The time of thinking fibers as source of producing clothing
and home textile products is still vibrant in the market, however, the wave of
innovation is inundating higher. Land, water and air- all are witnessing the
fascinating services of textiles. Today, it is one of the gigantic disciplines
of product development for engineering applications. In terms of the material
performance, textiles can be seen working at the interdisciplinary level by
offering the several technical advantages that may not be accumulated in a
single material traditionally known.
The companies and countries not cultivating any natural
fiber crop; or least significant in such activity are in a position of making
milestone achievement through innovative development, and producing engineered
textiles. Being resourceful in bringing up innovation with an enhanced research
and technology incubation cycle the industrialized countries, including USA, Western Europe, and Japan made better advancement, however, the Asian achievers China and India are becoming significant.
What has turned the textile materials to be in demanding
position for out of home articles! It is the functional character in producing the desired performance. There are several factors supporting the increased consumption
of textiles in special applications. Over the past several decades, textile
fibers have captured an inevitable position in composition and as an integral
part of product structure.
The advancement in material science has placed an increased
emphasis in finding novel or innovative substitutes to excel in performance the
existing composites. Lighter in weight, flexible in handling, soft in touch,
comparable in strength with metals, modifiable in size and shape; and all these
characteristics in an affordable price had provided the interesting novel
applications to textile materials. Therefore, it is not unusual to realize a
stream of innovative fibrous composition in above and beneath the land space.
Illuminating the advanced value in textiles has an influence
on traditional growing country to appreciate the spirit of innovation, place
mind set beyond yarn and grey cloth, and attempt to generate an enhanced
contribution to techno- socio development of country.
Today, the textile fibers are significantly serving the
places including air craft, aerospace, health care, automotives, geo
construction, transportation and physical protection. There are several textile
articles or constituting units from the construction and design of cabin to
highly specialized clothing products including g- suits for pilots, and entry
suits for space shuttle where significant contribution of textile fibers is
evident.
Variation in environmental conditions; and gravitational
force in aerospace operations posed specific requirements for safety and
functional performance. Therefore, the textile clothing being next to skin has
pivotal standing.
It is not unusual to see the interest of NASA, USA, through the research and development activities in the production and testing of textile
articles for Mars Exploration Mission. Aerospace textile is an area of
technical textiles that covers special finished products to engineered
textiles. It includes the textile containing articles for specific functional
requirements to work in aircrafts, space shuttles, lunar and mars mission, and
space transportation.
The world market of technical textile products was estimated
to 16.7 million tones in 2000 with the value of US $ 92.88 billions. This was projected for the year of 2010 to 23.77 million tones worth of US $ 127 billions (1). The state
of the art technology in Europe and USA coupled with the availability of highly
trained and educated work force provide definite advantage in the development
of technical textiles and the ease of capturing the market. In these regions textile
products falling under the category of technical textiles approach to 40 % of the total textile manufacturing.
