The role of textile industry in the economy of Pakistan in undoubtedly outstanding and the efforts made in vitalising this sector through balancing, modernization and restructuring are showing good results.

An important area of the textile sector worthy of serious attention, and where products from the industry are non-existing is tech textile or technical textile, i.e. high performance textiles.

This is the area of textile products that are specially designed for high performance applications. Examples of such products include bullet proof jackets, flame retardant textiles, medical textiles (sutures, gloves, bandages, etc.,) clothing for battle and air fields etc.

This is the arena of products manufactured to meet the requirements of specific function rather than fashion. A large volume of business is awaited there if the small project investment, in research and development, is initiated.

In an ever-changing technological world, it is indeed not unusual to see new products, processes and innovations in all the areas of a scientific discipline. Perhaps two decades back, the word technical textile was an unfamiliar term for many working in the field.

Today, it is the fastest growing sector and accounts for about 19 per cent of the total fibre consumption for all textile uses. In many developed countries, technical textiles are estimated to comprise 40 per cent of the total textile production by the year 2000. Such an estimation for China is 20 per cent.

Realising the significance and impacts of technical textile, including an increasing business volume (presently estimated about $60 billions) and variety of applications, it is important for the textile and allied industries to prepare for the changing and an emerging market. Stepping from conventional to specialized textile is a venture needed to be addressed both at the private and the public level.

A textile-based country like Pakistan would indeed find significant potential for the growth of industrial sector, in new product areas, at the expense of mainly developing human skills and expertise rather than relying on the import of heavy machinery at the earlier stages.

An example of realising the increasing importance of technical textile products was the step taken by the Indian textile ministry by appointing an expert committee to explore the developing opportunities.

Its members visited Britain and the USA to produce recommendations for developing technical textile products. The committee has chosen the British system that may effectively meet their requirement. Centre of excellence would be established following the identification of specialization areas.

However, a principal concern associated with the development of technical textile, that is the focus of industry and research bodies, is the requirement of an established research infra-structure and a number of researchers in the technical textile.

The increasing awareness and interest of textile-related organizations in the areas of tech textile is not limited to European and North American countries. It is observable in most textile-based countries. In the technical textile-Frankfurt held on April 8 - 10, 2003, the most potent, European visitor countries were Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands and Poland.

The other important countries are Japan, the USA, India, China and Korea. Interestingly, around 92per cent of visitors were satisfied with the range of products offered and 83 per cent of exhibitors indicated that they have achieved their exhibition goals.

Exhibitors firms like Sultex or Dornier, operating in classic and industrial textile sector, have not seen any stagnation in industrial textiles relative to the classic textiles. The 3rd Tech textile South America Show, November 11-13, 2003, experience 15 per cent rise in the number of visitors from 26 countries, and an increase of 20 per cent in the number of exhibitors approaching to 181 from 17 countries.

The important types of exhibitors participated include machinery and accessories manufacturers, raw material suppliers, associations, non-wovens producers, weavers, knitters.

From machine manufacturers to the raw material suppliers for the process, there appears an increasing number of companies willing to move up in the areas of tech textiles. Indeed this is the game to play around the fund not for fun.

The principal difference between the classic (conventional) textile and technical textile products is in the purpose they are created. Conventional textiles are fashion-oriented and technical textiles are created for function.

Therefore, higher performance characteristics are desire from technical textile products for any specific application in meeting the technological and engineering requirements. This is achievable by relating the knowledge and understanding of fibre science to a particular field of application.

Understanding of the field of application is therefore a definite asset for the development of technical textiles. For example, production of geo-textiles would require an intricate knowledge of civil engineering along with the fibre science. The diversity of knowledge in the requirement of producing a technical textile paves the way of inter-disciplinary research and development work.

What are technical textiles? The "Textile Terms and Definitions", published by the Textile Institute says that technical textiles are textile materials and products manufactured primarily for their technical and performance properties rather than their aesthetic or decorative characteristics.

The conventional textile products intended for apparel, furnishing and household have the properties to exhibit performance against the end use. However, this performance is in the normal conditions of heat, light, washing, rubbing, perspiration, laundry etc.

This is referred to as fastness. Technical textiles, for their specific applications, are required to exhibit a certain performance level in terms of their strength, elasticity, hardness, absorbency, rigidity; and resistance to high temperature, chemicals, elasticity, hardness, absorbency, rigidity, rigidity; and resistance to high temperature, chemicals, aggressive environment, water penetration etc.

The development of technical textile has extended the use of textile materials in the variety of applications, and today clothing and home furnishing have become only a segment of textile gamut.

The International Trade Exhibition, organized by Messe Frankfurt, divided the technical textiles into 12 application Areas: agro tech, build tech, clot htech, geo tech, home tech, indu tech, med tech, mobilecht, ocko tech, pack tech, pro tech and sport tech. Discussion of all type of technical textile is not possible here, the purpose is rather to describe those material that:

* may be of common interest;

* may have the possibility of developing in a textile-based country like Pakistan, in terms of the least required capability.

* may be developed using the least equipment and raw ? materials.

Hygiene textiles (medtech): Hygiene textile applications include wipes, babies' diapers (nappies) and adult sanitary products. Except the last one, all of these have large market volume, however adding value to any may further increase its market.

