Textile Review

Technical Textiles-Global Market $150 billion The global market for Technical Textiles is likely to rise to $150 billion in the coming years from around $127 billion in 2010. Of course, the application of Technical Textiles is very nascent in India, but the potential is enormous.

Only a couple of producers currently produce these textiles in the country.

Founder Editor Jay Narayan Vyas, M.Tech., F.I.E. Associate Editor - Sonali Chatterjee Design & Layouts - Chirag Panchal Circulation - Jayesh Joshi

National Textile Corporation (NTC) is now gearing up to take advantage of the growing demand for Technical Textiles within the country. Recently, it announced an investment of Rs.4.25 billion in Technical Textiles joint venture to meet the fast growing demand in healthcare and infrastructure sectors. NTC is said to be offering a minority stake to the proposed joint venture partner. The investment would be financed in proportion with the ratio of share holding in the venture. The effort would be to try to market the products in both the domestic and international markets. As this is an emerging sector, a global firm has to be roped in to provide technology to the venture and help to market the produce. As per the NTPC, the JV is planned to be set up in two units, one each in North and South. The land required for putting up the plants has already been acquired. The two proposed mills are expected to be operational in 18-24 months from the date of commissioning the project.

As per the latest Government estimates, the domestic market for Technical Textiles is expected to register an 11 per cent growth to cross Rs 66000 crore by 2012. There are two important segments of Technical Textiles: Clothtech segment and Mobiltech segment. Clothtech segment mainly comprises of textile components used for specific functional applications in garment and shoes. These components are largely hidden e.g. interlinings in shirts, sewing threads, shoe laces, labels, hook and loop fasteners (Velcro), etc., Fabrics like umbrella cloth are also classified under the clothtech segment. Clothtech products are important part of the garment that ensures accurate fit and optimum wearer comfort, its stretchability, shrink resistance. The expected market size of Clothtech is estimated to be around Rs.1500 crore by 2012-13.

Mobiletech segment of Technical Textiles is used in the construction of automobiles, railways, ships, aircraft and space craft. There are two categories of Mobiletech products-visible components and concealed components. The visibles include seat upholstery, carpets, seat belts, headliners, airbags etc. The concealed components include Noise Vibration and Harness (NVH) components, tyre cords, liners etc. It provides good performance and safety, reduce the weight of the car, enhance the comfort and aesthetics and provide advanced insulation, fire retardancy and resistance to water, fuels, extremes of temperature and abrasion. The expected market size of clothtech is estimated to be round Rs. 5200 crore by 2012-13

Marketing Hasmukh Vyas, Jyotindra Bhatt Subcription - Sejal Shah Editorial Advisory Board Dr. Seshadri Ramkumar Dr. S. K. Basu Dr. Arindam Basu Dr. Samrat Mukhopadhyay O. L. Shanmugasundaram Corporate office

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Printed and Published by Saket Projects Ltd., Saket House, Panchsheel, Usmanpura, Ahmedabad - 380 013. Printed by him at Gujarat Offset Pvt. Ltd., Offset House, Station Road, Vatva, Ahmedabad. All rights reserved including the right to reproduce the contents of this publication in whole or in part without prior written permission of the Publishers. The views expressed in the articles published in this magazine are that of the respective authors and not necessarily that of the publishers. Textile Review assumes no responsibility or liability on behalf of the contributors for the information published in the Magazine. All possible efforts have been taken to present factually correct information. However, the publishers are not responsible, if despite this, errors may have crept inadvertently or through an oversight. Disputes if any, will be subject to Ahmedabad Jurisdiction only.

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NON-WOVENS FOR MILITARY APPLICATIONS

Chitra Sivasankar. A

Jaisar Spintex Private Limited Sankarankovil, Tirunelveli Dist, Tamil Nadu

06 12

DEVELOPMENTAL INITIATIVES FOR THE REVIVAL OF “TONK NAMDA”

- A TRADITIONAL FELTED FLOOR COVERING OF RAJASTHAN

Dr. Anjali Karolia & Surbhi Sardiwal

Dept. of Clothing and Textiles, Faculty of Family and Community Sciences, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara

MERCHANDISING IN AN APPAREL INDUSTRY M. Janarthanan - Lecturer S. Kathiresan

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Dept. of Fashion Technology Angel College of Engineering & Technology, Tirupur

CORRELATION OF YARN PROPERTIES WITH KNITTED FABRIC PROPERTIES Prof. B. B. Jambagi R. N. Narkhedkar Pankaj Gangane

Cotton Yarn Industry Needs Stable Decision

04

Ravindra Nath Vanka

Managing Director Ravali Spinners Pvt. Ltd Khandavalli, Andhra Pradesh

AIRBAG - A SAFETY DEVICE IN AUTOMOBILES Dr. V. P. Singh & Ruchita Singh

MLV Textile and Engineering College, Bhilwara, Rajasthan

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D.K.T.E’s Textile & Engineering Institute, Ichalkaranji

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S. Venkatachalam - Assistant Professor Dept. of Management Studies Karpagam College of Engineering, Coimbatore K. S. Kavitha - Lecturer Dept. of Commerce, Sree Ramu College of Arts & Science, Pollachi Dr. P. Palanivelu - Controller of Examinations Karpagam University, Coimbatore

News ........................................................... 44 Event Diary .................................................. 47 Career Opportunity / Quotes ........................ 48

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WHAT’S GOING ON IN TEXTILES AROUND THE WORLD Seshadri S. Ramkumar

Nonwovens and Advanced Materials Laboratory, The Institute of Environmental and Human Health Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas USA

••• July 2011

AN OVERVIEW OF SILK INDUSTRIES IN INDIA

03

INTERACTION

Cotton Yarn Industry Needs Stable Decision

Will you please chart out your journey so far, duly highlighting the major turning points?

I studied B. Sc (Chemistry), & Sugar Technology and quit my job (Rs 1900/month salary) and started my own business in 1990 when I was 27 years old. The unit started with few thousands of capital and the workforce of 50 women workers. The product is ‘Fallen Hair processing’ for exports.

Under SSI, I started exports turnover 25 lacs of Rs. in the beginning with State bank of India’s total support. With lot of study, wide travelling around world, step by step I increased my export business, to Rs. 180cr sales in last year. For last 22 years, we are in Human hair exports and with 3000 workers, we processed fallen hairs and exporting to different wig manufacturing companies in all continents. I like very much to give employment to village unskilled women in my industry. In this industry ours is the largest unit and we got several National export awards from Ministry of Commerce & FIEO due to our excellent export performance. Recently, we received “Entrepreneur of the year 2010” award for our “RK hair Products Pvt. Ltd”. This is mainly human based industry activity into cotton yarn in 2006. In Andhra Pradesh, there is lot of raw cotton cultivation, so I got interested to start a cotton spinning unit. Andhra Pradesh has lot of row cotton cultivation and lured by it, we started a cotton spinning unit too.

What do you consider the chief ingredient for your success?

Ravindra Nath Vanka

••• July 2011

Managing Director Ravali Spinners Pvt. Ltd Khandavalli, Andhra Pradesh

04

Shri Vanka Ravindra Nath is a Managing Director in Ravali Spinners Pvt. Ltd, at Khandavalli, Andhra Pradesh. He is a B. Sc (Chemistry) and Diploma in Sugar technology. He started his own business in 1990 when he was 27 years old. The company got several National export awards from Ministry of Commerce & FIEO due to their excellent export performance. They also received “Entrepreneur of the year 2010” award for our “RK hair Products Pvt. Ltd”. In the year 2006, the company diversified towards the Cotton spinning unit.

Shri Nath shares his perception about the biggest bottleneck in yarn processing with ‘TEXTILE REVIEW’. Here are the excerpts:

We established Ravali Spinners with 16800 spindles in 2006 when market was in full recession. After that, market improved and with our good quality standards, we caught good buyers and always enjoyed premium prices in market.

In 2008, we added another 16800 spindles of Reiter compact. Due to world class machines, we produced excellent quality compact yarn. We succeeded in this unit also. Now we are expanding with 31680 spindles from Rieter, India & KTTM ringframs with Toyota compact and it will complete total project in soon with total 65280 spindles & 10 TFO machines.

With timely decisions, good quality raw cotton, best world class machines, and with good technical team, we achieved our goals.

Being an industry player, where do you visualize industry after 10 years down the line?

Cotton yarn industry needs some stable decisions. India is agriculture based country, so farmers are showing interest in cotton crop. In future also, we will have our grip in world market. With modern processing and value addition, we can survive easily and we can dominate also, if government policies are wise.

What do you feel the biggest challenge for Indian yarn market?

Uncertainty is biggest challenge. Labor is not a big problem, if we compare other big hurdles. If prices are stable, industry will grow significant. Indian yarn always plays key role in world market. From government side there should not be any specific registrations to export cotton yarn. This will

INTERACTION create time delay and those who need quick shipments will be affected. Due to lack of drawback & EPCG benefits in India and same benefits given at Bangladesh & Pakistan, our competitors are able to export more yarn to other countries. Now Bangladesh is buying more cotton yarn from us and also it is exporting more.

What will be the competition profile among developing countries in yarn Production in coming year?

The country which generates more crop, will play key role. India can play better role in competition, with good volume of production with quality parameters. It is having rich source to upgrade existing mills also. Year by year, India can take much advantage and play key role in developing countries.

Quality of cotton is main problem. We have to educate our farmers regarding the importance of quality aspects and what steps they have to take. Contamination-free is very essential now a days. When crop is ready they have to pick up cotton lint without mix any leaf bits, and not to do any damage for immature flowers.

In Ginning, they have to take care not to mix any polypropylene, jute, human hair etc… These kind of precautions will take our yarn to international standards.

What are the range of products you are manufacturing? Who are your major clients in terms of industry segments as well as in terms of major units?

In our spinning unit, we are producing Ne30/1, 40/1, 50/1, 40/2 in combed counts. Ring spun and compact. We will produce next month onwards Ne 20/1 to Ne 30/2. We are producing slub yarn also with “Amsler” attachments.

Our major clients are weavers & knitters. In India we are regular suppliers of Arvind mills, Alok, Bombay Rayon, KG Denim, Raymonds, 30% production will go to exports.

Though lot of spinning unit at South, “Ravali” got very good name in Salam Market due to its high quality and good efficiency when consumer uses this yarn.

Your financial figures show astronomical upsurge in net profit, can you guide our readers the mantra behind it?

Work hard, positive attitude & timely decisions. We established bases in market, corporate & exports. With best quality, timely delivery we influenced very much our base

buyers. We are keeping this reputation on long term basis.

Sometimes, there is shortage of the coconuts, we manufacture and we got some premium. First we started with combed ringspun unit. Next we entered in Rieter “Compact” autodoff unit. Now we are going Rieter ringpun and KTTM Tayoto compact with link cone. Like, we incorporate latest technology in our production. Timely decisions on count management and we keep good quality raw materials to produce best quality products. We welcome all new developments in production. We installed Pinter stop rowing motion system first time in India. Due to this, we are getting better efficiency in production. Excellent relations with workers and time to time give training programs to improve their skills.

Where are your manufacturing units located? What is your product-mix and what has been your turnover during last five years?

Our unit is located Near “Tanuku”, Andhra Pradesh state, west godavari district.

Turnover: Name of village is “Khandavalli”.

2007-08 : Rs 21.52 cr.

2008-09 : Rs 38.53 cr 2009-10 : Rs 76.44 cr 2010-11 : Rs 57.20 cr (half year) Finally, any comments for the future yarn market in India? What are your Prediction?

I hope Yarn market in India will be stable soon. India is having enough cotton. Yarn demand is also growing both in domestic & export segments. So yarn prices will stabilize in coming days. If we produce all type of value added along with regular yarns with good quality, we always will be in prominent position in the world.

••• July 2011

What can be the biggest bottleneck in yarn processing? What is your strategy for it?

05

ANALYSIS ••• NONWOVENS FOR MILITARY APPLICATION

Chitra Sivasankar. A

••• July 2011

Jaisar Spintex Private Limited Sankarankovil Tirunelveli Dist Tamil Nadu

06

Many research works are in the pipeline to check the suitability of nonwovens in military applications. The Natick studies have proven that a needle-punched nonwoven fabric can be produced at one-third the weight of woven fabrics for certain ranges of protection. The nonwoven applications can be used in standalone or in supplementation configurations.

Nonwoven applications are utilized to enhance performance and reduce lifecycle costs for combattype clothing.

NON-WOVENS FOR

MILITARY

APPLICATIONS The instincts of any textile engineer would be that the nonwoven is a modern day concept, mainly due to the reasons that the machineries used to produce these nonwovens were introduced much later than machines used for knits and woven fabrics. But the truth is that nonwoven in the form of quilting has been in use since the middle ages. Many research works are in the pipeline to check the suitability of nonwovens in military applications. The Natick studies have proven that a needle-punched nonwoven fabric can be produced at one-third the weight of woven fabrics for certain ranges of protection. The nonwoven applications can be used in standalone or in supplementation configurations. Nonwoven applications are utilized to enhance performance and reduce lifecycle costs for combat-type clothing.

Nonwovens can be made into lightweight composite material that offers high durability, high breaking and tearing strength, breathability and cost reduction to replace the current woven applications. One more advantage in nonwoven applications is the third dimension of the material. This article will discuss the different applications and the related research work going on for the military fabrics.

H

umans have used forms of protective armour in combat for at least five millennia. At first animal skins and furs was the only protection both in combat and in cold weather.

Ancient civilizations used leather as a form of protection beginning in roughly 3000 BC. The use of leather has continued as a means of various types of body protection. Some 700 years later, ancient cultures such as those in Egypt learned to alter leather by boiling and tanning it.

Leather was very effective in warding off blows from bludgeoning weapons and can be found serving this role in some cultures and subcultures up to the present day. By the end of the sixteenth century and with the advent of firearms, armour had to withstand and absorb impact from large calibre projectiles. The weight of armour increased up to about 50 kg, which was a burden on the wearer. The leather garment originally created to be worn under armour was used alone, because it gave the wearer mobility. A debate began then about what were more important, optimum protection or comfort and mobility. During all of the armour developments of the ancient and medieval cultures, the greatest threats to soldiers and their armour were the ballistic weapons.

As early as the 14th century, armor was given a proof rating which guaranteed its protective qualities against weapons of the time. By the 17th century, ballistic testing was required for proofing protective gear. Some surviving armor shows marks of ballistic testing. During all of the armor developments of the ancient and medieval cultures, the greatest threats to soldiers and their armor were the ballistic weapons. Of these, the bow and the crossbow first posed the most dangerous challenges to survival on the battlefield.

Standard bows were able to penetrate many types of armour at ranges of 30–50 yards in early

ANALYSIS ••• NONWOVENS FOR MILITARY APPLICATION

Scientific Armour Studies Usage of armour started with the Vietnam War, infantry men were wearing Ceramic and/or ballistic nylon vests to protect them both from fragments and lower speed projectile threats. The military standards were devised based on the area of usage, but in general the stopping power of the material was evaluated based on its ability to completely stop a penetrating projectile. Some military standards also studied the material deformation and the target deformation.

Despite its obvious lack of sophistication by present standards, it quickly became apparent in such testing that no

When blunt tipped, hollow point or lead nose bullets are the projectile threat, the energy is released much more quickly than when ballistically optimized bullets are present. Metal jacketed bullets stay together longer and penetrate farther than soft lead or hollow point bullets do, therefore they are a greater threat to ballistic resistant armors. Large quantities of energy, released quickly onto an armor that successfully stops the bullet, can still be very serious unless the armor system can absorb the energy of impact.

As an example of what this means, the following illustration is offered: if a police officer is on duty and a criminal shoots at him/her, the officer wants the best possible armor to stop the penetration of the bullet first. After that, the officer wants low impact to the body from the bullet’s energy when it is stopped. Some highly touted bullet types, like the .38 Special JHP, the .45 ACP, and the .40 S&W deliver a lot of energy quickly into a soft target (a body) to bring it down. For this very same reason, they are very ineffective against body armor, and they are the easiest bullets to stop with modern armor. On the other hand, the 9 mm FMJ, the .357 magnum JHP and the .44 magnum JHP/SJHP are very dangerous. The magnum rounds deliver penetrating power followed instantly by a massive blow even if the bullet is stopped.

Worse yet for blunt impact force than the magnum handguns are the shotguns. Although most soft body armor above Level IIA can stop the pellets, or even a slug, the energy of impact Figure 1: Recommended Ballistic Testing procedure standard for NIJ from a slug or from 00 or 000 buckshot can still permanently injure or kill the wearer. For this material or combination of materials could withstand the reason, new efforts are being made to reduce the impact entire spectrum of ballistic objects or magnitudes of velocity from weapons after bullet termination. Bullets like the 7.62 x of such objects and remain intact or protect the wearer/user.

25 mm and the 5.7 mm FN are very small, but they can go Thus the name of bullet proof jacket became ballistic through most soft body armor without problem. They have resistant jackets. The most common standards that are used what may be described as a ‘high energy density’, that is, are in USA and European Union. The standard followed in high velocity, notable mass and a very small area of impact USA is provided by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). into which they concentrate all their deadly penetrative There are four levels of threat and two subparts in this energy. These weapons are far more dangerous than the standard. In the NIJ standard, to measure the impact of the slower, thicker .45 ACP or .40 S&W projectiles for this projectile that is transferred to the body, Roma Plastilina #1 reason. Rifles above .22 magnum calibre require rigid, or Modelling Clay is used. The USA standard for this is 44 mm ‘hard’, armor. Such armor types may consist of either metal, of indenting into the clay after projectile stop.

••• July 2011

warfare, but the wooden or metal overlaid wooden shield was able to effectively defeat most of these weapons. The Celts apparently were the military technologists who again changed warfare by introducing the longbow by the 13th century AD. This devastating projectile weapon was, in a sense, the first hint of the effectiveness of the later repeating rifles on battlefields. The longbow could put up to six arrows in the air simultaneously and accurately at targets 200 yards away before the first arrow in the volley hit. In continental Europe, crossbows became so effective against armor that the Church actually banned their use in warfare for a time.

Eventually, armor for nobles became thick and heavy enough to withstand most hits by even longbows or crossbows, so a further development in lethality was needed. This step came in the form of the gun. Guns and gunpowder were introduced to Europe from China, where such weapons were in widespread use by the 12th century.

Early guns were no more effective against royal armor than bows, but they eventually became powerful enough to render the use of any armor of the times ineffective. Thus it seemed that the struggle between weapons and armor had been won by the weapons until the reappearance of a new and practical concept in the Second World War.

07

ANALYSIS ••• NONWOVENS FOR MILITARY APPLICATION ceramic, pressed hard plastic or combinations thereof to stop anything from a .30 calibre M-1 carbine, .30–30 rifle or more energetic projectiles. The term ‘bulletproof’ has been discarded by both armor testers and armor producers in favor of the more descriptive term ‘ballistic resistant’ shortly after a rational testing scheme for these materials was adapted. The grim reality of the race between protection and lethality is that no matter how assiduously the designer attempts to protect a user from death and injury, there is always something that can deliver a fatal or disabling wound through any given armor.

Categories of Military Armour Ballistic-resistant materials for military purposes presently fall into three general categories: 1. Garments, such as vests.

2. Helmets.

3. Vehicle and structural reinforcement.

Ballistic-resistant vests, jackets, and similar garments are often mainly for protection against shrapnel and bomb fragments. Protection from military caliber small arms is quite challenging in most cases because of the high velocities, low aspect ratios and hard surfaces of the projectiles. Although such high-level protection is vital, it is cumbersome for long-term use in field situations.

Devices and End-use Requirements All ballistic resistant materials have certain common characteristics. The use of polymer materials has made the protection to weight ratio very favourable for their use over metals or ceramics. Lower weight also permits greater mobility and better capability for police or military personnel to perform their assignments with reduced threats from attackers. In addition to the desired characteristic of low weight, there are also important demands for flexibility and thermal transport. Stiff, inflexible ballistic garments inhibit performance even at low weight. Garments or materials that trap body heat and moisture are unpleasant for intended wearers and are cited as one of the main reasons such garments are not worn in the line of duty.

