harnessing the superior mechanical properties of synthetic fibers and the biological performance of collagen filaments,” was published online in Materials Science and Engineering, Part C. The paper was co-authored by Tushar Bambharoliya, Yu Xie, Laijun Liu, Hakan Celik, Lu Wang and Ozan Akkus. Funding in support of the work was provided by Donghua University’s 1,1,1 Project B07024 grant from the Ministry of Education of China and from an AATCC Foundation Student Research Support Grant.

Editor’s Note: Laura Oleniacz is Public Communications Specialist at NC State News Services.

January/February 2021