The use of textile wound dressings had long history in curing the human body. These are use for holding the ointment or medicine over the wound and absorbed the exuding liquids and moisture. This assists in creating the relatively dry conditions required for healing.

The problem encountered using such dressings was the entrapping of protruded fibres into the pores of wound causing the removal of dressing a painful step for a patient. However, this problem had been addressed through R & D work and there are fibres available that enable the healing in moist conditions.

Alginate fibres, obtained by extruding sodium alginate into a calcium chloride bath, may heal the wound in moist conditions. These fibres are partially converted to water-soluble sodium alginate on receiving wound liquids. The resulting sodium alginate swells to form a gel and retain the wound in moist conditions.

Moreover, it is easy to remove on the completion of treatment. Co-polymers of acrylic acid, calcium alginate, hydrocel, chitin, chitosan and collagen fibres found variety of applications in hygiene and biomedical fields.

Hydrocel fibres, derived from Lyocell may reportedly absorb water 35 times of its weight while remaining intact with wound. Chitin and chitosan are natural and biodegradable, compatible with a variety of living systems versatile in their physical forms including powder, films, fibres, sponges, aqueous solution, etc.

Healthcare application of fibre-based structures are not limited to wound care, some other areas include the extra corporeal devices used to purify blood in kidneys, form artificial livers, function as mechanical lungs, etc.

A higher value market segment of medical and surgical textile products covers the applications as operating gowns, drapes, sterilization packs, orthopaedic pads, dressings. There are examples for highly sophisticated textile uses, that include artificial ligaments, veins, arteries, hollow fibres for dialysis machines, skin replacement, etc.

A significant change in the contemporary surgery is the use of fibrous materials for implants including vascular prostheses, heart valves, sutures. Polyester fibres with anti-microbial properties are mainly used for producing various implants.

What the potential can be realised from the medical textile products for the industrial sector of Pakistan! There are apparently two distinct areas where the research and development work may result into the interesting fibre products or finishing processes. There are:

* development of medical and hygiene fibres using natural raw materials, like the chitosan fibres or investigating for new fibres like hydrocel, and

* imparting higher functional value to the known fibres for the specific application.

The interesting aspect from industrial point is that it does not require any high-tech production equipment, what is needed at the early stage is the specialized skills and expertise that can be acquired over the period of time using continuous management derive for improving the existing human resources.

Protective/ defence applications: Hiding the human body was the basic requirement from clothing; however, the ongoing stages of civilizations added the fashion requirements. Realization of the textile and clothing functional applications is now leading to the variety of protective and defensive uses.

The textile products may be used to protect against cuts, abrasion, ballistic and severe shocks including stab wounds and explosions, fire, nuclear radiation, high voltages, extreme cold, heat, hazardous dust and particles, chemical and biological hazards.

The provision of protection from textile products is not limited to human body; it may be needed for animals and materials. Moreover, there are sensitive equipments and processes that need protection.

An example is the clean room requirement needed for several work places including electronic and pharmaceutical industries, hospitals, health care centre, nuclear laboratories, etc.

Basalt fibrous products may be used in nuclear industry. Basalt materials resist the radioactivity, which make them suitable for use in production and transformation of radioactive materials construction and running of nuclear power plants, destruction or stocking of radioactive work.

Delaying the fire or resisting its propagation is a function that can be achieved by using textile fibrous materials. Textile fibres and clothing can be treated with fire retardant materials that increase their ignition point or create a fibrous structure convertible to char on receiving fire.

Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (WHMWPE) fibres commercially known as dyneema (DSM), and in composite form as spectra shield (allied signal) are used to produce cut-resistant gloves, helmets and a variety of protective garments. These fibres have high strength and low weight.

Kevlar or Twaron continuous filament yarns are woven into tight structures and assembled in multi-layer form. These structures exhibit high tenacity and thermal stability coupled with the good energy (shock) absorption. These properties enable the garment of these fibres to neutralize the impact of a range of projectiles including the military bullets in the range of 5.56 - 7.62 mm.

Mobiltech: It is also referred as transport or automotive textiles. It includes the textiles that are used in various transporting means, either as covering, lining or as an integral part of their structure. However, in any case the requirements to fulfil the mechanical performance are emphasised.

The transport means include cars, buses, lorries, trains, ships, airplanes and aerospace shuttles. The places where textile products may be used in these transport means are seating, carpeting, lining, belt, tyre, air bags, composite re-enforcements for automotive bodies, air craft bodies, wings and engine components etc.

It is beyond the scope to detail out he diverse types, applications and properties of all technical textiles. However the purpose is the short introduction in relation to the possibility of creating a subject of interest, leading to the further discussion and exploration for the strategic textile business management, public houses coupled with the research and academic organization to initiate efforts in a textile based country like Pakistan for:

* knowing how tech textile can benefit textile industry;

* searching for an area of interest for a particular textile industry;

* identifying the market segments;

* planning for short-term (3-6 months) projects to investigate the market for specific product ;

* initiating short-term (3-6 months) research and development (R and D) projects to establish if the chosen tech textile product (from 4 above) is achievable.

* the results of the work done in short-term R and D projects would indicate the potential requirements and their availability along with the scope of performing detailed studies whether the production for the chosen tectextil product is possible. The long term R and D project would then be initiated to produce the full details for the industrial scale production.