••• July 2011

Conventional Approaches

08

Conventional devices used in this area are now at least known by the people peripherally, albeit it is still commonly misguided as a bulletproof material instead of bullet resistant material. No layman would believe that these flexible materials are actually textiles, and it would be met with just astonishment and even disbelief. Most of the materials used today are actually made from woven filament materials. Many newer technologies are being devised which bypasses the productivity of conventional approaches and also offer unique capabilities. The significant technologies used for consideration are weaving, knitting, nonwovens and resin fortified, filament lay-up composites – only knitting is unsuitable for use in ballistic materials at present. Fibers are basic component of all these structures. These fibers are conglomerated to form yarns which are used in the woven fabrics, and EPI, PPI, the kind of weave design which is used are all major points which have

to be considered while designing the fabrics for use in ballistic material vests.

Unconventional Nonwoven Approaches Needle-punching is a simpler operation than weaving by which a variety of properties can be obtained in the fabric by varying the process components. Continuous ballistic fibers are chopped into smaller fibers, carded and (usually) randomly oriented by cross-lapping to form an isotropic mat or sheet. This sheet is subsequently consolidated by a set of barbed needles. The needles push a limited amount of fibers at 90o through the sheet of randomly oriented fiber felt. The felt material engages fragments much better than traditional woven fabrics. A 1966 US Department of Defence study found that a needle-punched structure containing ballistic resistant nylon could be produced at one third the weight of a woven duck fabric while retaining 80% of its ballistic resistance. The process is still being used with success today in special applications.

Selection Of Fibers Ballistic Nylon was a better choice of fibers for many years for its high strength to weight ratio and could be fashioned in sufficient layers to capture shrapnel fragments from some explosive projectiles and devices. As polymer science progressed, fibers such as high tenacity polyamides, aramids, and linear, high density polyethylene (HPPE) were developed for ballistic resistant applications. The protection offered per unit weight of the material increased greatly.

Such structures provide higher comfort, and less conspicuous means of providing protection against a ballistic threat. Ballistic nylons are no longer used because modern fibers offer superior performance.

Aramid fibers are condensation polymers belonging to the polyamide family of fibers, but their amide links are formed at aromatic ring structures. This chemistry allows the fiber to form very rigid, long chain structures with high modulus, high tensile strength and high temperature resistance.

Unlike nylons, aramid fibers are not thermoplastic and must be solution spun into sulphuric acid or similar oxidative solvents for formation.

Two typical aramid fibers are DuPont Kevlar and Teijin Twaron. Starting with Kevlar 29 in 1970s, Kevlar 129 in 1980s was offered with smaller denier per filament for increased flexibility and comfort. The most current Kevlar fiber for military use in fragment and bullet resistant roles is Km2.

Teijin–Twaron produces several types of Twaron for ballisticresistant garments. The first generation, Twaron Standard, was introduced in 1986. The latest generation of Twaron is CT Microfilament. This product contains up to 50% more individual filaments than other equivalent weight aramid yarns. The 930 dtex Twaron CT Microfilament yarn has 1000 filament content. The result of this new technology is a weight reduction of 41% from Twaron standard with equivalent performance.

Some of the other fiber types which are used are linear polyethylene types, PBO types, liquid crystal polymers, and M5 fibers.

ANALYSIS ••• NONWOVENS FOR MILITARY APPLICATION

Methods for Nonwovens Manufacturing EDANA, (The European Disposables and Nonwovens Association) defines a nonwoven as ‘a manufactured sheet, web or batt of directionally or randomly orientated fibres, bonded by friction, and/or cohesion and/or adhesion’, but goes on to exclude a number of materials from the definition, including paper, products which are woven, knitted, tufted or stitch-bonded (incorporating binding yarns or filaments), or felted by wet-milling, whether or not additionally needled.

According to INDA, ‘Nonwoven fabrics are flat, porous sheets that are made directly from separate fibers or from molten plastic or from plastic film. They are not made by weaving or knitting and do not require converting of fibers to yarn’.

For the sake of convenience, a ballistic-resistant nonwoven structure is defined herein as one that is fiber based, not exclusively woven, not exclusively knitted and not exclusively a fiber–matrix composite in construction.

Filament In conventional ballistic-resistant structures, filament yarns are used to absorb projectile impact force. The logic behind the use of filaments is to present a network of high modulus; high-strength fiber structure components that individually extend the entire breadth or length of the structure into which a ballistic impact is directed. Such filament structures do not depend on frictional forces among themselves to hold themselves into a physical continum and thereby avoid inherent weak places within themselves to resist penetrative impacts.

A very significant type of ballistic resistant structure is encompassed by those that may be described as filament lay-up composites. Although these structures are neither woven nor knitted, and they are sometimes marketed as nonwovens, they also fit the definition of a fiber–matrix composite. In the filament lay-up structure, all of the fibers are lined parallel to each other as in the beaming operation for woven fabric. A binder is then applied to form the structure into a continuous resin-fixed web of aligned fibers.

The resin holds the fibers spacing for further processing. A

web of similarly constructed filaments is aligned at 90o to form a continuous roll. The 0-degree and 90-degree webs are further consolidated to form a cross-plied unidirectional roll product. The roll product developed by this technology is a patented process; commonly this material is referred to as ‘shield’. The shield technology is applicable to all types of continuous ballistic fibers including HPPE/ECPE fibers, aramid and PBO fibers.

The stitch-bonding process is best described as a warp knitting process that is modified to use far fewer filaments, often of a much coarser type than is typical of warp knitting, and often also involving the use of felts or loose fiber mats.

Although this process in not presently used for any commercial ballistic resistant products, there is clearly reason to believe that it could offer some significant advantages by combining the lateral and transverse stability of a warp knit type structure while utilizing the isotropic impact absorbing power of a fiber mat or needled nonwoven. Although these types of fabrics are conventionally used for insulations, there is considerable promise for their application in the market niches for needled nonwovens as well.

Staple Fibers Staple fibers have not traditionally been used in ballisticresistant nonwoven structures because they have the exact limitation of discrete, discontinuous character that the use of filaments seeks to overcome. On the other hand, if formed together correctly, these tiny, particulate materials can offer potential advantages of structural isotropy that fi laments specifically cannot offer. They can also be consolidated and compressed so that the fiber population density in such structures is greater than that which can be achieved with woven or composite structures.

The disadvantage to the use of staple fibers is that they are presented to the manufacturing process in a random, unconsolidated, and non-uniform mass. Most commonly staple fibers are packed in ‘bale’ form. They must be mechanically processed through several stages before they can be made ready for use.

Figure 3 : Manufacturing process Opening machines today fall into two major categories:

A carded web is essentially not the main requirement in the fabrics used but the produced web is cross lapped using a cross lapper and then needle punched web. The functions of the cross-lapper are: Figure 2 : SPECTRA SHIELD manufacturing process

1. To fold a desired number of multiple layers of carded webs together to form a final web or fiber mat of desired weight per unit area.

••• July 2011

1. Those using a spiked apron conveyor feed with rotating beaters positioned at the ends of the conveyors.

2. Those designed accurately and delicately to remove small layers of fibers from bale surfaces in a series of feeder bales known as a ‘lay down’.

09

ANALYSIS ••• NONWOVENS FOR MILITARY APPLICATION The needles push a limited amount of fibers at 90° through the sheet of randomly oriented fiber felt. The felt material engages fragments much better than traditional woven fabrics. Needlepunching is a rather simple operation, but a variety of properties can be realized in a needled web structure by varying different parameters of the process. One of the most important parameters that can be controlled in the process is the shape of the individual needles used to consolidate the felted structure. Needles are designed for a variety of purposes, including relief structuring, creating density gradients in the fabric and for simple, uniform consolidation.

For ballistic resistant structures, the most common needle type is the simple barbed, triangular or four-pointed starshaped cross-section types. Needle barbs may be varied in shape, number and orientation along the axis of the needle.

Additional control of fiber entanglement angles, depth, extent and frictional contact lengths are provided by the barb throat depth and barb angle (‘kick-up’). The next considerations are those of needle population in the fixing structure, known as the needle board, the rate of feed of the fiber mat and the punch frequency. The foregoing factors combine to create the critical defining characteristic of a needled non-woven fabric known as punches per square inch.

2. While layering the carded webs together, to lay them onto each other at varying angles that are different from the original carding machine delivery direction.

Needlepunching is a simpler operation than weaving by which a variety of properties can be obtained in the fabric by varying the process components.

••• ••• July 2011

Continuous ballistic fibers are chopped into smaller fibers, carded and randomly oriented by cross-lapping to form an isotropic mat or sheet. This sheet is subsequently consolidated by a set of barbed needles.

08 10

Principles of Ballistic Resistance The filament lay-up composite, or those structures made by parallel lay and resin reinforcement occupy an increasingly important sector of the ballistic-resistant materials spectrum.

These unique structures are designed to engage an incoming projectile with a much larger population of high strength fibers than can be brought against such a threat with a woven or knitted fabric. The presence of a reinforcing resin also assists in the energy dissipation and the composite structure together quickly acts to strip a bullet of its casing and flatten it upon impact. Two major products in the present market that use this same principle are Honeywell Spectra Shield and DSM Dyneema UD armours. Both products depend on the same ballistic resistance principles to defeat incoming threats.

Energy absorption and dissipation energy is the secret to ballistic resistance. A ballistic-resistant fiber’s strength must be utilized in the most effective manner for such a fabric or structure to be effective. The principle has been expressed in the following: A woven fabric dissipates energy at yarn inter-lacings. When a projectile strikes the surface of a fabric, energy is distributed along the yarn axis to each interlacing point.

Most woven fabrics exhibit yarn strength translational efficiencies between 60 and 80%. Only about one-third of the strength loss can be attributed to degradation during weaving. The remaining strength reduction is caused by mechanical interaction between warp and filling yarns during tensile loading. High warp crimp in a woven structure is accompanied by low strength translation efficiency. A compromise must be reached in fabric construction between weave density and fabric strength where neither is at an optimum level.

Spectra Shield fabric forces the projectile to engage many

ANALYSIS ••• NONWOVENS FOR MILITARY APPLICATION more fibers upon initial impact than a woven fabric because of the wide dispersion of filaments in the untwisted yarn.

Resin prevents the projectile shock wave from pushing the fibers out of the projectile’s path; the fiber strength has higher translation efficiency in the structure. Ideally, a structure should dissipate impact energy rather than obstructing it. Fiber friction is one property which may assist in absorbing energy while utilizing the strain wave velocity of a fibrous system. This theory is of interest when considering a nonwoven structure, because large numbers of fibers are present in a non-woven, oriented in many different directions. Strain wave velocity is the speed at which a fiber or structure can absorb and disperse strain energy. It can be expressed as v = √F/µ Where : v - Strain wave velocity, F - Force applied to the fiber from projectile, µ - linear density expressed as kg/m Another form of this equation can be given as follows, v = √E/ρ Where : E - Material Young’ modulus, ρ - Specific gravity of material By combining the equations, an expression for optimum dissipation of impact energy can be found.

F = Eµ/ρ The more impact energy a structure disperses, the more efficient the energy absorption mechanism is. Three reactions occur in a needle-punched structure when a projectile strikes it. These reactions are fiber elongation, fiber slippage, and fiber breakage. Designers want to create a structure which optimizes each of these properties to yield the best ballistic properties.

The US Department of Defence has performed testing on Bullet type I .44 mag JHP

Regardless of the intended final product, careful consideration of the construction methodologies for individual components must be made and from these, rational decisions about the architecture and composition follow. The different forms are • Single fiber components • Multiple layering of single fibers • Blended fibers constructs

Combinations of Conventional and Nonwovens A significant factor which has contributed to soft armour advances is the hybrid concept of combining more than one ballistic material in a single armour system. This technique allows armour design engineers to utilize the full potential of various ballistic materials. Combinations of conventional materials and/or shield-based products with armour felt have shown significant advantages when used against rated soft body armour threats. The comparison of the conventional and the conventional/nonwoven combination is shown in the table below.

Speed m/s (ft/s) II

433 (1422) 438 (1438) 442 (1450) 438 (1438) 442 (1450) 435 (1427) 438 (1437)

440 (1442) 441 (1446) 440 (1442) 441 (1446) 443 (1452) 445 (1461) 439 (1440)

The use of high-strength polymer materials created advances in armour protection far above those anticipated just 35 years ago. Further improvements may be anticipated by the advent of new materials and nanoscale technologies that will permit even better armour performances against very high-level ballistic threats. Improvements that utilize the strongest characteristics of each fiber assembly method will yield the optimum ballistic protection device instead of simple reliance on standard and unitary assembly techniques.

References 1. EUGENE WILUSZ, Military Textiles, Woodhead Publishing.

2. S. J. RUSSELL, Handbook of Nonwovens, Woodhead Publishing.

I

Penetration II

Partial Partial Partial Partial Partial Partial Partial

I – 24 Aramid filament lay-up composite 5.57 kg/m2 ,

Partial Partial Partial Partial Partial Partial Partial

Back-face deformation (mm) I II 47 42 41 42 47 49 44

39 38 37 43 35 42 38

II – 19 Aramid filament lay-up, 1 felt 4 ply blended 5.57 kg/m2

••• July 2011

The first instinct of the technology student or fiber engineer is to assume that non-woven ballistic-resistant armor is a relatively new idea, since the machine technology to produce it postdates that of weaving and knitting by a considerable time period. In truth, nonwoven armor in the form of quilting has been used since at least the middle Ages.

Indeed, British historians have determined that Viking chain mail, reinforced and supplemented by quilted, fiber-filled underlays were likely the secret to its ability to withstand even spear attacks in battles.

1 2 3 4 5 6 Average

Methodologies for the use of the Nonwovens Ballistic Resistant Materials

Pathways for Future

Historical Uses

Sample

ballistic-resistant nonwovens at its laboratories in Natick, Massachusetts and through other research facilities. The tests were designed to examine whether non-woven fabric could be used in military ballistic applications. The Natick studies found that a needlepunched structure could be produced at one-third the weight of woven fabrics for certain ranges of protection. These Army studies were inconclusive as to the extent of practicality that the use of nonwovens would bring to ballistic applications.

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ANALYSIS ••• TONK NAMDA

Dr. Anjali Karolia & Surbhi Sardiwal

••• July 2011

Dept. of Clothing and Textiles, Faculty of Family and Community Sciences, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara

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Namda is a local term used for felted wool floor coverings. It is a traditional floor covering , made out of coarse variety of wool.

Rich hues and exquisite designing are the hallmarks of the handcrafted Namda. Namda comes from the root word ‘Namata’, which is a Sanskrit word and it means woollen stuff.

Namda making is practiced as a craft in several cultures, especially the countries throughout Asia, viz. Iran in Persia, Afghanistan and several places in Laddakh, Kutch and Kashmir and Rajasthan in India

DEVELOPMENTAL INITIATIVES FOR THE REVIVAL OF

“TONK NAMDA” - A TRADITIONAL FELTED FLOOR COVERING OF RAJASTHAN

F

or centuries Indian arts and crafts have been distinguished for their great aesthetic and functional value. India has the widest variety of crafts anywhere in the world. The Indian handicrafts industry is highly labour intensive cottage based industry and decentralized, being spread all over the country in rural and urban areas. Numerous craftsmen are engaged in crafts work on part-time basis. The industry provides employment to a large number of women and people belonging to the weaker sections of the society. The quality and diversity of Indian handicrafts had caught the attention of exporters. Government began to set up various ventures for promotion & preservation of traditional crafts.

Namda is a local term used for felted wool floor coverings. It is a traditional floor covering , made out of coarse variety of wool. Rich hues and exquisite designing are the hallmarks of the handcrafted Namda. Namda comes from the root word ‘Namata’, which is a Sanskrit word and it means woollen stuff1.

Namda making is practiced as a craft in several cultures, especially the countries throughout Asia, viz. Iran in Persia, Afghanistan and several places in Laddakh, Kutch and Kashmir and Rajasthan in India2.

The craft of namda making is not native, to Rajasthan. It is known to have come from distant land of Iran and Laddakh. Rajasthan (Tonk) has served as a prominent market for namda decoration and work in the past3.

The present study was an attempt to reflect the present scenario of this handicraft industry and specifically to the socio- economic profile of the craftsmen involved in the traditional namda craft. Detailed emphasis was laid on synthesising the initiatives taken by various developmental agencies for preserving, promoting and developing the traditional namda craft so as to propose several suitable recommendations regarding the developmental interventions.

Methodology For attainment of the formulated objectives a descriptive research design was planned and the data was gathered with the aid of questionnaires, field visits, informal discussions and observation. Purposive sampling method was used to select 20 officials from various governmental and non- governmental agencies.

The 12 governmental agencies and 8 non-governmental agencies selected as samples were : Governmental agencies : 1. Udhyog Mandir , Amer, Jaipur.

2. Khadi Gramodhyog Saghan Vikas Samiti, Bassi, Jaipur.

ANALYSIS ••• TONK NAMDA

Non- government agencies : 1. Dr. Ambedkar Welfare Society, Kalipattanam, Vikas Nagar Tonk.

2. Gramin Vikas Samiti Bijlanagar, Malpura, Tonk.

3. Gramotthan Sansthan Nagar, Gram Nagar, Malpura.

4. Janhit Gramin Vikas & Mahila Kalyan Samiti, Ranoli( Peeplu Tehsil), Tonk.

5. Nirman Sansthan Deshma, Village Deshma, (Diggi, Malpura.

6. Rajeev Gandhi Sewa Sansthan, Civil Lines, Tonk.

7. Samuhik Vikas Sansthan, Niwai.

8. Mahila Jagrati Samiti, Chhani.

These agencies were working for the implementation of the schemes generated by the central and the state government for the promotion, preservation and diversification of traditional crafts including the namda of Tonk. These developmental agencies work individually or in collaboration with various academic and research institutes for practically implementing these schemes and policies.

Out of these 20 samples, 60% of the agencies were located in Jaipur and rest 40% were in Tonk and nearby villages.

One person administering at the managerial level was interviewed from each agency. The information was gathered with the aid of tools like personal and telephonic interviews with the officials, visits to the workplaces, and observation coupled with information gathered from the official sites of the various selected organisations.

The selected samples of the developmental agencies were interviewed and the responses were analysed in the descriptive and tabular form. After a detailed study of the findings several suggestions and recommendations were formulated which are summed up in the following paragraphs.

Results & Discussions The results of the study revealed that Namda craft is being practised as a traditional family craft mainly by the muslim community on hierarchical basis in Tonk, Rajasthan.

However contemporarily several hindus have also started involving themselves in this heritage craft.

The government’s vision is to help transform the Indian craft sector through innovation, education and integrated development. Several agencies working in collaboration with government and independently introduce fresh approaches, revitalize traditional craft concepts, cultivate visionary leadership and provide inspiring platforms for

interaction and exchange. These aim at establishing partnerships with organizations and institutions to generate employment opportunities, enhance traditional skills and build resources for the handicraft industry.

Today the craft is at a very deplorable state, there has been several major changes which had diluted its status to merely an income earning source rather than the traditional family craft.

The findings of the study revealed the present status of the namda craft and the craftsmen. Major problems faced by the craftsmen included the absence of specific market for selling which indicated a clear need of provision of market facilities, opportunities & support services to craftsperson .

Increased role of government is required. Measures are also needed for improving the economical status of the craftspeople as they avail very low wages which ultimately leads to shifting of occupation by the craftsmen.

Furthermore, there is no noticeable link between rural craftsperson & the urban consumer. There is also a need to generate awareness among the consumer groups about the intensive labour & elaborate techniques involved in such creations, this will lead to better understanding of consumers for more dignity to craftsmen and their craftwork.

The namda craft in comparision with other crafts has no specific recognition or encouragement by government.

