Automotive designers seek a lighter weight, sustainable story, and provide drivers and passengers with greater comfort and reduced noise. The role of non-woven fabrics in cars is constantly increasing. Although the automotive market is facing the challenge of slowing global growth, which is particularly evident in Asia, nonwovens suppliers of automakers are still optimistic about the growth of their products in this market.
"Because Sandler have been committed to providing new and innovative products, we have achieved growth in the automotive market in the past few years. We expect the situation to become more complicated in the next few years." GerhardKlier, director of Sandler technology products, said, "Automakers are facing new challenges. Hybrid or all-electric vehicles also need new other solutions."
The role of non-woven materials in automobiles is becoming more and more powerful, and the automotive non-woven fabric market has also grown. Due to the versatility of nonwovens, it replaces other materials in a sustainable way in more applications. Nonwoven materials can combine different properties, for example, a good sound absorbing material can also be a good heat insulating material. Nonwovens can be produced from up to 100 percent recycled raw materials without the need for chemical reagents.
Sandler provides the automotive industry with a large number of non-woven fabrics produced using different technologies, and its products are used in more than 60 models around the world. They are used in different applications and fields, for example in sound-absorbing materials for the interior and exterior of automobiles, and also as substrates for molded and self-supporting parts, for example wheel arch linings, underbody coverings or headliners. Other products can also be used as automotive air filter element or fuel filter filter material.
"Our nonwovens are mainly made of polyester fiber. Polyester is a transparent and easy-to-handle raw material, so it can give designers greater flexibility to handle materials and realize their ideas."
However, competition in this market may not be easy and requires advantages in terms of price and quality. Sandler molded parts are used in underbody solutions to make the interior and exterior lighter and quieter. "We are working on the next generation of sound-absorbing and insulation materials. This is what we have been doing in the past and will continue to be sustainable and eco-friendly in the future." Klier said.
Global expansion
FibertexNonwovens is focused on acquisitions to strengthen its position in the growing automotive market. Just a few months after making a big acquisition in the Brazilian car market, the Danish-based nonwovens producer announced a 20 percent increase in production there to meet growing demand for automotive-specific products.
"The process of taking over the Brazilian plant has far exceeded our expectations. Our South American customers have welcomed us very warmly and we are already facing a capacity crunch." FibertexNonwovens CEO Jø rgenBechMadsen said, "Since the acquisition of Duci, we have been planning to expand our capacity, but demand is growing faster than we expected and we will immediately upgrade our existing production lines. We have accumulated a lot of experience in previous plant expansions, and the upgrade can increase our capacity by 20%. In addition, we will accelerate the planning of other expansion projects."
This investment is estimated to be close to DKK 15 million and will be put into production in the summer of 2019. BechMadsen explained that FibertexNonwovens has allocated the extra capacity to the growing Brazilian market, which accounts for more than half of the South American market.
"We have accumulated many years of experience in nonwovens. There is a big difference between products like geotextiles and specialized products for filtration, sound insulation solutions, interior and exterior applications, as well as other applications, such as special wet wipes for shoes. We are a global leader in specialized products and are working hard to apply our knowledge and production methods in our new factory in Brazil." BechMadsen continued.
In fact, demand for special-purpose products is growing faster than any other sector of the industry, and not just in the Brazilian market. Several other South American markets, including Argentina, also reported strong growth in industrial applications.
"Historically, the nonwovens market has grown three times faster than GDP and has great potential." CarlosBenatto, CEO of FibertexNonwovens's Brazilian subsidiary, explained. The average consumption of Brazilian consumers is only 1/3 that of American or European consumers, and this is where nonwovens play an important role.
This growth rate is not only applicable to Brazil's large auto industry, in which almost all American, European and Japanese automakers play an active role. In providing non-woven fabrics for the automotive industry, FibertexNonwovens is one of the best. An ordinary European-made car uses about 30 square meters of non-woven fabric, covering a variety of applications from canopies, seats and storage boxes to wheel housings, engine insulation and underbody panels.
