BMW_Alpina_B3_Biturbo_E92-Leder-Vordersitze_in_Dakota-braun

An Automotive textile is a technical textile used in the transportation and automotive industries. The choice of type of automotive textile focuses on aspects of safety, comfort, and aesthetics. These textiles have variety of applications in the

automotive industry The automotive industry comprises a wide range of company, companies and organizations involved in the design, Business development, development, manufacturing, marketing, and selling of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industry ...

, such as interior fittings, safety features, sound insulation, and

tire A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineering), t ...

reinforcement.

Material and performance parameters

Certain performance parameters are required for automotive textiles. Different needs are filled by different types of fiber and structures. High tensile materials are used for airbags. Truck covers are made with PVC or coated polyester material. Textiles are also used for trunk coverings (often needle felts) and cargo tie downs. Many coated and reinforced textiles are used in materials for engines such as air ducts, timing belts, and

air filter A particulate air filter is a device composed of fibrous, or porous materials which removes solid particulates such as dust, pollen, mold, and bacteria from the air. Filters containing an adsorbent or catalyst such as charcoal (carbon) may als ...

Non-woven textiles Nonwoven fabric is a fabric-like material made from staple fibre (short) and long fibres (continuous long), bonded together by chemical, mechanical, heat or solvent treatment. The term is used in the textile manufacturing industry to denote fabri ...

are used for cabin air filtration and engine sound isolation. * Abrasion resistance * Colorfastness to light and rubbing * UV protection * Tear and tensile strength and seam strength * Flame resistance * Anti-static *Stretch and recovery *Soil and stain release. Textiles are also used in the interior of cars, the most obvious uses being for seat covers, safety belts and airbags. Automotive textiles share similarities with home textiles but with stringent quality parameters. Automotive textiles use high-performance fibers,

polyester Polyester is a category of polymers that contain the ester functional group in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include natural ...

nylon Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic. Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from petro ...

produced by knitting, warp knitting, weaving or nonwovens.

Synthetic fibers

Nylon

Nylon fibers, which are strong, tough, resilient, and elastic, are the most commonly used fiber type in automotive textiles.

Polyester

Polyester is appropriate for upholstery and seat cushions because it is a strong material with satisfactory colorfastness properties.

High performance fibers

Aramid

Hoses require strong, chemical-resistant materials such as polyester, rayon, or

aramid Aramid fibers, short for aromatic polyamide, are a class of heat-resistant and strong synthetic fibers. They are used in aerospace and military applications, for ballistic-rated body armor fabric and ballistic composites, in marine cordage, ma ...

Carbon

Woven fabrics and composites of

carbon fiber Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

are used in car parts.

Composite materials

Composite material A composite material (also called a composition material or shortened to composite, which is the common name) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or ...

s are formed by combining materials to create an overall structure with properties that differ from individual components. Composite materials are used in headliners of the vehicles.

Others

Leather and other alternatives

For seat covers, pure leather and imitated leather, and suede finished fabric is used.

Ultrasuede Ultrasuede is the trade name for a synthetic ultra-microfiber fabric invented in 1970 by Dr. Miyoshi Okamoto, a scientist working for Toray Industries. In Japan, it is sold under the brand name Ecsaine. It is often described as an artificial s ...

is a type of suede material that is used in automobile and aircraft seats.

Polyurethane Polyurethane (; often abbreviated PUR and PU) refers to a class of polymers composed of organic chemistry, organic units joined by carbamate (urethane) links. In contrast to other common polymers such as polyethylene and polystyrene, polyurethan ...

is used for foam.

Blends or hybrid materials

To achieve certain functional characteristics, blended (mix of two types of fibers) covering materials are also used in automotive textiles.

= Laminated and coated materials

= Laminated and coated materials are also used in Automotive sector. Examples are Truck covers (PVC coated PES fabrics) and seat covers made of

Alcantara (material) Alcantara is the brand name of a common synthetic textile material. It has a soft, suede-like microfibre pile and is noted for its durability. Alcantara is commonly seen in automotive applications, as a substitute for leather and vinyl in vehicl ...

Use

Cars A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...

, and

buses A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

have a large use of automotive textiles. A car can consume up to 25 kg of fabric, primarily used for roof coverings and

upholstery Upholstery is the work of providing furniture, especially seats, with padding, springs, webbing, and fabric or leather covers. The word also refers to the materials used to upholster something. ''Upholstery'' comes from the Middle English word ...

. Automotive textiles also used in interior trimmings,

seats A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair, a chair equ ...

, side panels, carpets, and car trunk coverings, linings, tires, filters, belts, hoses, airbags, etc. Due to specific performance requirements, different types of fibres are chosen for various sections.

References

{{Reflist Textiles