The selected sample agencies had varied field of working like, provision of financial assistance to the craftsmen, marketing assistance, employment facilities, and other related benefits.

Table 1 : Work details of the developmental agencies N=20 Percentage Area of working

Tie up partners

Financial assistance to the craftsmen Marketing assistance Employment facilities & other related benefits All the above

35 70

State government organisations, all khadi institutions and academic and research organisations Academic institutes Khadi organisations

70 10 20

25 5

The findings regarding the workforce constitution of agencies showed that majority of the agencies had a workforce ranging from 10- 20 % where the ratio of males was very high as compared to females. All the selected agencies worked for various causes like revival of the craft, welfare of the artisans and for fulfillment of their aims several measures were adopted which included training of craftsmen, raw material supply, provision of design inputs, organization of trade fairs/ exhibitions, product diversification and other developmental programs. Several central and state government projects were undertaken by the selected development agency samples and their major

••• July 2011

3. Rajasthan Sarvodaya Sansthan, Gopalpura , Jaipur.

4. Rajasthan Khadi Gramoudhyog Sanstha Sangh, Bajaj Nagar, Jaipur.

5. Rajasthan Adim Jati Sevak Sangh, Jhalana Dungri, Jaipur.

6. Lok Seva Sansthan, Bajaj Nagar Jaipur.

7. Vinoba Seva Samiti, Tonk Road , Jaipur.

8. Khadi Gramoudhyog Mandal, Banipark, Jaipur.

9. Panchayat Samiti, Khadi Gramoudhyog Sangh, Jhotwada Jaipur.

10. Gramodhyog Vikas Samiti, Indira Bajar, Jaipur.

11. Gramya Handicraft Emporium, Mansarovar, Jaipur.

12. Vikas Khadi Gramoudhyog Sansthan, Lalkothi, Jaipur.

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ANALYSIS ••• TONK NAMDA concentration washandloom sector, skill upgradation of the craftsmen and promotion of handicrafts through exhibitions and trade fairs.

Table 2 : Constitution details of the developmental agencies N= 20 Range Workforce constitution Objective of working Projects taken up in last 10 years

Major focus

10- 11 11- 20 20- 30 Craft revival Artisan welfare KVIC projects All state government projects Projects of both central and state government Craft revival and progress Employment generation artisan upliftment, financial upliftment, stability, improve -ment of living standards, and skill upgradation

Percentage 45 45 10 95 5 20 45 35 10 10

80

With regards to the duration of the developmental projects launched by the developmental agencies a mixed response ranging from a period of 3 months to 1 year was availed. A similar response was attained with regards to the sole aim of namda revival project, the responses ranged from the main aim being the protection of dying craft to rehabilitation of the craftsmen coupled with employment generation. For the evaluation of the success of the implemented namda project various different criteria were judged like number of artisans joining the craft as an occupation after project completion and economic and developmental status of the craftsmen and the extent of attainment of formulated objectives of the project. The target group included the women, underdeveloped sections of the society and several old and new craftsmen especially those who were abandoning this traditional craft. The major areas of project implementation included Rajasthan, majorly the villages of Tonk district. Majority of the respondents felt a positive impact and improvement in the status of the traditional namda craft after the implementation of the namda revival project.

Table 3 : Details regarding the namda project N= 20 Range

••• July 2011

Duration of the project Success rating

12 14

Evaluation of success

1-6 months 7months - 1 year Below expectations Non satisfactory Desirable level Number of craftsmen joining the craft as an occupation after the completion of the project

Percentage 70 30 40 30 30

45

Target group

Percentage of the craftsmen taking up the craft as occupation

Calculated based on the economic and developmental status of the craftsmen.

Attainment of formulated objectives decides the success percentage of the Namda project Women oriented Rural and all local people especially from the underdeveloped sections of the society Old and new craftsmen especially those who were abandoning this craft.

10- 30% of the participants 30- 50% of the participants 50% and above

25

20 10

30 60 36 17 47

On being interviewed about the future plans for promotion, preservation and propogation of the namda craft the responses ranged from diversification of the craft, with major focus on rural women and production based on market demands. The new aspects to be included in the near future in the developmental programs by the agencies included overcoming the drawbacks of earlier program and improvement in terms of serviceability, marketability and quality with proper utilization of allocated funds.

Table 4 : Forthcoming planning details of the developmental agencies Programs Future plans

New aspects to be included in future programs

Diversification of namda craft Launch artisan upliftment program Program according to the demand of the situation No information about forthcoming agenda Shortcomings and the drawbacks of the previous programs will be overcome Improvement of serviceability, marketability and quality with proper utilisation of the allocated funds, and moth proof treatment for the namda Newer design implementation and consistency in sale

N=20

Percentage 45 15 20 20 35

40 15

The findings regarding the basis of wage payment of the trainees included payment on monthly basis, piecewise basis and attendance basis. The major funding source for the developmental agencies was the central and the state government’s annual policy budget. The annual budget

ANALYSIS ••• TONK NAMDA

Table 5 : Economic details regarding the namda project N=20 Percentage Basis of wage Payment Stipend categorisation

Fund source

Annual budget distribution pattern

Monthly basis Piece basis Attendance basis Yes. Type of the work pursued, attendance and quality of work .

No. A set pattern of stipend distribution.

Central and the state government’s annual policy budget.

State government agencies including the Zila Udhyog Kendra, RUDA, Panchayat Samities, DIC. Budget of various organisations and loans from financial institutions, both private as well as government Raw material Infrastructure Staff salary Stipends and other payment

35 30 15 40 60 70

20

10 20 20 20 40

To popularize their schemes the developmental agencies used various different communication channels which included audio, video and print media which included bulletins, handouts, FM radios, newspapers, pamphlets, hoardings, magazines, etc. the responses revealed that all the utilized publicity channels were considered suitable by the agency officials.

Table 6 : Details of information channels used for the publicity of programs N = 20 Types of channels Informative Channels

Audio, video and print media Media in conjugation with other channels like meetings with local leaders and local bodies like panchayats.

Field visits and promotional camps.

Percentage 25

40 35

Suggestions After probing into the situation and discussions with the officials as well as the craftsmen, several suggestive measures and recommendations were formulated according to their opinions and need of the hour. Some

suggestions formulated regarding the quality aspect included major concern by the government about raw material quality, the government should ensure good quality raw materials at reasonable prices to the namda makers.

Maintenance of quality of the products by all the manufacturers was another major aspect to be looked into so that the traditional namdas do not get culminated or diversified into viscose based items.

Suggestions formulated regarding the design development laid emphasis on integration of basic skills of namda making and design . Additional input about introduction of new designs was also suggested to make the traditional namdas effectively compete with the carpets. Inclusion of variety in the namda and namda related products was also highlighted as there lies a scope for developing several items based on namdas in accordance with the present demands.

It was also suggested that traditional namda makers should be promoted as against other in terms of loans, design development, etc. and it should be ensured that the art retains its originality as well as the families solely dependent on namda craft get sustainable livelihood out of the craft.

With regards to the marketing facilities the suggestions included people’s participation in improving and securing trade by identification of appropriate markets as per manufacturers’ range and quality, promotion of direct marketing through exhibitions, awareness about the present needs and demands and availability to local people, establishment of various new marketing linkages and adoption of various new and innovative marketing techniques and channels for product promotion.

Government agencies should be encouraged to take steps and initiatives to buy their products. This will also save precious public money as namda is much cheaper than carpet.

There was felt a need regarding information and awareness about credit facilities alongwith credit requirements for improving their scale of business, to try out and explore new markets, for entrepreneurs to start their own business, for buying carding machine to improve economic status. (carding machine is quite expensive and most of them are unable to buy it due to lack of funds), for tapping new market channels, to expand business for product development and diversification along with introduction of new designs. Need credit for consumption as well. Some monetary help for children’s education and to start own production for other income generation activities.

Several other suggestions formulated for provision of miscellaneous facilities included establishment of Industrial namda factories for generating greater employment, increment in the wages of daily wage labourers and provision of better health facilities for instance, some special measures should be taken to tackle with the problems of occupational hazards like asthma / breathing problems and skin diseases that are very common in namda makers. In addition to all these it was also suggested that the government should find out some chemical treatment or other measures to preserve namda as stocking namda poses a big problem because it is highly prone to some worms/ insects.

••• July 2011

distribution included the raw material, infrastructure, staff salary, stipends and other payments. the findings revealed that the launched loan schemes was easily managed by the craftsmen.

13 15

ANALYSIS ••• TONK NAMDA

Recommendations After looking into the situation several necessarily required recommendations were formulated which are as follows : 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

More human approach towards credit disbursement is needed to break the vicious money lender cycle. Banks and financial institutions have to step up field activity to win the trust of the people, disseminate credit knowledge and facilitate easy accessibility.

An integrated intervention is needed for overall improvement of socio-economic status. With special emphasis on health, hygiene and education, specially of a girl children.

SHG’s (Self help groups) can be initiated with savings and credit may be disbursed to them. Lending of loans or any other kind of financial assistance should be group based to maintain peer pressure.

Quality Control should be ensured.

Upgradation of skills of existing craftsmen should be done rather than forming new groups for skill improvement and enhancement.

Income generating activities in the namda manufacture should involve women to improve economic conditions of the namda craftsmen at later stage.

There should be some kind of employment arrangements for lean seasons should be made, so that the craftsmen do not indulge in very low paid jobs as is very common among the daily wage labourers.

Bank credit should be provided with in an artisan friendly manner on easy terms and conditions so as to not burden them.

Steps should be taken to eradicate the middlemen in between to minimise traders’ and craftsmen’ exploitation.

Availability of Common Facility Centre for namda craft and craftsmen.

Small cooperatives can be started and formed on no profit and no loss basis.

Approach should not only be systematic but also little slow to match their pace and get maximum participation from the craftsmen.

There should be no bar in terms of product diversification in concern with namda.

Some kind of technical support and technology transfer in terms of implements are required for better output and skill upgradation of the craftsmen.

••• July 2011

Present schemes for the development of namda craft and craftsmen

16

The various government and non government developmental agencies selected as samples have several developmental schemes going on presently. These programs were formulated either by central and the state government, non- government or co-operative societies. Few of them named by the officials were, SFURTI program, Ready Warp Scheme, Rojgar Yojna, Sanganeri Block Printing program, Several loan schemes, khadi projects, RSIC scheme, sandalwood carving, Tie and dye, tailoring workshop, appliqué project, knitting project, soft toy making, rehabilitation of the namda craftsmen, and namda development project.

Namda as of now, is almost a dying industry. The battle might have been lost but the war can and should be won. This traditional craft, although in a declining trend, has some distinct advantages. With appropriate kind of intervention and support a turnaround can be brought to the industry as well as the people. The biggest problems facing the industry are the lack of market promotion and the lack of suitable credit facilities.

With the information gained through the discussions it was found that almost all the agencies were aware of the namda revival project, however several respondents stated that the project was merely a paperwork. And the approximate year range stated by all the agencies was between 2003-2005.

Regarding the duration of the project there was no specific response 70% respondents stated 1-6 months, 30% agency official stated 7 months - 1 year as an approximate range of duration of the namda project.

Conclusion Namda as of now, is almost a dying industry. The battle might have been lost but the war can and should be won.

This traditional craft, although in a declining trend, has some distinct advantages. With appropriate kind of intervention and support a turnaround can be brought to the industry as well as the people. The biggest problems facing the industry are the lack of market promotion and the lack of suitable credit facilities. These problems again, stem from the lack of education and knowledge of people in the trade. With some investment and proper marketing, good amount of money can be made out of this trade.

This art needs all the possible encouragement to make the workers enjoy contentment arising out of their creativity, charming designs made with rainbow colors and exquisite workmanship. This is the dream in their eyes that they long to fulfill.

Acknowledgement Heartfelt gratitude is owed towards all the agencies, academic and research institutes and above all the craftsmen for rendering valuable information and help for making the study a successful attempt.

References 1. Khan, A.(1996). The Legend of Indian Carpets, Time Motion Publication, Delhi.pp-1-63.

2. www.SCRIA.org 3. Apte, V.(2004), Handloom Atlas of India- A Review, IMC-UNCTAD Handloom Project, Jaipur.

ANALYSIS ••• MERCHANDISING IN AN APPAREL INDUSTRY

Lecturer

S. Kathiresan Dept. of Fashion Technology Angel College of Engineering & Technology, Tirupur

Merchandiser is the interface between Buyer & Exporter. He is the responsible from order analysis to shipment. So Merchandising is the very valuable department in the Apparel Industry. This Article explains the main responsibilities of merchandisers.

MERCHANDISING

IN AN APPAREL INDUSTRY M

erchandising is the department which mediates marketing and production departments. Some times, merchandising department will have to do costing and pricing also. In any case, the merchandiser is the person whose responsibility is to execute the orders perfectly as per the costing and pricing. So it is a very valuable department.

Merchandising Following are the main responsibilities of merchandisers.

• Internal & external communication, • Sampling, • Lab dips, • Accessories & trims, • Preparing internal order sheets, • Preparing purchase orders, • Advising and assisting production, • Advising quality department about quality level, • Mediating production and quality departments, • Giving shipping instructions and following shipping, • Helping documentation department, • Taking responsibility for inspections and • Following shipment.

Internal & External Communication Earlier, we had seen the importance of communication with buyers. By the same way, internal communication is also very much valuable. As the other departments will follow the instructions given by the merchandising department, they have very high value. Other departments don’t know the buyer’s instructions; they know only the merchandising department’s instructions. So it is the sole responsibility of merchandising department to instruct other departments the specifications and instructions of buyer’s orders clearly.

Even a small omission, mistake or deviation of instruction may create big problems.

Sometimes, they may not be correctable. Hence all the instructions to be double checked before being informed to other departments. Prevention is better than cure.

Sampling There may be a separate sampling department in a company. But as the merchandiser is the person who is interacting with the buyers regarding samples and other requirements, this sampling department will work under the supervision of merchandising department. Also as the samples are to be made according to the buyers’ price ranges and quality levels,

••• July 2011

M. Janarthanan

17

ANALYSIS ••• MERCHANDISING IN AN APPAREL INDUSTRY merchandiser has to advise sampling department suitably.

We have to send many samples to buyers. They are • Salesmen samples or promotional samples • Photo samples or fit samples • Counter samples or reference samples or approval samples • Wash test samples • Photo samples • Fashion show samples • Pre-production samples • Production samples • Shipment samples

Development samples or enquiry samples When we work with some buyers continuously, we will have to keep on sending samples to them very often.

Whenever they have enquiries, buyer may need samples.

Buyers may like to see the garments in a new fabric. For one enquiry, they may need samples in different fabrics to choose from. If they want to develop new style in new fabric, then also we will have to send these samples.

We may have to spend too much on these samples. But these samples are inevitably important to develop business. Some times, even the buyer is not so confident of some enquiries, if our samples are good and attractive at reasonable prices, they will bring orders to us.

Also we will have to send samples to the newly contacted buyers to show our workmanship, product range, quality standards and price level. These samples should be sent so that they would attract the buyers.

So it is better for a company to have a separate sampling department so that they can create new styles in new fabrics to impress the buyers.

Salesmen samples or promotional samples Some buyer needs these samples for getting the orders from their customers. If the buyer is having 7 salesmen in his office, then the buyer will ask us to make 7 samples in each style. The salesmen will book the orders from their customers, by showing these samples. Buyer will place the order to us accumulating the quantities.

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If we have sent samples for 5 styles, some times, we may get orders for all 5 styles, 3 styles or 1 style. Some times, we may not get order for even a single style. Expected sales may not be possible, due to poor quality, unsuitable colours, improper measurements, unmatched prints or embroidery, etc of salesmen samples. Or it may be due to local business recession or competition or unsuitable prices. Any way, we have to make these salesmen samples perfectly with sincere interest to get orders.

18

We might have spent more money, time, etc for making these samples. But as we don’t get orders, we can not blame the buyer. He too can not help us in this regard. To avoid this embarrassing situation, it is better to discuss about the cost of these samples with the buyer before proceeding for sampling.

Normally the sampling will cost us approximately 3 to 5 times of the garment price. We can not expect to get the full cost from the buyer. Of course these samples will help us for our business. Hence we can ask the buyer to accept 2 or 3 times of garment price as the sampling cost, for the styles which we don’t get orders. Some genuine buyers will agree for this.

All the buyers don’t need these samples. Chain stores buyers will not ask for salesmen or promotional samples.

Photo samples or fit samples These samples are to be made after getting the order sheets.

These samples are needed to check the measurements, style and fit. So they can be made in available similar fabrics; but in the actual measurements and specifications.

Based on these samples, buyers may do some changes in measurements, style and fit.

Counter samples or reference samples or approval samples These samples are to be made in actual fabrics with actual trims. If the order is for 3 colours, buyer may need samples in any one colour and swatches (fabric bits) in other colours.

These samples should be strictly as per the specifications in the order sheets. We have to get the approval for these samples from the buyer before starting production.

After getting the approval, the approved samples should be followed in production. Some times, buyer may comment on fabric, measurements, making, etc. We have to follow his comments carefully in production.

Some buyer will mention that the order sheets subject to the approval of counter samples. So these samples are very important.

Wash test samples Some buyers need these samples to test the shrinkage, colour fastness, measurements, dimension stability and spirality of garments after washing.

If these samples are sent before starting production and if we get some remarks or comments on these samples, we can correct them in production. But some buyers will need us to send these samples from production before shipment. In this case, these samples may be considered as ‘shipment samples’. If these samples are rejected due to some complaints, then we will not have any excuse and we will be in real trouble.

Photo samples Some buyers use to sell their garments by creating a catalogue furnishing all details like style, colours, sizes and important measurements of garments including photos.

These buyers need these samples for taking photographs.

(These buyers are called Catalogue buyers. They will accumulate the sales quantities, they will place orders

ANALYSIS ••• MERCHANDISING IN AN APPAREL INDUSTRY

Some buyers may need these samples if they want to print the photos of garments on photo inlays, packing box, hang tag, etc. These samples may be needed for local advertisement or buyer’s promotional occasions.

In any case, the samples will be worn by the highly paid models. The buyers will arrange the photo shoot session, by spending huge money to the advertising agencies. So the buyers will need these samples strictly on time. If they don’t get samples on time, the buyers will have to pay more compensation to the advertising agencies and models.

Buyers will ask us to make the photo samples according to the intended model’s body fit. So it is important to strictly adhere to these measurements. Buyer may ask these samples to send either from production or before starting production.

Fashion show samples Some chain stores buyers will need these samples. They will need these samples in all colours covering all sizes. Usually they need 2 or 3 samples in each size in each colour. These samples can be sent from production. The buyers will pay the cost of these samples.

Pre-production samples These samples are almost like approval samples. They have to be made in actual production fabric with actual bulk trims. They will represent that the production will be like these samples.

Production samples These samples are to be sent before shipment to get the buyer’s confirmation for shipment. Hence these samples are needed to be perfect in all manners. Buyer may check these samples for everything or anything. Some times, they may do wash test also. We should not get any remark or comment. We have to get only ‘OK’ from the buyer. Then only we can ship the goods and we can be sure of getting payment. So these samples are to be sent with more and more care.

Shipment samples These samples are to be sent after shipment. They should be sent in actual packing with all labels, tags, etc. (Generally these samples will not be tested by buyer for anything. And even if we get some comments from buyers, we can save ourselves by saying that these samples were sent from the left over garments after the shipment; hence there might be some mistakes. If we expect any comments in these samples, it is better to inform the buyer during sending these samples).

Lab Dips It is the merchandiser’s responsibility to get the Lab dips from the processing mill and to get approval from buyer.

There are different matching systems followed in Labs. They are • Tube light matching.

• Sun light matching.

• Ultra Violet matching.

• Sodium light matching (show room).

Each of these above matching will give different results. For example, if a lab dip matches to the original in tube light, it will differ in sun light. So the lab dips are to be made according to the buyer’s matching system.

