What are Technical Textiles?

About Technical Textiles:

• Technical textiles are defined as textile materials and products used primarily for their technical performance and functional properties rather than their aesthetic or decorative characteristics. 
• Other terms used for defining technical textiles include industrial textiles, functional textiles, performance textiles,engineering textiles, invisible textiles, and hi-tech textiles. 
• They are designed to have high levels of physical, mechanical, thermal, and/or chemical properties for use in specific applications within industrial sectors such as earthworks, construction, civil engineering, transport, defense, medical, and healthcare.
• They are used individually or as a component/part of another product.
  • Technical textiles are used individually to satisfy specific functions, such as fire-retardant fabric for uniforms of firemen and coated fabric to be used as awnings.
  • As a component or part of another product, they are used to enhance thestrength, performance, or other functional properties of that product.
• They are manufactured using naturalas well as man-made fibres.
• They are classified into 12 major groups based on their application areas, namely: Agrotech, Geotech, Buildtech, Mobiltech, Hometech, Clothtech, Indutech, Meditech, Sportstech, Protech, Packtech, and Oekotech.

National Technical Textiles Mission:

• It was launched by the Ministry of Textilesto increase the penetration level of technical textiles in India while leveraging the extraordinary growth rate of the sector.
• The aim of the mission is to position India as a global leader in technical textiles.
• The mission will comprise of the following four components:
  • Research, Innovation, and Development
  • Promotion and Market Development
  • Export Promotion
  • Education, Training, and Skill Development
• Target: The Mission has a target to take the domestic market size of the technical textile sector to $ 40-50 Billion by the year 2024 with an average growth rate of 15-20% per annum.

Q1: What is a Polymer?

Polymer is any of a class of natural or synthetic substances composed of very large molecules, called macromolecules, that are multiples of simpler chemical units called monomers. Polymers make up many of the materials in living organisms, including, for example, proteins, cellulose, and nucleic acids. 

Source: ‘Technical textiles exports will cross $10 billion by 2030’