Page 77 - TEXtalks October/November 2021

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An innovative AP

Tester for a variety of

textile substrates

James Heal has launched AirPro textile air permeability tester that can be used on a variety of applications,
including performance apparel, medical textiles, PPE, infant products such as bedding, nonwovens,
geotextiles and more. AirPro is a consistent and accurate Air Permeability tester used to test airflow resistance
through woven, knitted, and nonwoven textile materials. It is supplied with TestWise software, making it
intuitive and easy to use.

Air permeability is the measure of airflow passed through a given area of fabric. This parameter influences the
thermal comfort properties of fabrics to a large extent. It is generally accepted that the air permeability
depends on its air porosity, which in turn influences its openness.

The concept of ‘air permeability is widely used in the textile industry to interpret the intrinsic characteristics of
the fabric. Outdoor garment manufacturers, in particular, frequently employ this technical information to
describe the functional performance of products. The AirPro has the following features Large illuminated
testbed, TestWise software- The intuitive 7 touchscreen and TestWise, Quick change test heads, Quality and
availability of parts.

FuturEnzyme project: Develop more

sustainable textiles

Spanish National Research Council is aiming to commercially available products.
develop more sustainable textiles, detergents, and
cosmetics through the development of enzymes. The FuturEnzyme multidisciplinary consortium
Textiles, detergents, and cosmetics all have comprises 16 European academic and industrial
complex formulas that can damage the partners from Spain, Germany, Italy, Austria,
environment and generate very high CO2 Portugal, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland. The
emissions, in addition to the consumption of large FuturEnzyme project began in June this year and
amounts of energy, water, and the discharge of will run until 2025. Enzymes will be extracted from
chemical products into the environment. One of the microorganisms by applying techniques that allow
most promising ways to alleviate this problem is the rational selection of the most suitable enzymes
substituting enzymes' chemical agents used in at each moment and for each product. The
industrial processes. technology will combine massive analysis of
biological data using supercomputers,
For this purpose, the €6 million EU 2020 bioprospecting, protein engineering, biotechnology,
FuturEnzyme project has been designed to replace and pre-industrial testing to select the best
or reduce chemical agents with microbial enzymes enzymes from millions of enzymes, something that
that can be incorporated in the manufacture of has not been possible to date.

October/November 2021