Different buyers follow different matching. Hence before proceeding lab dips, merchandiser should be aware of the buyer’s matching system. Accordingly he should arrange to make lab dips.

Also he must be sure of making the lab dips in the actual production fabrics. It is better to make lab dips in more than 3 closer shades. (Some times, the processing factory will make lab dips in 2 shades and will make them in to 4 bits. If we send the same to buyer and if buyer finds out this, he will think that he had been cheated purposely by the merchandiser. Our reliability will get questioned here).

Before sending the lab dips to buyer, the merchandiser should verify whether they are closer to the required shade.

And he should send them to buyer only if he is confident that they will get approved. If he sends them with a doubt and if they are not approved, he will have to make them again. By this way, at least 1 week time will be wasted; courier expenditure will be wasted unnecessarily. To adjust this wasted time, we will have to urge the production which may lead to quality problem. So if he is not satisfied with the lab dips, he should arrange for the revised lab dips from the processing mill immediately.

When sending the lab dips to buyer, he has to take some extra care. The lab dip fabric bits are to be ironed and cut into a clean shape. They should be attached to the shade card in an attractive presentation. This will give a pleasant mood to buyer when he verifies the shades. (Here we should understand the psychological effect in this regard. If we see lab dips in the morning, we may think they are not suitable. If we see the same in the evening or the next day, we may think they are closer. Our presentation of lab dips will help to get quick approvals. This is not cheating; just a tip).

While making lab dips, the lab in processing mill will have the recipes noted. They will give different reference numbers to different lab dips. Accordingly each lab dip will have different reference number. When sending lab dips to buyer, the merchandiser should keep one set of counter lab dips with reference numbers. He must be sure that the reference numbers mentioned to buyer’s set are the same in his counter set also. It is advised to follow the same reference numbers by everybody – processing mill, merchandiser and buyer. This will help to avoid confusion when processing.

Accessories & Trims The merchandiser has to send the accessories and trims like buttons, zippers, labels, hang tags, polybags, inner boards, etc to buyer for approval. It is better to send in 2 or 3 types or

••• July 2011

repeatedly. Sometimes, for some styles, we may get many repeat orders continuously years together. But each order will get small quantity only. But we can get higher prices for these orders).

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ANALYSIS ••• MERCHANDISING IN AN APPAREL INDUSTRY qualities for getting approval. This will save a good time.

Also as usual, the counter samples of each of these accessories & trims to be kept in our files for better follow ups.

After getting the buyer’s approvals, he should order them for bulk. It is advised to get the production samples of these accessories and trims from the suppliers to make sure of the quality. This should be followed for all the accessories and trims.

The bar codes in the hang tags or stickers are to be checked thoroughly. If the bar codes are not clear, then it will be difficult for the bar code scanner to read in the buyers’ stores.

Preparing Internal Order Sheets The merchandising department has to prepare internal order sheets based on the buyer’s order sheets. From the merchandising department only, the other departments will get all the instructions and specifications. The merchandiser should be aware of the value of his job. So while preparing internal order sheets, he should prepare them by taking care of each and every detail. He may omit some information to other departments, like buyer’s address, export price, delivery date, etc. The other departments may not need these information.

But the other information like description, specifications, measurements, accessories, trims, packing and shipping to be clearly informed to the concerned departments.

Preparing Purchase Orders Merchandiser has to prepare purchase orders. They should be advised to the purchase department. The description, quantity, quality standards, price or price target, delivery target and payment terms of the required raw materials, accessories and trims should be clearly mentioned in the purchase orders. The clear information will help everybody to understand the requirements clearly.

Also the merchandiser has to discuss with the production department and patterning department for the requirement of fabrics. Accordingly he has to prepare fabric order sheets too. The fabric order sheets should contain the full details of fabric quality, colours, weight, diameter and width of required fabrics.

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Advising and Assisting Production

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As the merchandiser is the person who knows better about buyer’s approvals, comments and instruction, for the better flawless production, he will have to advise and assist production. As he has to guarantee the quality to the buyer, though there is a separate production departments, the merchandiser should know about day to day affairs, status and problems of each stage of production.

Also he should always anticipate problems in all stages and also he should be prepared for suitable alternates too. So he has to involve in production by advising and assisting the production staff closely.

Advising Production and Quality Department about Quality Level Each garment will have different acceptable quality level according to the buyer’s specification and tolerance level.

Though the production and quality departments are taking responsibility of quality, it is the merchandiser and the marketing manager who decide whether the quality is up to the acceptable level or not. So the merchandiser should advise and instruct the production and quality departments about the quality and tolerance levels of garment.

Coordination Regarding Shipping It is one of the responsibilities of merchandiser to follow the shipping. He has to give the shipping instructions clearly to the production, quality, documents and shipping departments. It is not only enough to give the instructions to them, but also it is the merchandiser’s duty to coordinate with these departments for smooth shipping and to follow them closely.

Helping Documentation Department Though the documentation department takes care of all documents, it is preferable for the merchandiser to check the important things like the prices, quantity, description, Category, HS code, consignee’s & consignor’s addresses, payment terms, delivery terms, purchase order number, port discharge, etc.

Taking Responsibility For Inspections If we work with buying offices or buying agents or buyer’s liaison offices, there will be many inspections like pilot batch, initial, online, mid final and final.

If we work with the buyers directly, the number of inspections will be limited. The buyer may like to see the inspection in the middle production or final inspection.

Some times, the buyer may ask any third party (like SGS) to do the inspections. It is better for the merchandiser to take responsibility for these inspections too.

Following Shipment Finally the merchandiser has to make sure the vessel details, ETA, ETD, shipping lines, B/L instructions, documents, vessel connections, freight & other charges are in accordance with the buyer’s instructions and our suitability.

Conclusion The merchandiser's duties and responsibilities were explained. All the departments in apparel industry properly run when the merchandising done properly.

References • Apparel merchandising by Jeremy A. Rosenau, David L. Wilson • Case studies in merchandising apparel and soft goods by Michele M. Granger • Apparel Product Design and Merchandising Strategies by Cynthia L. Regan • Retail Merchandising by Pradhan • The world of fashion merchandising by Mary Gorgen Wolfe

ANALYSIS ••• YARN PROPERTIES

Prof. B. B. Jambagi R. N. Narkhedkar Pankaj Gangane D.K.T.E’s Textile & Engineering Institute, Ichalkaranji

CORRELATION OF YARN PROPERTIES WITH KNITTED FABRIC PROPERTIES

G

lobal demand for knitwear is growing at faster rate as that of woven fabrics. Currently about 45% of the clothing needs in the developing countries is met by the knit goods. In the production of knitted fabric the yarn parameters plays dominant role with about 60-70% of the fabric cost. Any error in the selection of the raw material can not be rectified or repaired after production of the knit fabric. The yarn faults plays very important role on the properties of knitted fabric. The number of faults in the fabric depends on the type of yarn manufacturing process, the type of raw material, process parameters, and the effectiveness of yarn clearer.

Yarn Faults Knit Fabric Faults Spin-in colored filament Hole Foreign matter Stain contamination Short thick place Fly Long thick place Missed stitch, Double stitch Thin ring Tear-off Thin ring Needle break Short thin place Transfer stitch Knot / Splice Rings(mixed yarn) Unevenness Dropped stitch Periodic variation Additives Requirement profiles of cotton yarn for knit wear 100 Mt count CV% < 1.8% 10 Mt count CV % < 2.5% Breaking tenacity > 10 cN/tex Variation of breaking force < 10 % Elongation at break > 5% Elongation at break CV > 10% Yarn twist(a m value) Ring spun yarn 94-110 Surface friction value Ideal around 0.15µ Hairiness < 50% value of uster statistic Between bobbin hairiness CV% <7% Yarn irregularity < 25 % Total imperfections < 25 % Really occurring thick & thin places A3/B3/C2/D2/D1 Classimat faults More sensitive Remaining yarn faults A3+B3+C2+D2= <5/100000m

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The air permeability value for knitted fabric produced from carded yarn is higher than other two fabrics irrespective of yarn count. Yarn U%, IPI, and total faults adversely influence the bursting strength of the knitted fabric.

The correlation between U% & appearance is very much significant. The faults like long thick and long thin also hamper the appearance of knitted fabric. The negative value of correlation coefficient clearly indicates that increase in thick ,thin places, neps, long thick, thin and A,B,C,D,E yarn faults decreases the knitted fabric appearance. The total hand value have shown the trend that the fabric from combed yarns have better hand value as compared to the fabric made from carded yarns.

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ANALYSIS ••• YARN PROPERTIES 1. Count variation : Higher count CV% results in ring-in effect in knitted fabric as well as dark light strips in the fabric.

2. Mass variation (U %) : Due to higher U% the knitted fabric have a cloudy appearance.

3. Thick Place : A short thick place not only affects the appearance of the fabric but also gives damage to the needles of the knitting machine during processing.

4. Breaking tenacity of yarn : Improvement in the breaking tenacity of the yarn improves the strength of the knitted fabric.

5. Elongation at break : In knitting process sudden forces are acting on the yarn, so yarn must withstand these tensions. For that purpose yarn must have higher elongation at break.

6. Yarn twist : Yarn twist plays very important role in knitting process. In case of filament yarns if twist is less, then the filaments can scatter from the bundle and static charges can be generated which will disturb the knitting process. The luster and handle of the fabric can be affected by the amount of twist and twist direction. High twisted yarn possesses problem of snarling in knitting.

The study of Jiang Tao, R.C. Dhingra stated that due to the dimensional instability of knitted loop construction, single jersey knitting fabrics suffers from various types of dimensional distortion. The fabric distortion is araised by the use of twist lively yarns. Higher twist lively yarns gives lower tightness factor. According to the study of Ruppenicker & Lofton yarn hairiness is reduced by increasing twist factor and which results in to less generation of fly lint during knitting.

7. Coefficient of friction : It should be low and uniform. Small increase in friction leads to more end breaks during knitting process and gives variation in loop length. It should not exceed 0.17.

8. Hairiness : During knitting many of the hairy fibre ends are either pulled or sheared from the yarn and accumulate around the knitting elements. This fibre accumulation may be picked up by the running yarn and blocks or breaks the needles.

Material and methods Three different types of yarns i.e. Carded, Semi-combed, Combed with two different counts like 24s Ne & 32s Ne are taken for the study. the raw material is processed in same mill under standard conditions. These yarns were cleared by common clearer with standard settings.

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The yarns are then tested for their important characteristics like U%, Count CV%, Single yarn strength, Appearance grade, Reflectance, Handle value & knitting performance.

22

Then by checking the properties of knitted fabric the correlation has been made with all propertie of the yarn.

Knitting machine details : Modern circular knitting machine with positive feeders to produce single Jersey fabric were used. The m/c details are given in following table,

Description

Parameters

Type Make Diameter Speed Gauge Stitch length Weight/sq. mtr.

Course/inch Wales/inch No. of feeders Tightness factor Yarn tension

Weft circular FXC-Z/3S 30 inch.

30 rpm 28 2.75 mm 130 45 28 90 15 4 gm.

Result and discussions : The average values of yarn test results are as given below, Count

CRD

24s Ne SCb

U% 11.8 9.6 T (-30) 1680 750 T (-40) 135 25 T (-50) 27 2 T (-60) 2 0 Th (+35) 1025 380 Th (+50) 256 48 Th (+70) 48 5 Th (100) 2 0 N (+140) 1540 560 N (+200) 530 88 N (+280) 32 8 N (+400) 3 1 RKM 12.1 13.5 ELONG. 4.1 4.95 A 411 64.2 B 32.4 10.1 C 9.6 2.2 D 0.3 1.1 E 1.2 0.7 L Thick 18.6 13.9 L Thin 135 2.9 ABCDE 455 78.3 TOTAL 609 95 Where : T - Thin Places, TH

Cb

CRD

32s Ne SCb

9.1 13.8 10.9 544 1972 1099 17 405 139 0 43 4 0 2 0 200 1030 700 18 303 89 0 64 7 0 2 0 325 1833 1184 39 688 182 2 84 24 0 7 2 15 11.3 13.2 5.0 3.4 4.4 41 522 85 4.1 49.3 17.7 0.7 10.3 4.6 0.6 1.8 1.2 0.7 1.2 0 2.3 18.7 0.8 0.4 248 7.3 47 594 108 50 762 117 - Thick Places, N - Neps.

Cb 10.4 516 98 2 0 406 38 0 0 563 64 6 0 13.9 4.4 54 15.9 3.7 0.5 0 0.3 1.8 74 76.3

Fabric properties of three types of yarns C SC Cb C SC B.S(Kg/cm2) 7.3 8.5 9.2 6.4 7.5 A.Pm3/m2/m 19 21 23 22 24 Appearance 1 3 5 2 4 Reflectance% 56 66 76 57 68 Handle 2.1 2.4 2.9 2.3 2.5 Performance 19 6.0 2.0 22 8.0 Where : B.S - Bursting Strength, A.P - Air Permeability

Cb 8.5 28 6 79 3.0 4.0

Continue On Page 27

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ANALYSIS ••• YARN PROPERTIES Continue From Page 22

In this knitted fabric the air permeability varies from 28.4 to 18.7 cub.mtr/sq.mtr/min. In the yarn if hairiness is higher, greater will be the resistance to air flow.

The correlation coefficient for hairiness is negative which indicates that if yarn hairiness increases the air permeability reduces.

Yarn Faults U% Total thin Total thick Total neps Total IPI Hairiness ABCDE Long thick Long thin Total faults

24s Ne 0.67 0.71 0.74 0.71 0.72 -0.74 0.66 0.63 0.64 0.64

32s Ne 0.69 0.77 0.72 0.77 0.75 -0.71 0.69 0.66 0.65 0.67

Thick faults and imperfections increase the air space in the yarn due to lower compactness and thereby increase the air permeability.

Neps and slubs result in missed stitch holes in the fabric hence gives more air permeability. TPM plays very important role in producing the fabric, if TPM is very high it will produce wire mesh type fabric structure which allows more air to pass through it i.e. air permeability will increase.

2. Correlation coefficient between yarn properties & fab.

Bursting strength From the results it is found that the bursting strength of the knitted fabric is directly correlated with the yarn properties like strength, toughness, and yarn quality index. The yarn i r r e g u l a r i t y, imperfections and classimat faults adversely influence the bursting strength which is due to the distorted loops.

Yarn Faults U% Total thin Total thick Total neps Total IPI RKM Elongation ABCDE Long thick Long thin Total faults

24s Ne -0.78 -0.74 -0.76 -0.68 -0.79 0.76 0.69 -0.74 -0.71 -0.75 -0.74

32s Ne -0.76 -0.73 -0.72 -0.71 -0.81 0.73 0.70 -0.75 -0.68 -0.73 -0.70

Bursting strength of combed yarn knitted fabric is higher than the carded knitted fabric due to its higher RKM values, better elongation, lower unevenness and imperfections of the yarn.

It is found that the strength of coarser yarn is higher than the finer yarns so bursting strength of coarse yarn knitted fabric is higher than fabrics made up of finer yarns.

3. Correlation coefficient between yarn properties & fab.

Appearance – The results of fabric shows that classimat faults A,B,C,D,E , imperfections as well as yarn hairiness significantly correlated with fabric appearance, higher number of above faults gives lower fabric appearance. In case of imperfections the correlation value decreases with the increase in the length of faults.

The correlation between appearance of the fabric and U% is negative and highly significant i.e. it hampers the fabric appearance.

Excessive yarn hairiness gives dim or cloudy appearance to

the fabric which is due to the fact that, the fabric luster is blemished due to scattering of light on the surface of fabric.

Fabric produced from combed yarn gives higher appearance rank than that of carded yarn fabric.

Yarn Faults U% Total thin Total thick Neps(+400) Total IPI Hairiness ABCDE Long thick Long thin Total faults

24s Ne -0.83 -0.70 -0.71 -0.73 -0.71 -0.72 -0.72 -0.72 -0.76 -0.74

32s Ne -0.87 -0.69 -0.73 -0.74 -0.72 -0.67 -0.71 -0.71 -0.79 -0.77

4. Correlation between yarn properties & fab. Handle properties – In case of the combed yarn short fibre per cent is less and the fibres are arranged parallel to the axis of yarn and gives uniform yarn. In case of the combed yarn, there is improvement in the softness, elasticity and bending property of yarn which leads to better fabric handle.

Yarn Faults U% Total thin Total thick Neps(+400) Total IPI Hairiness ABCDE Long thick Long thin Total faults RKM Elongation

24s Ne -0.88 -0.87 -0.88 -0.87 -0.87 -0.89 -0.83 -0.79 -0.80 -0.83 0.88 0.80

32s Ne -0.82 -0.79 -0.82 -0.85 -0.82 -0.81 -0.76 -0.74 -0.74 -0.75 0.83 0.71

In this correlation it confirms that higher the n u m b e r o f imperfections, hairiness, and faults lesser will be the total handle value of fabric.

Conclusions 1) The air permeability value for knitted fabric produced from carded yarn is higher than other two fabrics irrespective of yarn count.

2) Yarn U%, IPI, and total faults adversely influence the bursting strength of the knitted fabric.

3) The correlation between U% & appearance is very much significant. The faults like long thick and long thin also hamper the appearance of knitted fabric.

4) The negative value of correlation coefficient clearly indicates that increase in thick ,thin places, neps, long thick, thin and A,B,C,D,E yarn faults decreases the knitted fabric appearance.

5) The total hand value have shown the trend that the fabric from combed yarns have better hand value as compared to the fabric made from carded yarns.

References (1) Mr.C.R Prayag & Mr.P. Neelakant “combed yarn performance on hagh speed circular knitting machine” JTA,1995,Nov,Page 181. (2) “Charactoristics of ring spun for knitting”Melliand 1994,Nov,E32 (3) M Frey and K Douglas; “Charactoristics of ring spun yarn for knitting”, Meliand Textileber, 1994, Nov E23.

(4) T.M Krishna Varma,”A study on the quality of knitting yarn”,ITJ 1994, Volume Nov,Page71. (5) K.P Chellamani, D Chattopadhyay,”Yarn quality or knitting”, ATJ1995,Vol Feb,Page57. (6) Dr. M.S.Parmar “Defects in weft knitted fabric causes and remedies” ITJ1999,Dec,Page144. (7) Shariff and A.R.Ghagre,”Mechanism of formation of yarn faults”,21st Jt. Technological conf,BITRA,1980. (8) C.A Lawrence & S.A”Yarn and knitting parameters affecting fly during weft knitting of staple yarns” TRJ 1996,Nov, Page 694. (9) Lee J.r. & Ruppenicker G.F “Effect of processing veriables on the properties”, TRJ,1978,Vol,48 Page 27. (10) Brown. P.A,”APreliminary study of the fibre length distribution in fly produced during weft knitting”TRJ1978 Vol48, Page162. (11) Buchler,G,Rieder, O, & Haussler,W.”Fibre fly, A serious problem for knitting Ind.”, Knitting technology.1988, vol10, Page126.

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1. Correlation coefficient between yarn properties & fab.

Air permeability-

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ANALYSIS ••• SILK INDUSTRY

S. Venkatachalam Assistant Professor, Dept. of Management Studies Karpagam College of Engineering, Coimbatore

K. S. Kavitha Lecturer, Dept. of Commerce, Sree Ramu College of Arts and Science, Pollachi.

And PhD Scholar Karpagam University, Coimbatore

Dr. P. Palanivelu

••• July 2011

Controller of Examinations, Karpagam University, Coimbatore

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The Indian silk industry is an integral part of the Indian Textile Industry and is among the oldest industries in India.

The silk industry in India engages around 60 lakh workers and it involves small and marginal farmers.

Today, the textile industry is a global industry and we are living in a world full of volatility in commodity prices, foreign exchange, and interest rates.

Silk is a high value but low volume product accounting for only 0.2 % of world's total textile production.

