VDMA Set Up Website Hosts A Series Of Multimedia Reports On 125th Anniversary

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VDMA Set Up Website Hosts A Series Of Multimedia Reports On 125th Anniversary

The Germany-based VDMA has put together a series of multimedia reports at https://humans-machines-progress.com, on the occasion of its 125^th anniversary, which say that that machines are not ends in itself, for the machinery engineering industry.

VDMA Machinery Association’s Vice-Chairperson Regina Brückner who is also a Managing Associate of Brückner Trockentechnik said that “Machines are the means to make progress come true for people and to meet challenges like energy, mobility, infrastructure and health. Textiles and textile machinery play a sometimes hidden, but major role in improving daily life.”

For example, textile machinery is a starting point for resource efficient construction. Lightweight construction materials based on knitted, woven or nonwovens fabrics enable enormous savings potential in aerospace. According to a report, 1,974 litres of naptha can be saved per aircraft per year with 20 kilograms less weight on the A320 aircraft.

Infrastructure maintenance is currently time consuming and costly because the reinforced concrete that has been used in many structures, contains steel reinforcing bar that can corrode, making the concrete structure crack. Textiles offer a robust alternative by replacing steel with carbon. Carbon concrete is durable and versatile in its uses.

The carbon used to reinforce concrete is even stronger than steel, but at the same time much lighter and more durable since it does not corrode. Building elements made of carbon concrete can thus be thinner, reducing demand for raw materials and, as a result, energy use and CO2 emissions are cut almost by half. These materials that help maintaining bridges and buildings are made on warp knitting machines, where yarn is processed into net-like cores or even three-dimensional spacer fabrics.

Textiles play a vital role in medical technology too. The use of textile-based implants, such as stents, heart valve replacements and artificial cartilages or tissues, is growing rapidly in modern surgical techniques. Garments with integrated sensors are already commercially available, including T-shirts that can measure pulse, breathing and body movement.

In the working world, textiles are both ubiquitous and practically invisible: Even in modern production sites, workers need professional and protective clothing to protect them from injury and safeguard against hazardous environments.

Meanwhile, air-conditioning is meanwhile becoming widespread in the modern working world – even in regions with no weather extremes. Air and dust filters made of nonwovens are most of the time not visible but they are there and help to protect staff, as well as sensitive equipment, in production plants.

The reports at the VDMA set up website give more exciting examples of mechanical as well as plant engineering being the driving force for lightweight construction besides how medical textile technology ensures good health and quality of life, according to a release.