Technical Textiles are fibrous materials designed for functional applications. Engineers, Technologists, and Scientists strive to research and develop fibrous based materials that will provide the functional attributes for the uses they are intended. They are sometimes sub-classified as industrial fabrics, medical textiles, composite reinforcements, filtration fabrics, protective clothing, etc. However, they all fall within the classification of Technical Textiles, because they must perform in some functional manner. Technical textiles are all around us.
Most people view textiles strictly as clothing, upholstery, drapery, and carpeting.
Very few people realize that textiles are also an engineering material. They can be finely engineered for specific functional uses through the correct selection of fiber, yarn manufacturing techniques, fabric forming and finishing techniques, and finished product fabrication techniques. Take a closer look at the products around you in everyday life. They are used for insulating homes, strengthening the tires on cars, repairing damaged organs or tissues in people, protecting police officers from ballistic assaults, purifying the air we breath, reinforcing the plastic in skis, providing the right balance of bounce and control in tennis balls, and the list goes on . . . They are also used for making other products, such as belts used to convey cookies through commercial baking ovens, manufacturing paper, dyeing and finishing apparel grade fabrics, and manufacturing liquid crystal displays.