SILK AN OVERVIEW OF

INDUSTRIES IN INDIA

Silk production is regarded as an important tool for economic development of a country. The Central Silk Board is a statutory body established for administrative control of the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India. It is give to advise the Central Government on all matters relating to the development of silk industry including import and export of raw silk. The textiles ministry is expecting That India’s silk export is likely to touch Rs7,000 crore by 2012.

The textiles ministry is creating more awareness to the farmers about silk and also giving training to use of new technologies to silk production. Silk industries are using modern and scientific production techniques for produce silk products and achieve high import to other countries.

T

he Indian silk industry is an integral part of the Indian Textile Industry and is among the oldest industries in India. The silk industry in India engages around 60 lakh workers and it involves small and marginal farmers. Today, the textile industry is a global industry and we are living in a world full of volatility in commodity prices, foreign exchange, and interest rates.

Since raw cotton presents such a large percentage of total input cost, bad judgments in price fixations can seriously affect the profitability of a company. More and more cotton growers and textile mills around the globe employ the services of consultants to assist them with their cotton pricing and risk management decisions. This is not surprising as cotton is the only major input cost item over which a textile mill has control.

The textile tradition in India has been conditioned by a number of factors, like geography, climate, local culture, social customs, availability of raw material etc. A variety of raw material like silk, cotton, wool, jute etc is used in India for creating fabric. Silk and cotton weaving predominate the weaving traditions in India. Silk weaving is common in most parts of the country, important centers being Mysore, Assam, Banaras, Murshidabad, Surat, Kanchipuram and Paithan etc.

Man is always inquisitive for silk products. Silk is Queen of Textiles, spells luxury, elegance, class and comfort. Mankind has always loved this shimmering fibre of unparalleled grandeur.

It withstood many a daunting challenges from other natural and artificial fibres and yet, remained the undisputed Queen of Textiles since centuries. Exquisite qualities Man is always inquisitive for silk products. Exquisite qualities like the natural sheen, inherent affinity for dyes and vibrant colours, high absorbance, light weight, resilience and excellent drape etc. have made silk, the irresistible and inevitable companion of the eve, all over the world.

The production output of Silk industry in India is 17,300 tons of silk and it produces 4 types of silk viz., Mulburry, Muga, Tassore, and Eri. The crux of India silk industry lies with the Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jammu &

ANALYSIS ••• SILK INDUSTRY Kashmir and West Bengal. "Sericulture" or rearing of silkworm revolves around these Indian states and thus the farming of silk is concentrated in these states only.

Sericulture involves rearing of food plants, the mulburry plants, rearing of the silk insect, and finally post-cocoon processes such as twisting, dyeing, weaving, printing, and finishing.

Production of Silk Silk is a high value but low volume product accounting for only 0.2 % of world's total textile production. Silk production is regarded as an important tool for economic development of a country as it is a labour intensive and high income generating industry that churns out value added products of economic importance.

Asia is the main producer of silk in the world and produces over 95 % of the total global output. Though there are over 40 countries on the world map of silk, bulk of it is produced in China and India, followed by Japan, Brazil and Korea.

China is the leading supplier of silk to the world. India is the second largest producer of silk, contributing to about 18 per cent to the world production. The real fact is that India's requirement of raw silk is much higher than its current production at present. Thus, there is considerable scope for stepping up production of raw silk in the country, overcome the persistent conflict of interest between exporters of silk products and producers of raw silk. It has a strong tradition and culture bound domestic market of silk. In India, mulberry silk is produced mainly in the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir and West Bengal, while the non-mulberry silks are produced in Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Orissa and north-eastern states.

Types of Silk There are five major types of silk of commercial importance, obtained from different species of silkworms which in turn feed on a number of food plants. These are except mulberry; other varieties of silks are generally termed as non-mulberry silks. India has the unique distinction of producing all these commercial varieties of silk.

Silk has been intermingled with the life and culture of the Indians. Though India is producing all the varieties of silk i.e., dress materials, scarves/stoles, readymade garments, etc., the silk sarees are unique. The saree is almost synonymous with the word silk. It is the traditional costume of Indian woman since time immemorial. There are innumerable references in Indian literature about this draped garment and the style of wearing differs from time to time, region to region and people to people. The silk sarees of India are among the living examples of the excellent craftsmanship of the weavers of the country.

• Very low import content • Flexible silk manufacturing systems • It is wide base and sustaining market demand pull especially from the Indian handloom weaving sector.

• The infrastructure created by the national sericulture project and the research and training capabilities.

Weaknesses of Indian Silk Industry are as follows: The main weakness is related to a poor database, diverse range of practices leading to a divergence in productivity and quality. Generally, there is weak accent on quality consistency in production, poor transfer of technology to the decentralized sector both due to poor technology absorption and poor/inadequate follow up on laboratory findings; poor market linkages, a thriving unfair trade in the post-yarn sector, high cost technologies due to fears that there might not be corresponding improvement in price realizations. Other weaknesses are inadequate emphasis on quality in the commercial seed sector, neglect of marketing linkages and the need for a basic perspective for development of the sector which clearly defined relative roles for the central and state agencies under the federal setup Imports of cheap and alternative textiles from other Asian neighbors and some of other reasons to reduce export.

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

Use of outdated manufacturing technology High cost of use new technology Price changes in export market Primitive and unscientific production techniques Use of poor quality seeds Low production of bivoltine seeds Use of non-graded and diseased seeds Poor knowledge of farm disease amongst farmers Poor supply chain management Huge unorganized and decentralized sector High production cost Recurring droughts Increased import of silk from China

Export in India an overview In 1922 to 1937 the industry was in doldrums and during this period a number of the Bombay mills changed hands. The Second World War, during which textile import from Japan completely stopped, however, brought about an unprecedented growth of this industry. The number of mills increased from 178 with 4.05 lakh looms in 1901 to 249 mills with 13.35 lakh looms in 1921 and further to 396 mills with over 20 lakh looms in 1941. By 1945 there were 417 mills employing 5.10 lakh workers.

• • • • • •

Huge production capacity Efficient raw material manufacturing capacity Large pool of skilled and cheap labours Entrepreneurial skills Huge export potential Large domestic market

Items Wise Exports 2008 to 2010 in Rupees

••• July 2011

Strengths of Indian Silk Industry are as follows:

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ANALYSIS ••• SILK INDUSTRY Review of Silk Exports & Imports Table 1 : Total Export Earnings of Silk Items Item wise Exports

Natural Silk, Yarn, Fabrics, Madeup Readymade Garments Silk Carpet Silk waste Total

December 2009 2008 Rs US$ Rs US$ (in Crore) (Million) (in Crore) (Million)

April to December 2009-2010 2008-2009 Rs US$ Rs US$ (in Crore) (Million) (in Crore) (Million)

107.36 96.51 2.24 5.80 211.91

1048.56 1026.72 32.63 15.95 2123.86

23.02 20.70 0.48 1.24 45.44

140.88 119.62 5.18 1.12 266.8

28.96 24.59 1.06 0.23 54.84

218.68 214.12 6.81 3.33 442.94

1287.60 1058.59 32.47 5.09 2383.75

287.86 236.66 7.26 1.14 532.92

Source: Foreign Trade Statistics of India (Principal Commodities & Countries), DGCI&S, Kolkata

Review of Silk Exports & Imports Table II : Countrywise Imports of Raw Silk Country

China P R Brazil Uzbekistan Iran Korea RP Others Total

Qty. (Tons)

2009-2010 Value Rs(in Crore)

5759 65 52 29 16 25 5946

712.83 6.70 3.94 1.99 1.35 2.31 729.12

April To December US$ (Million)

Qty. (Tons)

2008-2009 Value Rs(in Crore) US$ (Million)

148.66 1.40 0.82 0.42 0.28 0.48 152.06

6295 17 18 0 0 17 6347

677.09 1.89 1.32 0 0 1.31 681.61

151.37 0.42 0.30 0 0 0.29 152.38

Source: Foreign Trade Statistics of India (Principal Commodities & Countries), DGCI&S, Kolkata

Countrywise Import of Raw Silk in 2008-2009

••• July 2011

Item Wise Exports 2008 to 2010 in US$

30

Countrywise Imports of Raw Silk in 2009-2010

A textile export plays a crucial role in the overall exports in India. Thought export friendly government policies and positive efforts by the exporting community, textile exports increased substantially from US$ 5.07 billion in 1991-92 to US$ 12.10 billion during 2000-01. The textile exports basket contributing over 46% of total textile exports. In world textile trade has risen to 3.1 percent in 1999-2000 as against 1.80% in early nineties.

Exports have grown at an average of 11% p.a. over the last few years; the world textile trade has grown only about 5.4% p.a the same years. During the year 2000-01 Indies textile export was US$ 12014.4 million. It was increased the year 2004-05 US$ 13038.64 million. The exports of textiles (including handicrafts, jute, and coir) formed 24.6% of total exports in 2001-2002, however this percentage decreased to 16.24% during 2004-2005.

ANALYSIS ••• SILK INDUSTRY Table III : Prices of Non-mulberry Reeling Cocoons and Raw Silk (in Rs.)

Source: Foreign Trade Statistics of India (Principal Commodities & Countries), DGCI&S, Kolkata

The overall export target for 2005-06 has been fixed at US$ 15,565 million. In 2005 textile and garments accounted for about 16% of export earnings. India’s textile exports to the US have shown a good rise of 29.5% between January and June 2005. The textiles ministry is expecting That India’s silk export is likely to touch Rs. 7,000 crore by 2012. The country’s silk export, including items like garments, natural silk yarn, fabrics, scarves and carpets, was Rs. 2,905.33 crore during April-February 2008-09. The export stood at Rs. 3,500 crore in 2007-08.

The US is the major export market of silk items, contributing about 22% in India’s earnings from the product, followed by the UK, the UAE, Italy and Germany. The textiles ministry is expecting that the exhibition would generate a business of about Rs. 300 crore and medium-term sales of Rs. 1,000 crore. To diversify the textiles exports and reduce dependence on the European Union (EU) and US, which accounts for bulk of textiles shipments, new markets like Latin America, Africa and Oceania regions are being explored by the Indian exporters.

India’s $55-billion textile sector employs about 35 million people. The countries textile exports declined by 10% to $20 billion in 2008-09 over the previous fiscal due to demand recession in the major global markets, including in the US and EU. The textile ministry has failed to achieve the target for silk export for 2008-09. The ministry had set a target of exporting silk items worth Rs 3,970 crore but the country could export silk goods worth only Rs 3,165 crore during the period. However, 2008-09 recorded a growth of 16%, compared with exports of Rs 2,727 crore, which were reported in 2007-08.

••• July 2011

The textile exports recorded a growth of 15.3% in 2002-2003 and 8.7% in 2003-2004. Textile exports during the period of April-February 2003-2004 amounted to $11,698.5 million.

During 2004-05 textile exports were US$ 13,039.00 million, recording a decline of 3.4% as compared to the corresponding period of previous year. However, during April-November, 2005, the textile exports have shown growth of 8.2% as compare to the corresponding period of previous year. Against a target of US$ 15,160 million during 2004-05, the textile exports were of US$13039 million, registering a shortfall of 14% against the target.

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ANALYSIS ••• SILK INDUSTRY According to the latest statistics released by the Central Silk Board (CSB), an apex body of the silk industry, the export of readymade silk garments increased to Rs 1,437 crore in 2008-09, from Rs 746 crore in the previous year. The exports have been affected due to the decline in demand for silk products like natural silk yarn, fabrics and madeups. China, the world’s largest producer of silk, has acquired India’s major silk export markets, by offering these items at a cheaper cost, Silk items like natural silk yarn, fabrics and madeups fetched export earnings of Rs 1664 crore in AprilMarch 2009, down 12% from Rs 1,897 crore recorded in the previous fiscal.

The country’s silk carpet exports stood at Rs 58 crore, down from Rs 72 crore, while exports of silk waste also declined to Rs 5 crore from Rs 12 crore. The failure in achieving the export target is mainly attributed to a cut in silk exports to the US. The country exported silk items worth Rs 535 crore to the US in 2008-09, down from Rs 614 crore exported in the previous fiscal. Silk exports to the UK also declined to Rs 348 crore from Rs 390 crore recorded in the previous fiscal. The US, Hong Kong, the UK, the UAE and Italy are the top five countries that imported Indian silk goods in value terms during April-March 2009. India’s total silk exports, the US accounted for 16.9%, followed by Hong Kong at 12%, the UK at 11%, the UAE at 9.5% and Italy at 6.2%.

Shrinking silk demand from the key Indian silk material importer, The US, has influenced the country’s target of silk export earning fixed for the fiscal 2009-10. The country garnered Rs 28.71 billion in 2009-10, just 67% of the target of Rs 41.5 billion fixed by the Union Textile Ministry and also recorded a 10% fall against the earning of the fiscal 2008-09 which stood at Rs 31.7 billion.

••• July 2011

The export volume of silk items reduced in 2009-10 mainly due to the fall in exports to the US to Rs 4.1 billion from Rs 5.3 billion of 2008-09. Moreover, exports to Hong Kong as well as UK tumbled down to Rs 3.66 billion and Rs 3.12 billion in 2009-10, from Rs 3.81 billion and Rs 3.41 billion, respectively. Further in this declining trend, Indian silk exports to Germany fell down to Rs 1.58 billion from Rs 1.93 billion, to Italy from Rs 1.96 billion to Rs 1.5 billion and to France to Rs 1.22 billion from Rs 1.5 billion, while to Spain it tumbled down to Rs 1.12 billion from Rs 1.81 billion.

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Natural silk yarn, fabrics, made ups, readymade garments, silk carpet and silk waste are the products which India exports. It shipped around Rs 14.13 billion worth natural silk yarn, fabrics, made ups, and Rs 13.93 billion worth silk garments in fiscal 2009-10. Export of Indian silk during the first quarter of the current financial year raise by 30% in value terms. Decline in Chinese exports of silk products and rising demand for Indian products were attributed to be the main reasons for this encouraging performance of the domestic silk industry. The silk industry is also planning to raise the production of raw silk from 14,000 tons to 20,000 tons during this financial year.

In one of the new casualties of the global financial slowdown, the Indian silk industry, which has fair SMEpresence, has registered an export decline of 10% from Rs 3,178 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 2,871 crore during 2009-10.

Although the Union Textile Ministry had set a target of Rs

4,150 crore for the last financial year, according to the Central Silk Board (CSB) only 67% of the target could be achieved.

America’s inclination towards Chinese silk products is also being attributed as one of the major reasons behind the decline in silk exports. A major share of India’s silk exports is contributed by the SME sector with products such as natural silk yarn, fabrics, readymade garments, silk carpet and silk waste. “There has also been a decline in silk exports to Eastern European countries. Besides the global financial slowdown, the frequent currency fluctuations are also restricting silk export to these countries. India’s silk export to countries such as Hong Kong, the UK, Germany, Italy, France and Spain had also declined during 2009-10, which reflects the poor performance of Indian silk-export based SMEs in these countries. Under the circumstances, the Textile Ministry’s prediction last year that silk exports would reach Rs 7,000 crore by 2012 is unlikely to materialize.

Silk exports declined US demand India has missed the target set for silk export earnings in 2009-10 because of falling shipments to the US, a major importer of Indian silk materials. The country's silk exports in 2009-10 touched Rs 2,871 crore, down 10% from Rs 3,178 crore recorded in the previous year (2008-2009). The union textile ministry has set a target of Rs 4,150 crore for the year, but the country could achieve only 67% of the set target. The volumes declined primarily because exports to the US tumbled to Rs 417 crore in 2009-10 from Rs 536 crore recorded in 2008-09.

Indian exporters had reduced their shipments to the US when the rupee weakened against the dollar in 2007-08 since realizations in value terms crashed by around 20%.

This led the US buyers switching over to Chinese silk materials two years ago. Further in 2008-09, exports to the US slipped due to the economic recession. The exports to the US have been continuously declining in the past three years which is alarming news to the domestic silk industry.

In 2007-08, India exported Rs 614 crore worth silk items to the US. From financial year 08, the exports to the US fell by a whopping 32%.

Exports to Hong Kong also declined to Rs 366 crore in 200910 from Rs 381 crore reported in the previous year while to the UK, exports tumbled to Rs 312 crore from Rs 341 crore.

Shipments to Germany fell to Rs 158 crore from Rs 193 crore while the exports to Italy tumbled to Rs 150 crore from Rs 196 crore. Exports to France also declined to Rs 122 crore from Rs 150 crore and to Spain, it tumbled to Rs 112 crore from Rs 181 crore. India exports silk items like natural silk yarn, fabrics, made up, readymade garments, silk carpet and silk waste. In 2009-10, the country shipped Rs 1,413 crore worth natural silk yarn, fabrics, made up and Rs 1,393 worth readymade garments. Silk carpet exports stood at Rs 39 crore while that of exports of silk waste touched Rs 25 crore.

The Central Silk Board The Central Silk Board is a statutory body established on 28th April 1949 by an act of Parliament. It functions under the administrative control of the Ministry of Textiles,

ANALYSIS ••• SILK INDUSTRY

It is imperative on the part of Indian Manufactures and exporters to initiate suitable measures towards strengthening its quality assurance, for the purpose of continuing the survival in the competition with the global traders. Hence Central Silk Board felt it should assist the “Indian Silk Trade and Industry” in the field of quality appraisal in an effective manner. Therefore the conception of “New Voluntary Quality Inspection Scheme” for all types of Natural Silk Products was evolved.

A recessionary trend in the US markets, India's silk exports have surpassed the 2001-2002 targets of $430 million with exports of $470 million. In rupee terms, silk exports from India dipped by 6.91 per cent to Rs 2235.38 crore from the previous year's Rs 2401.4 crore. The decline in exports, expected to be much sharper, has been partially stemmed on account of a marginal gain in other markets, according to the Indian Silk Export Promotion Council (ISEPC). Keeping in mind the recessionary trend in some of the country's key silk markets, ISEPC had pegged its export target at $450 million for the current fiscal. A significant decline in domestic silk exports was accounted for by the US, Canada, Europe and Japan. Exports of silk products including natural silk yarn fabrics, readymade garments, silk carpets and silk waste, to the US fell by 22% to Rs 678.82 crore (Rs 866.80 crore) and those to Canada also dipped by 22 % to Rs 34.67 crore (Rs 44.21 crore).

More development of silk industries it has to reduce cost of production, good market analysis, and good supply chain management, introduce new technology at low cost, knowledgeable labour, traditional silk industries to be changed to organized and centralized sector.

increase at Rs 56.59 crore (Rs 35.8 crore). Among the various silk products, exports of silk carpets rose by 52% to Rs 168.45 crore as compared to Rs 110.88 crore in the earlier year. But exports of natural silk yarn fabrics and made-ups fell by 6.6% to Rs 1,309.47 crore (Rs 1,401.98 crore), readymade garments moved down by 14.6% to Rs 720.88 crore (Rs 844.28 crore) and silk waste moved down by 17% to Rs 36.58 crore (Rs 44.27 crore). According to ISEPC official, China continues to remain dominant player in the world market. Priced at the equivalent of Rs 1,050 per yarn, Chinese exports are more attractive over India's offer at Rs 1,100-1,200 per yarn.

The Central Silk Board under the Ministry of Textiles Government of India has taken some steps to revive this sick industry. It has collaborated with the Japanese Government for technology cooperation for increased cultivation and use of bivoltine seeds. Further, the 10th Plan envisages an increased silk production of 21,800 MT, increased exports by 15%, and creation of livelihoods for around 61 lakh people by the end of year 2007. Knowledge that is required to assist you with your price fixations of "on call" purchases on the New York Cotton Exchange (now ICE) as well as with a variety of risk management strategies and also have the necessary experience to guide textile mills through the process of technical arbitrations at the International Cotton Association in Liverpool and at the American Cotton Shippers Association in Memphis.

Conclusion

Exports to Italy fell by 33% to Rs 114.59 crore during 20012002 as compared to Rs 171.36 crore in the earlier year.

Exports to Denmark slipped by 32 per cent to Rs 15.61 crore (Rs 10.58 crore); Spain fell by 17%t to Rs 78.34 crore (Rs 64.49 crore) and Germany slipped by 27% to Rs 156.45 crore (Rs 218.17 crore). Silk exports to Japan fell by 43 per cent to Rs 30.79 crore (Rs 54.17 crore).

The textiles ministry is expecting that India’s silk export is likely to touch Rs. 7,000 crore by 2012. Silk industries also used to good quality raw material for produce of good quality products. More development of silk industries it has to reduce cost of production, good market analysis, and good supply chain management, introduce new technology at low cost, knowledgeable labour, traditional silk industries to be changed to organized and centralized sector. The textiles ministry is achieving to its expectation it give more concentration on traditional and handloom silk industries.

Give more relaxation to Indian exporters and also control silk import from Asian countries. The textiles ministry is creating more awareness to the farmers about silk and also giving training to use of new technologies to silk production.

Silk industries are using modern and scientific production techniques for produce silk products and achieve high import to other countries.

The declines in exports to these countries were offset by an increase in sales to Australia, Hongkong, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Australia recorded a 58%

Reference 1. www.indiasilk.kar.nic.in 2. Foreign Trade Statistics of India (Principal Commodities & Countries), DGCI&S, Kolkata.

According to an official of ISEPC, exports to the US, hit by sluggish demand was further impacted following terror attacks on the World Trade Centre in September 2001.

Europe, the decline of silk exports was to the extent of 17%to Rs 707.04 crore in 2001-2002 as compared to exports of Rs 847.05 crore in the earlier year. The slide in exports to Europe was on account of a significant shortfall in exports to Denmark, Italy, Spain, Germany, Greece and the UK.

••• July 2011

Government of India. One of its main functions is to advise the Central Government on all matters relating to the development of silk industry including import and export of raw silk. The Pre-shipment Inspection Authority for Natural Silk goods meant for export under the EXIM Policy is the Central Silk Board, having its Head Quarters at CSB Complex, B.T.M. layout, Madiwala, Bangalore-560068.

Under the EXIM Policy compulsory Pre-shipment Inspection of Natural Silk goods was dispensed by Ministry of Textiles with effect from 01.04.2000. Central Silk Board extended its services to Silk trading Community by offering voluntary Quality inspection of Natural Silk goods meant for exports through its Certification Centers spread across the country whenever it is desired by the exporters. List of Certification Centers.

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SPECIAL STORY ••• AIRBAG

Dr. V. P. Singh & Ruchita Singh MLV Textile and Engineering College, Bhilwara, Rajasthan

AIRBAG

••• July 2011

- A SAFETY DEVICE IN AUTOMOBILES

34

This article deals the physics, chemistry, and engineering of airbag, which is one of the most important safety devices used in automobiles like aircrafts, motorcars, spacecrafts or even Para-gliders. Now in automobiles seat belts and air bags are two main safety devices.

The deployment of air bags began with the idea for a system that would restraint automobile driver and passenger in an accident. In an automobile besides, aesthetics, speed, comfort, durability, mileage and efficiency, safety is a priority for the consumer. This has led to study physics of air bag during collision, chemistry behind the air bag.

Now the airbag engineering technology has been improved greatly and this is now being used in most of the automobiles as a protective device.

M

obtech is the one of the most important application of technical textile. It includes transportation vehicles and systems including cars, trains, buses, airplanes and marine vehicle. Approximately 50 squares yards of textile materials used in an average car for interior trim (seating areas, headliners, side panels, carpets and trunk), reinforcement, lining, underlay fabrics, tires, filters, belts, hoses, airbags, sound damping and insulation.

Now a day the four-wheeler is also a primary necessity. So it became the second largest purchase of any body’s life. But after the collision it needs repair. Although it is insuranced but the insurance company will step up and pay for repairs, minus your deductible. But no insurance company can return human being life if it is lost in an accident. It makes the safety devices essential in automotive industries.

So the deployment of air bags began with the idea for a system that would restraint automobile driver and passenger in an accident. In an automobile besides, aesthetics, speed, comfort, durability, mileage and efficiency, safety is a priority for the consumer. Also there has been a significant rise in living standard and safety regulations made by the government for the people in developing nations like India.

Airbags were never designed to replace seat belts.

That is why an airbag is called a “supplemental restraint”. The air bags are designed to keep the head, neck and chest from slumming into the dashboard, steering wheel, windshield or other surfaces by creating a cushion between both occupants. The air bag works only in front end crashes, the kind of crashes, which account for more than half of the entire passenger vehicle occupant deaths. Air bags are designed to limit head and chest injuries.

Figure 1

For an air bag generally the Nylon-66, Polyester and Nylon-46 filament is used. Previously Nylon – 66 940 dtex was used for the air bags. But now most of the air bags are made of 470 dtex - 235 dtex. Nylon – 66 has the most superior properties so it is used for the air bags. Now the Polyamide – 46 is also used for the air bag application.

History of the Air Bags In low to moderate speed collision the seat belt alone is usually sufficient to prevent the

SPECIAL STORY ••• AIRBAG

serious injury. But in high speed crashes the seat belts alone are not able to prevent the driver head from striking the steering wheel or to the dashboard. So it became essential to develop a new safety device that would be effective in the high speed crashes and serious injuries could be avoided.

But the new system should be of passive nature so that it doesn’t require the user to do any thing in order to activate it at the time of collision.

To solve out the above problem the passive restraining system i. e. Air Bags came in existence. Airbag patents go back to the 1950s. Breed*1 invented a "sensor and safety system" in 1968, the world's first electromechanical automotive airbag system. In the 1970s, both General Motors and Ford placed airbags into a small fleet of automobiles. Surprisingly, these 1970s airbags were in many respects more advanced than ones used in the 1990s.

In the 1970s, the General Motors fleet with airbags had adjustable inflators. In less severe collisions that airbag inflated less quickly than it did in more severe collisions.

This same design is now one of the primary designs being touted as a smart airbag. The 1973, Oldsmobile Toronado was the first car with a passenger air bag intended for sale to the public.

No sooner had it been made a requirement than the airbag became the subject of a long-running dispute. "The airbag will kill more people than it saves," claimed the new critical voices entering the debate in the USA. As a consequence, the introduction date was put back until 1976. General Motors later offered an option to the general public of driver side airbags in full-sized Oldsmobile's and Buick's in 1975 and 1976 respectively. Throughout the 1980s, manufacturers resisted installing airbags. The manufactures felt that safety did not sell vehicles and were worried about costs. The dire predictions of the manufacturers to the government in the 1980s, but concealed from the public in the 1990s, proved true. Airbags as they had been designed in the 1980's and 1990’s could kill occupants, especially children and women. In 1994, TRW began production of the first gas-inflated airbag. Then, in the late 1980s, Chrysler reversed itself and started installing airbags. the frontpassenger airbag was introduced in 1988. Manufacturers were concerned that they would lose sales if they did not have airbags. By 1992, most manufacturers had airbags on the driver side and by the mid-l990s most had airbags on the passenger side as well.

In 1998, manufacturers introduced so-called “second generation” airbags. Now the amount of propellant was reduced to avoid injury by the air bag itself. Tests showed

that these de-powered bags still passed the version of FMVSS 208 that manufacturers blamed for overly aggressive airbags. Better sensors. Many airbag related injuries are directly due to sensors. Many are too sensitive or unable to distinguish between a minor event, such as going over a curb, and a significant event, like a head-on collision. So advanced sensors were used which were fully auto electronic.

Then the Suppression systems came. In the case according to avoid serious injury for it a weight sensors was placed in seats or in the floor pan. Weight sensors help to determine if a child is in the seat or is standing close to the airbag. Other manufacturers have developed “bias” flaps. These are airbags designed to detect if an occupant is in the way of the deploying airbag. If there is, the bag redirects its forces to the side rather than directly into the occupant. Still others are exploring the use of infrared technology to detect people who are "out of position."

After wards the new development are going on the physics, chemistry, and engineering, as well as on the efficient working of the Air Bags. Today’s Air Bags are much more advanced microprocessor controlled i.e. fully automatic.

Thus the use of air bag is increasing day by day.

Physics of Air bag during collision The physics of the Air Bag deals in two parts.

1. The Microscopic Picture of Gas Behavior i.e. Kinetic Theory of Gases 2. The Inertia Theory 1. The Microscopic Picture of Gas Behavior, Kinetic Theory of Gases The macroscopic properties*2,3,4 (i.e., pressure and temperature) of the gas in an airbag are considered similar to the ideal-gas law, which is derived from experimental observations (i.e., empirically). The kinetic theory of gases assumes that gases are ideal (i.e., no interactions between molecules, and the size of the molecules is negligible compared to the free space between the molecules), but treats each molecule as a physical body that moves continually through space in random directions.

In a microscopic view, the pressure exerted on the walls of the container is the result of molecules colliding with the walls, and hence exerting force on the walls as in fig. When many molecules hit the wall, a large force is distributed over the surface of the wall. This aggregate force, Figure 3 : divided by the surface area, gives The diagram shows gas molecules in a the pressure. container. The A relation from the kinetic theory of molecules are gases shows that the average kinetic constantly moving in energy of the gas molecules random directions, depends only on the temperature. hitting the container Since average kinetic energy is wall and exert a tiny related to the average speed of the force on the wall

••• July 2011

Figure 2 : Air Bag

35

SPECIAL STORY ••• AIRBAG molecules (EK = mu2 / 2, where m=mass and u is the average speed). Thus, the temperature is a measure of the random motion of the particles, defined by the molecular speeds. So the temperature is related to the average speed of the molecules. This implies that there must be a range of speeds for the system. In fact, there is a typical distribution of molecular speeds for molecules of a given molecular weight at a given temperature, known as the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. As shown by the Maxwell-Boltzmann distributions in Figure 4b, there are very few molecules traveling at very low or at very high speeds. The maximum of the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution is an intermediate speed at which the largest numbers of molecules are traveling. As the temperature increases, the number of molecules that are traveling at high speeds increases, and the speeds become more evenly distributed (i.e., the curve broadens). A useful indication of a typical speed in the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution is the root-mean-square speed (urms), which depends on the temperature and the molecular weight of the gas according to the formula Urms = ( 3RT / M ) ½ .......................................................... (1) where R = Gas constant in J/mol K (R = 8.3145 J/ mol K) T = Temperature in K M = Molecular weight in kg/mol.

The kinetic energy of the gases is given by Kavg. = 1/ 2 ( m V2 )avg Kavg. = 1/ 2 m V2avg Urms = Vavg.

Kavg. = 1/ 2 m (3RT) / M as M / m = Na i. e. Avogardro’s No. Kavg. = 3 / 2 RT/ Na Kavg. = 3 / 2 k T k = R/ Na Kavg. = 3 / 2 k T ............................................................ (2) As the temperature increases, this curve broadens and extends to higher speeds. Any other type of speed distribution rapidly becomes a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution by collisions of molecules, which transfer energy. Once this distribution is achieved, the system is said to be at thermal equilibrium, and hence has a temperature.

According to the Newton’s First law if an object moving at a constant velocity continue at the same velocity unless an external force acts upon them. This law, known as the law of inertia, is demonstrated in the car collision. When a car stops suddenly the body inside the car continues moves forward at the same velocity, as the car was moving prior to the collision. However, the body does not continue moving at the same velocity for long but rather comes to stop when it hits to some object in a car, such as steering wheel or dash board. Thus a force is exerted on the body to change it’s velocity. Injuries from the car accident results when this force is very large.

At the time Air Bag protects the body by applying a restraining force to the body that is smaller than the force the body would experience if it hit the dashboard or steering wheel suddenly and by spreading the force over a larger area.

According to Newton the force of an object is equal to the mass of the object times its acceleration so if F = Force on the Body m = Mass of the object (Body) a = Acceleration F = ma ...................................................................... (3) The acceleration “ a” is given by a = V / ∆t Where V = Velocity of the moving Object If F>0, the body is accelerating; F<0, the body is decelerating In this case, Vf = 0.00 m/s when the body's motion is stopped Vi = Velocity of the body at the time of collision ∆t = Time interval for the body to go from Vi to Vf Hence, in this case, a = -Vi / ∆t ....................................................................... (4) Here the Vi is negative because the body is decelerating.

Now the force exerted by the steering wheel (i.e., an immovable object) on the body to bring it to rest is F = m (-Vi / ∆t ) ................................................................ (5) This force from the steering wheel causes the injuries to the body in an accident. here the force exerted by the steering wheel and dashboard can be reduced by the two ways with the help of Air Bag – II(A) By increasing the interval over the force being applied II(B) By spreading the force over a large area of the body II(A) By increasing the interval over the force being applied

••• July 2011

Figure 4 : The Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution can be shown graphically as the plot of the number of Molecules traveling at a given speed versus the speed.

36

2. Inertia theory The objective of airbag*2,3,4 is to lower the number of injuries by reducing the fore exerted by steering wheel and the dashboard or any point on the body. This is accomplished as:

From equation (5) Increasing the time interval over which the decelerating force is applied, lowers the force exerted on the body. if there is a restraining device (i. e air bag or seat belt), then ∆t is larger so the rate of deceleration is lower so as force acts on the body. It results less injury to the body the body.

Similarly when an Air bag restraining the body, it exerts an equal and opposite force on the air bag. Unlike the immovable steering wheel the air bag deflates slowly. This deflation can occur because of the presence of vents in the bag. The force exerted by the body pushes the gas through

SPECIAL STORY ••• AIRBAG and the amount of gas it contains. The ideal-gas law is PV = nRT Where P = Pressure in atmospheres V = Volume in liters n = Number of moles R = Gas constant in Latm / molK (R = 0.08205 Latm/molK), T = Temperature in Kelvin

the vents and thus deflates the bag. Because the gas can only leave at a certain rate therefore ∆t increases.

II(B) By spreading the force over a large area of the body If the body crashes directly into the steering wheel, all the force from the steering wheel will be applied to a localized area on the body that is the size of smaller size and serious injuries can occur. However, when the body hits an airbag, which is larger than a steering wheel, all the force from the airbag on the body will be distributed over a larger area of the body. Therefore, the force on any particular point on the body is smaller. Hence, less serious injuries will occur.

Estimation of the Pressure Required An estimate for the pressure required to fill the airbag in milliseconds can be obtained by simple mechanical analysis. Assume the front face of the airbag begins at rest (i.e., initial velocity Vi = 0.00 m/s), is traveling at Vf m/s by the end of the inflation (i.e final velocity), and has traveled d meter. (The approximate thickness of a fully inflated airbag).

1. Air bag’s Acceleration (a) It can be computed from the velocities and distance moved (d) by the Newton’s 3rd equation of the motion.

Vf2 - Vi2 = 2ad .................................................................. (6) 2. The force (F) From equation (3), F = ma thus the force can be calculated with which the gas molecules push a 2.50-kg airbag forward to inflate it so rapidly.

3. Pressure (P) This is the force exerted by a gas per unit area (A) on the walls of the container P = F/A .......................................................................... (7) Where A = Area or the part of the airbag that is pushed forward by this force The pressure calculated is gauge pressure. but in the ideal gas equation the absolute pressure is used.

Gauge pressure + atmospheric pressure = absolute pressure

Estimation of the Amount of Gas Required The ideal-gas law provides a good approximation of the relationship between the pressure and volume of the airbag,

Chemistry behind the Air bag The automobile Air Bag is a remarkable device. It is deceptively simple in concept, But the design requirement of the system are actually very demanding. When a crash occurs the air bag must deploy rapidly within maximum up to 40/0 milliseconds, cushioning the occupant against the impact. The gas [produced must be non-toxic, odourless, and cool enough to avoid burning the occupant. It should be stable also so that does not expand unexpectedly and are easy and safe to dispose off.

According to the type of gas used the air bags are of two types I Nitrogen gas Based Air Bags II Carbon Dioxide gas Based Air Bags Nitrogen gas Based Air Bags Nitrogen*9 is an inert gas whose behavior can be approximated as an ideal gas at the temperature and pressure of the inflating airbag. Inside the airbag is a gas generator containing a mixture of NaN3, KNO3, and SiO2.

When the car undergoes a head-on collision, a series of three chemical reactions inside the gas generator produce gas (N2) to fill the airbag and convert NaN3, which is highly toxic (The maximum concentration of NaN3 allowed in the workplace is 0.2 mg/m3 air.), to harmless glass.

NaN3 (S) " 2Na (S) + 3 N2 (G) Sodium azide (NaN3) is a stable solid and a small pellet can easily be stored in the air bag. Sodium azide can decompose at 300oC to produce sodium metal (Na) and nitrogen gas (N2). The signal from the deceleration sensor ignites the gasgenerator mixture by an electrical impulse, creating the high-temperature condition necessary for NaN3 to decompose. The nitrogen gas that is generated then fills the airbag. The purpose of the KNO3 and SiO2 is to remove the sodium metal (which is highly reactive and potentially explosive, as from the Periodic Properties Experiment) by converting it to a harmless material. First, the sodium reacts with potassium nitrate (KNO3) to produce potassium oxide (K2O), sodium oxide (Na2O), and additional N2 gas.

10 Na (S) + 2 KNO3 (S) " K2O (S) + 5Na2O (S) + N2 (G) # The N2 generated in this second reaction also fills the airbag,

••• July 2011

Figure 5

A certain pressure is required to fill the airbag within milliseconds. Once this pressure has been determined, the ideal-gas law can be used to calculate the amount of gas that must be generated to fill the airbag to this pressure. Then the amount of gas generator compounds are calculated to for exact amount of gas.

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SPECIAL STORY ••• AIRBAG and the metal oxides react with silicon dioxide (SiO2) in a final reaction to produce silicate glass, which is harmless and stable. The first-period metal oxides, such as Na2O and K2O, are highly reactive, so it would be unsafe to allow them to be the end product of the airbag detonation.

SiO2 (S) + K2O (S) + Na2O (S) " K2SiO3 (S) + Na2SiO3 (S) N2 gas based Airbag chemistry can be defined in following 3 steps a. Decomposition of Sodium Azide (NaN3) b. Reactions to Remove Harmful Products c. Reaction Stoichiometry

Air bags are the device that protects the head and upper body from injury in a collision with the steering wheel and to the dashboard. Air Bag deploy only in the frontal collision not in side impact, rear-end collision and rollovers. Seat belts protect the entire body and are effective in all kinds of collisions. In low and moderate speed collision, seat belts alone provide all the protection a person really needs but not in the high speed crashes. So as to provide safety in highspeed crashes the Air Bags are used. The air bags are active above 15 Km / hr. Speed.

Table 1 Gas-Generator Reaction

Reactants Products

Initial Reaction Triggered by Sensor. NaN3

Na N2 (g)

Second Reaction.

Na KNO3

K2O Na2O N2 (g)

Final Reaction.

K2O Na2O SiO2

alkaline silicate (glass)

This table summarizes the species involved in the chemical reactions in the gas generator of an airbag.

Problems with the N2 gas based Air Bags : • Sodium Azide is a toxic chemical so these are major concerned in land fills where undepolyed air bags are discarded.

• The produced Sodium metal is very much reactive so it becomes essential to add other compound to neutralize it’s effect as Fe2O3 etc.

• Sodium Azide reacts explosively at high temperature; hence there is a risk of ignition when air bag passes through the auto mobile shredder.

• If Sodium Azide comes in contact with heavy metals, as Lead, Copper etc, reacts with these to form a volatile explosive.

• NaN3 reacts with the water and forms hydrazoic acid (HN3) which is highly toxic, volatile and explosive.

NaN3 + H2O " HN3 + NaOH Carbon Dioxide gas Based Air Bags Carbon dioxide gas based airbag has a mixture of Sodium Bicarbonate (NaHCO3) and an aqueous solution of acetic acid (CH3COOH) is used to produce CO2 gas.

NaHCO3 (S) + CH3COOH (Aq) " CO2 (G) CH3COONa (Aq) + H2O(L) ••• July 2011

This bar graph shows that there is a significantly higher reduction in moderate to serious head injuries for people using airbags and seat belts together than for people using only seat belts.

To make the protection more effective the seat belts and air bags are combine used (as from the graph), have reduced the injury by 26%than alone by the seat belts. The combination of the seat belts and air bag is 75% effective in preventing serious head injuries and 66% effective in serious chest injuries.

Construction and design of the Air Bags Air bags*6 are inflatable cushions built into the steering wheel or dashboard, designed to rapidly expand in a frontal crash. But the bag must deploy within the stipulated time.

The system must also be to detect the difference between a severe crash and a minor fender-bende.

There are three parts to an air bag that help to accomplish this feat: A. Airbag itself B. Crash sensor C. Inflation system Figure 7

*10,11

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Figure 6

Need of Air Bags in connection with the safety Benefits When a car crashes the force*5 required to stop an object is very large because the car momentum has changed instantly while the passenger has not. The goal of any supplement system is to stop the passenger while doing least possible damage.

SPECIAL STORY ••• AIRBAG A. The Air Bag It*6 is made of a thin, nylon fabric, which is folded into the steering wheel or dashboard or, more recently, the seat or door. The driver air bag module is located in the steering wheel hub, and the passenger air bag module is located in the instrument panel. When fully inflated, the driver air bag is approximately the diameter of a large beach ball.. The passenger air bag can be two to three times larger since the distance between the right-front passenger and the instrument panel is much greater than the distance between the driver and the steering wheel.

Driver's Side Airbag

Passenger Air Bag Figure 7

The simplest crash sensor is a steel ball that slides inside a smooth bore. The ball is held in place by a permanent magnet or by a stiff spring, which inhibitd the ball’s motion when the car driver over bumps or potholes. However when the car dece;arates very quickly, as in a head-on-crash, the ball suddenly moves forward and turns on an electrical circuit, initiating the process of inflating the Air Bag. Or it is similar to a mechanical switch which is flipped when there is a mass shift that closes an electrical contact, telling the sensors that a crash has occurred. The sensors turn a switch that energizes a wire, sending electricity into a heating element in the propellant, causing it to oxidize rapidly. This chemical reaction produces a gas that quickly fills the cloth air bag.

C. The air bag's inflation system This system*7 reacts the diagnostic unit monitors the readiness of the air bag system. The unit is activated when the vehicle's ignition is turned on. If the unit identifies a problem, a warning light alerts the driver to take the vehicle to an authorized service department for examination of the air bag system. Most diagnostic units contain a device that

Figure 8 : At impact the cylinder rolls out against the roller spring to close the electrical contact and set off the bag stores enough electrical energy to deploy the air bag if the vehicle's battery is destroyed very early in a crash sequence.

When the Control Module activates the airbag assembly, an electric current is sent to the detonator, which ignites the sodium azide pellets. When it burns, it releases nitrogen gas very quickly and in large quantities. This is what inflates the airbag. From the onset of the crash, the entire deployment and inflation process is faster than the blink of an eye. Airbags deploy in 15 milliseconds (0.015 seconds) for high speed crashes and in 25 milliseconds for low speed crashes (0.025 seconds). Because a vehicle changes speed so fast in a crash,air bags must inflate rapidly if they are to help reduce the risk of the occupant hitting the vehicle's interior.

Airbag engineering Thousands *7 of lives have been saved since air bags have been put into automobiles. When a crash occurs, these bags inflate rapidly, Figure 9 cushioning the occupants against impact. The idea seems simple, but it took many years and the combined efforts of chemists and engineers to develop a practical system. Automobiles consist of several objects, passengers, and any other loose objects in the vehicle, and including the vehicle itself.

According to Newton's First Law of Motion, unless an outside force acts on an object, the object will continue to move at its present speed and direction. When the car is

••• July 2011

B. The sensor It tells the bag to inflate. Inflation happens when there is a collision force equal to running into a brick wall at 10 to 15 miles per hour (16 to 24 km per hour). The crash sensors are located either in the front of the vehicle or in the passenger compartment. Vehicles can have one or more crash sensors.

The sensors are typically activated by forces generated in significant frontal or near-frontal crashes. Sensors measure decelaration which is the rate at which the vehicle slows down. Because of this, the vehicle speed at which the sensors activate the air bag varies with the nature of the crash. Air bags are not designed to activate during sudden braking or while driving on rough or uneven pavement. In fact, the maximum deceleration generated in the severest braking is only a small fraction of that necessary to activate the air bag system.

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SPECIAL STORY ••• AIRBAG fast. The sensor may then deploy the air bag too soon.

The opposite is also true. If a structure element is weakened the deceleration may become too slow or too late. The sensor may then deploy the air bag too late.

Conclusion

Figure 10 stopped by a collision, Newton’s 3 rd law comes into play. A constant force in the opposite direction of the car’s motion is required to stop the car safely and to stop the momentum of objects inside the car. When a car crashes at a very high velocity, a very large force is needed to stop the objects inside because the car’s momentum has changes instantly while the passenger has not. Here comes to goal of airbag to stop the passengers with a little damage, as minimum as possible.

Bibliography : 1. www.safetyforum.com/airbag/ 2. Crane, H.R. "The Air Bag: An Exercise in Newton's Laws," (1985) The Physics Teacher, 23, p. 576-578.

3. http://www.ktca.org/newtons/9/airbags.html 4. Newton's Apple: Teacher's Guides. "Airbags and Collisions." 22 June 1998 5. United States Patent 5302432 Air bag issued on April (12), 1994 6. www.Lemurzone.com/airbag/airbag.html 7. h t t p : / / w w w . a u t o m o t i v e . d u p o i n t . c o m / e n / p d f f i l e s / materialssslectionairbagfabrics.pdf.

8. p://www.safecollision.com 9. http://www.chemistry.wustle.edu/courses/genchem/tutorial/airbag/151T6-05-airbags.pdf 10. Bell, W.L. "Chemistry of Air Bags," (1990) J. Chem. Ed. 67 (1), p. 61.

11. Madlung, A. "The Chemistry Behind the Air Bag: High Tech in First-Year Chemistry," (1996) J. Chem. Ed., 73 (4), p. 347-348.

12. Menzol, “coated fabric structure for air bag applications”, US Patent No. 5,110,666,May 1992 13. Dr. Ghosh.S. and Dr. Thomas. H, Technical Textiles, “ Effect of accelerated ageing of uncoated nylon 66 and polyester air bag fabric under thermal oxidative and hydrolytic degradation conditions,” Vol 40, Aug. 1997, P. E31-E33

••• July 2011

A. Crash Pulse Car*8 makers take great care to insure all the structural components work together. The correct flow of crash energy through the vehicle is imperative. Automakers “tune” the pulse to exactly the right combination of deceleration time and crush distance for maximum occupant protection.

Timing is so important that each makes and model car has a different shaped pulse. Each sensor is designed to match the crash pulse of the car. Other safety components and the air bag system are also carefully matched for the make and model. If the vehicle is damaged, it is important to restore the sensor and the structural safety elements to their original conditions. Structural repair is risky for the timing sequence.

If the technician does not restore the vehicle to pre-accident crushability, the shape of the pulse may change. This may fool the sensor into deploying the air bag too soon or too late in the crash pulse. For example, a technician can make the structure too stiff by adding reinforcement in a crush zone.

This can cause the deceleration to increase too early or too

Traditionally, car is the second largest purchase made in an Indian family. Nothing is everlasting and car is subjected to collide anytime and anyhow and it needs repair. It makes the safety devices essential in automotive industry. The first commercial air bags appeared in 1980s in automobiles. The airbag works when it gets signal from the deceleration sensor, which in turn ignites the gas generator mixture when head-on collision. The gas mixture, inflates the precalculated volume of N2 gas ,which fills the air bag, and prevents risk of death of the occupants. Having evoked some of the same controversy that surrounded seat-belt use in its early years, air bags are the subject of serious government and industry research and tests. Hence airbags have reduced the risk of death in a frontal collision by 30%.

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Figure 11

Figure 12

RAMKUMAR’S CORNER

WHAT’S GOING ON

Nonwovens and Advanced Materials Laboratory, The Institute of Environmental and Human Health Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas USA

Cotton is dominating the textile scene around the world this summer. With severe drought in West Texas, the largest cotton growing zone in the United States, 2011 crop will be severely affected, which will lead to supply squeeze. This may cause a tail-spin for the international textiles sector.

IN TEXTILES AROUND THE WORLD Indian Cotton Merchants Demand Free Export Cotton Association of India has urged the Indian Prime Minister to allow free cotton exports from India immediately.

On May 19th, Mr. Dhiren Sheth, President of Cotton Association of India (CAI) has sent a four page letter to Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India urging him to take immediate steps to allow free cotton exports from India under Open General License without any quantitative restrictions.

In his letter, Mr. Sheth has made it clear that the curbing of cotton exports since February end has resulted in the cotton price crash up to 30%. The plight of the farmers has been highlighted mentioning that Indian cotton farmers are not realizing global prices. The letter has criticized the Indian export policy to be vacillating since last April, which has led to the erosion of confidence in Indian cotton in the international market.

Mr. Sheth has pointed out that the restriction of cotton exports is disastrous to Indian farmers as they are left to the mercy of Indian mills. CAI has pointed out to the Indian Prime Minister that the current export policy is detrimental to the Indian cotton sector and has urged immediate free export trade without any quantitative restrictions.

In a separate communication on May 23rd from India, Mr. Kishore Tiwari, President of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, a farmer support group has strongly backed the CAI’s plea for free cotton trade and has criticized the Indian textile lobby for blocking free exports from India.

Indian Spinning Industry Set to Incur Huge Losses Indian spinning sector is set to incur huge losses of about 164 million US dollars.

The one day closure on May 23rd by the Indian spinning sector has resulted in a loss of Rupees 200 crores (~45 million US dollars). In addition, the planned production reduction for the next 7 days is expected result in a loss of Rupees 75 crores per day (~17 million US dollars/day).

In speaking to this scribe from India at 11.30PM CST on May 24th, Mr. D. K. Nair, Secretary General of the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) provided the economic loss

••• July 2011

Seshadri S. Ramkumar

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RAMKUMAR’S CORNER figures and briefed that the CITI will appraise the situation during the first week in June for any further action.

and lowering the costs. This is the reason textile industry has moved away from the U.S. to China and India, said O’Neal.

Indian Prime Minister Responds on Current Textile Situation

Costs of sustainable practices and labor have pushed the textile industry to China and India Nowadays, with the high cost pressures, the industry is moving away from China to Vietnam, Bangladesh and Cambodia where the labor is cheaper than China and India. It may even to go Africa provided the political situation is right, said Mr. Leonard Farias, a textile chemist with the USA based Cotton Incorporated.

Cotton and cotton yarn sectors have received highest level of attention in India.

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Government of India has reacted to the current textile situation in India. PMO has defended India's cotton and cotton yarn policies for maintaining cotton and cotton yarn price stability.

The capping of cotton exports at 5.5 million bales (170 kg each) and cotton yarns at 720 million kgs are required to protect the interest of all stakeholders, said the statement released on May 24th, late afternoon.

PMO's has denied reports on the ban of cotton yarn exports and states that the policies in place have resulted in price stability.

In a statement, Mr. Shirshir Jaipuria, Chairman of CITI has informed that the one-day strike on Monday, May 23rd has been observed throughout India. The strike was led by CITI and all major spinning associations in India participated to highlight the current crisis situation in the spinning sector due to the restrictions imposed on cotton yarn exports by the Government of India. The restrictions were withdrawn effective April 1st, 2011.

Pollution Control is a Necessity for Textile Sustainability and Profitability Pollution control is a major issue in the textile industry.

Among the many factors contributing to the recent woes in the Indian textile sector, dye and processing house closures due to environmental problems in Tirupur area has been a major influencing factor.

••• July 2011

Dr. Gilbert O’ Neal, President and CEO of USA based Institute of Textile Technology in addressing the Concept-2Consumer group at the Spring 2011 of the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists in Research Triangle Park, USA on May 25th emphasized the use of waste water treatment and waste reduction methods towards the economic and green sustainability of the textile industry. According to Dr. O’ Neal important drivers for effective sustainability cost reductions, regulatory compliance, consumer demand and corporate motivation.

A few cents per yard in added costs can be a make or break for a company said O’ Neal. Therefore, cost is the bottom line for companies when they think about sustainability.

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Typically, waste water treatment adds 2-4 cents/yard. Simple measures in processing houses such as water metering in washing, low salt dyeing, salt recovery are the low hanging fruits, which the industry should adopt to reduce the cost and minimize waste, emphasized O’Neal.

In a competitive economy, sourcing requirements by world’s leading retailers will push companies towards sustainability

Nanofiber Market to Reach 4 Billion US Dollars by 2020 With productivity increase and enhancement of applications, nanofiber market size will be about 4 billion US dollars, according to Mr. Kial Gramley of FibeRio Technology Corporation, USA. Mr. Gramley, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at FibeRio Technology Corporation, introduced recent advancements in the Forcespinning nanofiber production at the 2011 Spring Materials Interest Group meeting of the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists, on May 25th in Research Triangle Park, USA. FibeRio debuted mechanical method of nanofiber production called Forcespinning last year. The process is aimed at productivity increase to enhance the scope of nanofiber application in a wide array of products. In a question posed by this scribe on the productivity comparison with other existing methods of nanofiber production, Mr. Gramley said the centrifugal force method of FibeRio technology is at least one order magnitude higher in productivity. Durability of nanowebs is still a challenge and a panacea is yet to be achieved.

Wellesley, MA-USA based BCC Research in June last year estimated the current nanofiber market size to be about 140 million US dollars and is expected to reach 2.2 billion US dollars by 2020.

Diapers are Health Indicators for Children On an average some 3000 diapers are being used by a baby per year. Diapers can serve as indicators for the health of babies and growing up children, said Ms. Pauline Mills, a certified lactation consultant at the University Medical Center, Lubbock, USA. Addressing a class of "would be" mothers in Lubbock on June 2nd, Pauline Mills said, 7 days or older babies until the time they give up using diapers on an average use 7-8 diapers per day. Diapers are used from the day one of child birth. 1 to 2 wet diapers are used on the first day of birth. The more the food, a baby consumes, they have to discharge more which is reflected in the number of diapers being used. For a 1 week grown baby, a reduction of even one or two baby diapers usage per day can be a signal of less bowel movement and associated illnesses.

Although diapers are used from the get go, wipes are not generally used for 1 to 2 weeks since the time of birth. Some physicians recommend using wet cloth moistened with

RAMKUMAR’S CORNER clean water instead of wipes, said Ms. Mills. As most of the wipes are alcohol based, it may dry the babies' skin and eventually cause some irritation. If at all wipes are needed, unscented and non-alcoholic wipes have to be used after at least two weeks of child birth, said Ms. Mills.

Export Enhancement Shocks the Indian Spinning Sector Cotton export enhancement by one million bales this season has shocked the Indian cotton spinning sector.

Coimbatore-based The Southern India Mills’ Association in a statement today, June 9th has expressed dissatisfaction with the recent Indian government’s decision to cap the cotton export this season at 6.5 million bales of 170 kg each instead of 5.5 million bales. Government of India on June 8th decided to increase this year’s cotton export by one million bales (170 kg each).

Mr. J. Thulasidharan, Chairman of SIMA has stated that the government has earlier assured to maintain a closing balance of 5 million bales. With the enhanced export limit, the closing stock this year will come down to 1.75 million bales. In a statement, SIMA Chief has criticized India’s Agriculture Ministry for over estimating this year’s crop to be 33.9 million bales. SIMA is backing an estimate of 31 million bales, which is less than the Agriculture Ministry’s estimate.

SIMA has pleaded the Indian government to reconsider its June 8th decision to allow more cotton export from India.

Drought to Lower New Cotton Supplies Severe drought in West Texas will lower supplies of new cotton crop in 2011.

Severe drought in the High Plains of Texas, world’s largest contiguous cotton patch will lower US cotton production this year. Recently, the United States Department of Agriculture lowered 2011 crop estimate by 1 million bales (480 lbs each) from its earlier May estimate. Such a

downward correction so early is deemed highly unusual by industry leaders and speculations are such that the production estimate could be further lowered in months to come.

In a meeting on June 10th, Mr. Steve Verett, a well-respected cotton farmer and the Executive Vice President of Plains Cottons Growers, Inc. of Lubbock, Texas warned that a significant rainfall is needed to salvage dryland cotton. “I am glass full kind of a person, but we have to face reality,” said Verett, indicating a turnaround in crop production is highly unlikely this year. Dryland cotton crop in West Texas is likely going to be abandoned, said Dr. Kater Hake, Vice President of Agricultural Research of Cray, NC based Cotton Incorporated. We can’t keep irrigating and in some point farmers have to abandon irrigation, said Verett talking about irrigated crop in West Texas. Hake agreed that farmers have to make decision on how they irrigate and in any case due to the limited availability of water this summer, total bales will come down.

Mr. Shawn Wade, Director of Policy Analysis and Research at Lubbock-based Plains Cotton Growers, Inc. commenting on the impact of severe drought this year on the US cotton crop said, “at this time there appears to be real potential for the High Plains region to produce as much as 2 million fewer bales in 2011 than that in 2010.” The High Plains area in West Texas produced about 30% of US cotton crop last year.

Given the adverse weather condition in West Texas, the output from the United States this year will be heavily curtailed.

Mr. Henry Gantz, Group Editor of the Cotton Media Group, Cordova, USA in a separate communication to this scribe said he is praying for rain, which reflects the severity of weather on US cotton crop, this year.

The way forward for the Indian textile sector is sustainability in many different forms, i.e., economic and environmental.

Organiser

••• July 2011

DATE : August 5-6, 2011 VENUE : H. T. PAREKH AUDITORIUM, AHMEDABAD MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION, AHMEDABAD

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NEWS

Atlas® Launches new Sealed Lamp Landing Page with all versions of the Ci35/Ci65 and Ci4000 WeatherOmeters.

Linsengericht (Germany), June 2011 – Atlas Material Testing Technology – a global leader in weathering testing and equipment is excited to announce www.sealed-lamp.atlasmts.com is now live.

After years of research on filters and material durability, Atlas has developed a new lamp assembly that allows users to get more uptime from their instruments, as tests will not need to be disrupted prior to the 2,000-hour lifetime of the lamp assembly. This new lamp will be sold as one component with no assembly or disassembly required and can be used

This new landing page focuses on industries involved in Weather-Ometer® Testing. The landing page was designed in response to the positive feedback Atlas received when the lamp was featured in a recent SunSpots® newsletter article. This new website offers valuable information on the availability of the sealed lamp, features of the lamp, possible filter combinations as well as a contact form to pre-order the lamps.

For further information, please visit Atlas at www.atlasmts.com. Specific inquiries on instruments, services and consulting can be sent to: info@atlasmtt.de.

WTC 2011 forecasts an optimistic global future for India With a strong focus on maximizing the growth potential of India emerging as a global textile destination, the World Textile Conference (WTC) 2011, held on 6th and 7th May, 2011, at Hotel Intercontinental, The Lalit, Andheri, Mumbai, surprised itself with the largest ever delegate and visitor turnout resulting in resounding success.

Organized by The Textile Association India (TAI) with a theme of ‘Vision 2020: Emerging New Business Opportunities Worldwide and Challenging Strategies,’ this year’s edition was held on a much larger scale and broader format than the regular annual conference.

••• July 2011

Convened by DFU Publications, WTC 2011 covered all the topics currently vital to the industry while encompassing managerial, commercial and business aspects instead of being purely technical. The world is now eyeing the Indian textile industry, although even now it still has an insignificant brand presence and no specific positioning in world markets and considered to be more of a low cost fabric manufacturing destination for relocating capacities from the West.

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Convener, Conference. In addition there were TAI committee members and active involvement and support from TIT alumni association. “We started preparations a year back. As we started contacting sponsors there have been tremendous response. All along the conference sponsors, delegates, advertisers came forward fully to support the cause as the programme of the conference was absolutely business oriented and full of new ideas. We had planned for 500 delegates and ultimately first day we had more than 750 delegates. Thanks to efficiency of portal staff of hotel Lalit Plaza. Hence, we got an excellent response from the delegates, sponsors, advertisers and everyone else,” says K D Sanghvi, Chairman of TAI.

However the success of WTC 2011 is expected to change all that and bring India to the forefront. The mega conference was the first attempt of TAI – Central Office to organize the event in such a big way while roping in about 470 delegates and 242 invitees and guests, making it the largest ever gathering of industry stalwarts.

Under the dynamic leadership of D.R. Mehta, President, TAI, and his organizing team members, this was the first time that the world textile conference was arranged by a central body, the TAI.

WTC 2011 kicked off with an invocation by the students of an institute of technology after which D.R. Mehta, President of TAI, welcomed Rita Menon, Dr. A.B. Joshi and other guests on the dais with floral bouquets. An address by Arvind Sinha, Conference Chairman, was then followed by a special keynote address speech by A. B. Joshi, Textile Commissioner, Ministry of Textiles, as well as addresses by other guests of honor. The other invitees at the inaugural function were Dilip Jiwrajka, Managing Director, Alok Industries, Prashant Agrawal, Managing Director, Bombay Rayon Fashion, Ashesh Amin, Director, Apparel & Retail, SKNL, K Ramchandra Pillai, CMD, National Textile Corporation, Manish Mandhana, Joint Managing Director, Mandhana Industries, Thomas Babacan, COO. OC Oerlikon & CEO, Oerlikon Textiles, and Zena Soli Sorabjee, Development Practitioner & Vice Chairperson, Guild of Service.

The other team members included Ashok Juneja, Vice President, TAI, Prof. M D Teli, Conference Programme, K D Sanghvi, Chairman, TAI, V D Zope, Hon. Gen. Secretary, TAI, Arvind Sinha, Chairman, Conference, Sanjay Chawla,

After the inaugural session, members were felicitated.

Sudhakar R. Bhave, B A Shah and M K Mehra received the Lifetime Meritorious Award. Bhave has worked in various reputed textile mills in Mumbai and has had a very wide

NEWS

Dr M D Teli, a three time top ranker at Mumbai University and having more than 170 publications and 12 edited books to his credit, received an Academic Excellence Award. Zia Mody received the award on behalf of Zena Sorabjee. Zena Sorabjee is Chairman, Lotus Charitable Trust, Mumbai. This institution helps needy medical patients and provides scholarships for both foreign and local studies for needy students. With 32 session-wise industry related papers presented by various eminent Indian and international speakers which veered away from technical or machinery based papers, this year’s edition proved to be both interesting as well as informative.

India emerges as a global textile destination The first session which focused on India emerging as a global textile destination had S K Gupta, Group CEO, Raymond UCO Denim, as the session chairman speaking on India emerging as a very powerful textile destination. With no significant positioning of India as an industry or a brand, except as an alternative to China which is strong in fabric, yarns and maybe full package sourcing, he felt the need of the hour was “to focus on high value added products and move away from mass production where we have not been very successful vis-a-vis neighboring countries.”

At the same session, Amit Ruparelia, Chairman, Texprocil, pointed out that “India is the second largest producer of raw cotton, the largest producer of organic cotton, the second largest producer of cellulosic fiber and yarn, second largest producer of cotton yarn, second largest producer of silk and the largest producer of jute. In 2010 we are 52 billion in domestic and 26 billion at exports. In 2020 we will be 140 billion in domestic and exports at 80 billion. Apparels will be in the forefront at 100 billion, technical textiles will be 31 billion. Home textiles will be 9 billion. India is growing at a rate of 11 per cent CAGR fueled by rapidly rising domestic demand. Indian textile and clothing exports are 80 billion.

Global textile and clothing trade is expected to reach one trillion by 2020 from the current 510 billion. The huge growth of Indian exports is possible because of increased sourcing shift from developed countries to Asia and India.

Investments to the tune of 68 billion across the textile value chain will be required till 2020 to tap the potential market.

India has fast growing FDI inflows. After China, India is the most attractive destination.”

Robin Anson, Editorial Director, Textile Intelligence, UK, followed with a speech on world trade in textile and clothing where he forecasted that “Between 2010 and 2015 demand is set to rise in the majority of countries. The fastest will be China at 21.3 per cent a year. India will be 13.5 per cent a year.”

While most of the speakers at the First Session agreed that

China’s dominance as a world’s leading textile clothing exporter was a power to be reckoned with, Harminder Shani, Founder and MD of Wazir Advisors, while speaking on Resurgence in Indian Textiles, pointed out that any industry anywhere in the world planning their business growth will have to make a choice between doing business in India or China or both, as they are the two leading countries in the textile trade. Agrees Arvind Sinha, CEO and Chief Advisor, M/s. Business Advisors Group, “In every sphere of human endeavor, from business to culture, Olympic athletes to space assonants, music and art to modern science and ancient philosophy, China seeks its fair share of world leaders.”

Integration of value addition to maximize profits The main topic of discussion in the second session was the” Integration of Value Chain to Maximize Growth”, which saw the session chairman, Premal Udani, Chairman, AEPC, share his views on the maximum value addition in supply chain ladder as the only way forward. Lamenting the fact that the Indian textile business has not really grown as an industry, but only as parts of the whole industry, he pointed out that it is not possible to build a brand by just being a yarn supplier, but by building value-added products whether in made-ups or apparel.

“Our industry is probably the most fragmented industry in the world. Every part vies against each other’s interests. As a country we haven’t understood that what is good for the final link in the value chain is good for the entire industry. For every additional one billion dollar export, you will employ 400,000 additional workers. There is no other segment that employs that many workers for a limited increase in export turnover. Value addition or integration is necessary for a country like ours,” he says.

On a more optimistic note in the second session, Sunil Khandelwal, Group CFO, Alok Industries, spoke on extending the value chain from RMG to branding and retailing. “The world textile trade is about 510 billion dollars and growing at a CAGR of 5 per cent a year. It’s expected to reach 3 trillion dollars by 2020. It’s the world population that’s helping this growth. The Indian apparel industry is about 33 billion dollars and growing at a CAGR of 11 per cent a year. It’s expected to be 100 billion dollars by 2020, that is, three times what it is today. And in the segments here, men, women and children, the men’s segment is the highest today with a 10 billion dollar share, which will grow to 38 billion dollars. Women’s share is 8 billion, which will grow to 43 billion and children’s which is 4 billion dollars will grow to 19 billion dollars. So, each of the apparel segments will grow by about three times,” he adds.

Global brand strategies With the textile industry in China growing rapidly over the last twenty years and overtaking India by storm, the fourth session concentrated on comparing Indian and Chinese business models with Dr. J. Akthur Prem, IRS, as the session chairman. A paper on the growth of Indian Textiles and Key Learning from China was read out by Ashish Dhir, Associate Vice President of Technopack Advisors. He stressed on the integration of supply chain and economies of scale, brand building, focusing on efficiencies in supply chain, developing close “working” relationship with customers,

••• July 2011

experience in spinning. Bhailalbhai Shah has been associated with the Textile Association (India) for the last 63 years. M K Mehra who has undertaken and completed three new textile projects is working as Director of Okhla Garments and Textile Cluster since its inception from 2004.

The Industry Excellence Award was given to Prof. K.C. Tandon, a textile engineer, and an innovator who has facilitated research and developments for Indian and foreign textile machine manufacturers.

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NEWS expanding geographical outreach and aggressive government pro-industry measures while also discussing the secrets of success of some Indian companies.

A panel discussion at the fifth session stressed on Collaborative Strategies With Global Brands & Buyers, with Ashesh Amin, Director, Apparel & Retail, SKNL, as session chairman and other panelists which included Manish Mandhana, Joint MD, Mandhana Industries, Jeffery Streader, Senior Vice President, Guess Jeans, USA, Luke Banks, Head of Buying & Merchandising, Marks & Spencer (M&S), India, and Abhay Gupta, Executive Director of Blues Coating Company, who mostly stressed on creating the right brand identity and tie-ups in the Indian premium segment.

“We are almost a mass market retailer,” says Luke Banks. “In 2000 we shifted to local sourcing because there were a lot of benefits that could be passed on to the consumer. This year we hope 40 per cent will be locally sourced. We hope that by four years 70 per cent of what we sell in India will be made locally. However when it comes to lingerie, yarn knitwear, formal suits, we will be hindered. But we are trying to fix that. We will try to make that as close to 100 per cent local sourcing as possible. And we are trying our best to reduce the time to the market”.

While on the same theme, Abhay Gupta says, “The brands we work with act as aspirational brands and there are brands in India that are aspiring to become those brands. The Indian consumer is getting a much better quality of goods. We tell the brands we work with that sourcing from India should also be a part of the licensing agreement or franchising agreement. And the brands have now begun to respond to in a positive manner. Which is encouraging as far as the country is concerned.”

••• July 2011

Opportunities in Defence Textiles Protective uniforms worn by defence forces offer a great opportunity for textile manufacturers. For instance camouflage fabrics are in great demand by armed forces serving in hostile terrain and inhospitable conditions.

Camouflage fabrics have existed for more than 75 years and have become very popular since 1990 after Operation Desert Storm in the Middle East by US forces in alliance with NATO. Fabrics required by the defence forces include personal protective equipments for military personnel required during non-combat, combat and emergency operations, critical survival situations, military uniforms such as camouflage fabrics and specific performance requirements related to high hazards and extreme temperature. “It is anticipated that the total worldwide requirement of camouflage fabrics is more than 350 million meters annually,” says Arvind Sinha. “Approximately 35 million soldiers worldwide are using camouflage fabrics which includes army, air force, navy, Marines, Coast Guards, paramilitary forces etc,” he adds. There were also sessions on Indian nonwovens, textiles for composites, technical textiles and manmade fibers.

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Indian denim segment flourishing A global perspective on the Indian denim industry was the focus in session seven at the WTC. Dr P R Roy, Director, Malwa Denim and NSL Textiles, as the session chairman spoke about how India is expected to dominate the global

denim market in around 20-30 years while focusing on global needs in terms of basic products, exclusive products and fashionable products. Echoing his thoughts Rajeev Dayal, MD, Mafatlal Denims, pointed out having started off with just three mills producing 35 million meters, today India has a capacity of 650 million meters a year with 26 independent mills which is expected to further expand to 800 million meters in the next two years.

An interesting panel discussion in session nine on Textile Machinery & Technology for 2020 was chaired by R.S. Bachkaniwala, Chairman, ITME Society, and had veterans such as S.K. Mukherjee, CEO, Spinning Division, Alok Industries; Anuj Bhagwati, MD, ATE Enterprise; Angelo Bonacci, Director, Oerlikon Schlafhorst, Germany; M. Sankar, Senior General Manager, LMW, and S.P. Pandiyan, Consultant, and Dr. G.P. Nair, Textile Consultant, speaking on the topic.

While opining on the current machine requirements of the industry, Angelo Bonacci pointed out that although India is in a good way in spinning, it still needs long machines with more spindles, advanced winding machines as well as more cooperation between the industry, government and specialized training institutions. On the same tune, S K Mukherjee also pointed out that “Indian spinning technicians are very good. However we must invest in ginning. Our ginning is primitive. There are a few good ginners but looking to the contamination problem in cotton, ginning has to be very good and with good contamination instruments. There are various instruments available in the market. Compact spinning is coming to the market and will grow by leaps and bounds. Apart from cotton spinning, we have to see other types of spinning, and see whether they can be improved in cotton.”

Ending on a high note WTC 2011 showcased the Indian textile segment as a sunrise industry trying out various innovations and research, and despite infrastructural constraints that includes high cost of energy and logistics, it is poised for quantum growth.

The need of the hour is to project India as a global textile destination for hi-fashion textiles and clothing while leveraging on design capabilities as well as flexible and versatile manufacturing capabilities.

As Adrian Wilson, Editor, Smart Textiles and Nanotechnology, UK, one of the foreign delegates at the event, aptly sums up, “I was surprised by the size of the conference. The turnout is fantastic. I think the Indian textile industry is in a very unique position. What this conference has emphasized is that India has got to take its wares outside India. And I am sure that will happen.” Way to go, India.

Dr Kim Gandhi, Chartered Consultant, Manchester, UK, said, “I have been part of many organizations of many international conferences and have myself organized two international conferences at Manchester but have not seen such an overwhelming response with so many attendees from textile industry. The concept has been very unique and contemporary.” Impressed by the response, he invited The Textile Association of India to Manchester for the next WTC event. M K Mehra added, “In the TAI history this conference was the best conference I have ever attended.”

EVENT DIARY

Nanotex 2011 Expo July 11–15, 2011 Will be held in Thessaloniki, Greece, organized and hosted by Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Helexpo SA. Multiple event on n a n o t e c h n o l o g i e s a n d o rg a n i c electronics. For details, visit www.nanopaprika.eu.

ACASPA Expo 2011 July 23–25, 2011 The annual convention of the Australian Canvas and Synthetic Products Association will take place at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour, Australia.

Exhibitors are suppliers of fabrics, components, equipment and services to the fabric industry. For details, visit www.acaspa.com.au.

Nano fibers for the Third Millennium August 29–31, 2011 N3M 2011 will be held in Raleigh, N.C., U.S.A., to bring together leading academic and commercial users of Nan fibers, to accelerate the commercialization of the technology.

Co-hosted by the Czech manufacturer Elmarco and the The Nonwovens Institute.

World Textile Summit 2011 September 21, 2011 To be held in Barcelona, Spain, the day before the opening of ITMA 2011. Oneday event is designed to offer a global perspective on the opportunities and challenges that face the textile industry in the future. For more details, visit www.worldtextilesummit.com.

VCCPA Zone 4 Convention September 22–24, 2011 The Virginia Carolinas Canvas Products Association (Zone 4) annual convention will be held at the Hilton New Bern/Riverfront in New Bern, N.C., U.S.A.

IFAI Advanced Textiles Europe 2011 September 26–27, 2011 IFAI’s fourth Advanced Textiles Europe conference will be held in conjunction with ITMA in Barcelona, Spain. The conference is a unique European/U.S. platform on the future of technical textile applications, providing global networking and marketplace opportunities. For information, e-mail Kristy Meade, IFAI director of education and events, klmeade@ifai.com.

MFA Great Lakes Regional Workshop October 14–15, 2011 At the Sawmill Creek Resort in Huron, Ohio, U.S.A. Learn new techniques and skills with hands-on demonstrations.

For information, visit the Marine Fabricators Association (MFA) website.

JEC Composites Show Asia 2011 October 18–20, 2011 To be held in Singapore, bringing together all parts of the composites supply chain. For information, visit www.jeccomposites.com.

2011 SGIA Expo October 19–21, 2011 The 2011 SGIA Expo will be held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nev., U.S.A. “The North American gateway to the global imaging marketplace.” For information, visit www.sgia.org.

IFAI Advanced Textiles Americas 2011 October 24–25, 2011 Will beheld at the Baltimore Convention Center In Baltimore, Md., as part of IFAI Expo Americas 2011. For more information, visit www.ifaiexpo.com/advanced_textiles. cfm.

IFAI Expo Americas 2011 October 25–27, 2011 Will be held at the Baltimore Convention Center, Baltimore, Md., U.S.A. Leading the way in specialty fabrics: the largest specialty fabrics trade show in the Americas. For information on exhibiting, sponsoring

or speaking at the show, visit www.ifaiexpo.com.

Canvas Products Association Zone 7 2011 Conference November 30–December 2, 2011 Wi l l b e h e l d a t t h e H i l t o n Akron/Fairlawn in Akron, Ohio, U.S.A. Zone 7 trade organizations is comprised of fabric product manufacturers and suppliers from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia, Western New York and Northern Kentucky. For information, visit www.canvaszone7.com.

TexWork 2011 November 30–December 2, 2011 TexWork International TechnicalTextile Manufacturing Trade Fair will take place in Strasbourg, France.

Products and services to be exhibited include sewing, welding and cutting equipment, fastening and tensioning systems, handling equipment and digital printing. For information, visit www.expobaches.com.

MFA National Convention January 20–22, 2012 Will be held at the Hilton Hotel in New Orleans, La., U.S.A. The Marine Fabricators Association’s largest annual event, design to help attendees sharpen business skills and make new business connections. For details, click here.

IFAI Tent Conference 2012 February 26–28, 2012 The annual tent conference will be held at the New York, New York Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nev. Click here for information.

GeoAmericas 2012 May 6–9, 2012 The second Pan-American Geosynthetics Congress will be held at the Swissôtel in Lima, Peru. Organized

by IGS Peru, under the auspices of the International Geosynthetics Society (IGS), the show will highlight the main topics and applications in the geosynthetics industry INDIA ITME 2012 December 2–7, 2012 The India International Textile Machinery Exhibition (India-ITME) Society will hold the 9th Chapter of India ITME at the Bombay Exhibition Centre Mumbai. More than 750 exhibitors and 100,000 visitors from 40 countries are anticipated. For information, visit http://www.indiaitme.com/ITME2012/index.htm.

••• July 2011

ITMA 2011 September 22–29, 2011 ITMA 2011 is scheduled to take place in Barcelona, Spain, at the Fira de Barcelona Gran Via fairground, with the theme “Master the art of innovation.” A one-stop platform for textile and apparel manufacturers, held every four years since 1951.

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Career Opportunity

••• July 2011

CAREER OPPORTUNITY ••• QUOTABLE QUOTES

JAYA ENGINEERING COLLEGE Situated close to Chennai Metropolis, the College is one of the foremost centres of graduate and professional education in the state of Tamil Nadu. The range and depth of resources at the college have few peers. Within easy reach on the same campus and other sites, the college combines all the advantages of a comprehensive institution in the Arts and Science with a full complement of professional schools. Among these are business, dentistry and an unusually complete array of paramedical professions, including pharmacy and physiotherapy.

Clearly, the undergraduate and post-graduate programmes in Engineering at the College offer its students the optimum setting in tertiary education: specialized programmes with a contingent of accessible and dedicated faculty members, within a large, highly diverse college offerings nearly unlimited academic opportunities and resources. Lecture and Laboratory areas are modern and well-equipped; the college has extensive links with IT facilities for the benefit of students.

The college ensures that all students have the opportunity to acquire and develop personal and transferable skills, such as technical communication and team-working skills, which are directly appropriate to their future courses.

For more details contact: Chairman JAYA GROUP OF INSTITUTIONS, CTH Road, Thiruninravur, Chennai - 602 024 Phone : +91 44 26390982, 26390682, 26300707 E-mail : prof.akraj@yahoo.com Web : http://www.jec.ac.in

India is a consumption story…

Demand for financial services will exceed supply for the next 10 years. Hence, there is no room for irrational demand in the economy.

Aditya Puri CEO, HDFC Bank, in the Economic Times We cannot proceed with the attitude that it is business as usual… we will need political attitudes to change if we are to conclude.

Pascal Lamy Director General, WTO, on the Doha round of trade talks, in The Economic Times Inflation targeting is neither feasible nor advisable… In an emerging economy, it is not practical for the central bank to focus exclusively on inflation, oblivious to the larger development context.

D. Subbarao Governor, Reserve Bank of India, at the Central Bank Governance Group meeting in Basel, Switzerland, quoted by agencies The Fed can’t create more oil. We don’t control the growth rates of emerging market economies.

Ben Bernanke Chairman, US Federal Reserve, at the first-ever press conference held by a Fed chief, quoted by wire agencies.

When you score a goal, it is one person scoring it, but when you are coaching, you’ve 10 people scoring goals. So I would rather have more people who could score goals than just me.

Atul Singh President and CEO, Coca-Cola India, in The Economic Times The world of tomorrow will require a different set of core characteristics in every employee.

Ability to handle ambiguity will be a virtue.

T. K. Kurien CEO, IT Business, Wipro, in Mint