Meanwhile in North America, FibertexNonwovens recently announced plans to upgrade its South African production line and relocate it to the United States to meet the growing demand for automotive applications in the region. Fibertex currently has two factories in the United States. Earlier this year, it acquired a spunlace nonwovens factory in South Carolina. In addition, a needle-punched nonwovens factory in Illinois is mainly aimed at the automotive market.
BechMadsen agree that the current market is challenged by weakness and declining growth, but FibertexNonwovens is confident that it can consolidate its position.
The role of nonwovens in automotive applications is expanding. The key factors in the expansion are improved sound insulation solutions and weight reduction, which can improve comfort. Tailored non-woven fabrics can meet these performance standards.
Nonwovens can provide many advantages to automotive designers, such as improved fuel economy, improved safety, improved driver experience, and overall cost efficiency.
Fibertex recently launched a new series of products in sound insulation applications that can meet the needs of both classic and electric vehicles. The new products can be used in various automotive sound insulation applications, including engine sound insulation materials, wheel shells, canopies and other sound insulation components to improve car comfort and reduce noise.
Codberg Performance Materials still sees global expansion as a top priority, and its automotive business is no exception. Recently, the German non-woven manufacturer acquired Filc, a Slovenian needle-punched non-woven manufacturer, which focuses on the automotive and construction industries.
Filc has two production sites in Slovenia and a sales office in Ohio, USA. Filc has nearly 360 employees. The transaction is subject to antitrust approval.
"With this acquisition, we hope to further strengthen our high-performance materials business and expand our presence in Europe in terms of product portfolio and technology," said Dr. MohsenSohi, Chief Executive Officer of the Group."
"We will benefit from Filc's extensive knowledge of needling technology, especially in composite materials. Filc's excellent adhesive coating capabilities allow us to provide solutions to our customers in areas related to the construction industry." "In addition, we will expand our technology range in the field of construction and automotive acoustics to provide customers with more technology combinations in lamination, printing and coating," explained FrankHeislitz, CEO of Codberg High Performance Materials."
Filc was founded in 1937 and has been engaged in the non-woven business since 1963, while Cordberg has a global footprint and has the largest technology platform in the non-woven industry. Therefore, Cordberg is an ideal partner for Filc. Filc has similar values and guiding principles to those of Cordberg. Both companies place a strong emphasis on customers and innovation, as well as on finding people who can deliver solutions.
With Filc, Codberg Performance Materials is strengthening its role as a supplier of nonwovens for the automotive industry. Cordberg provides a variety of innovative products and technologies that can not only meet customer needs, such as high-performance lightweight solutions, but also support technological breakthroughs in electric vehicles.
"The automotive industry is one of the world's largest markets for industrial high-performance materials applications, with a market potential of more than 2 billion euros. Overall, the volume of non-woven fabrics in the automotive market is growing at a rate of more than 7 percent per year. This is higher than the growth rate of global automotive production," Heislitz said."
An important driver of this growth is the replacement of conventional materials (e. g., injection molded parts, steel, etc.) with innovative high-performance materials. This lightweight, high-performance material solution also supports the trend towards electric vehicles.
"Sustainability is one of the main drivers of the strong growth of the automotive market. The goal is to replace more and more traditional materials with lighter and lighter materials, thus reducing CO2 emissions and powering technological breakthroughs for electric vehicles. Non-woven fabrics are a very suitable solution for this sector," Heislitz said."
Codberg's non-woven fabrics are based on Lutraflor technology and are used in car carpets, inserts and interior parts, and trunk linings. Compared with traditional car carpets, they can reduce the weight by up to 40%. Another weight-reducing innovation of Cordberg is its unique multi-layer composite material for molding the underbody and wheel lining; compared with traditional products, it can reduce the weight by 15% to 40%. These reduced weights allow the material to help save fuel and reduce CO2 emissions.
In addition, from this year, Cordberg will be one of the first companies in the world to produce gas diffusion layers (GDLs) entirely in-house, with its own production facilities. GDLs are an important component of fuel cells, and they ensure that hydrogen fuel is converted into power as efficiently as possible. Cordberg's gas diffusion layers help increase the efficiency of fuel cells, their high uniformity in structure and thickness improves electrical and thermal conductivity, and improves the transport of gases and liquids in fuel cells. The gas diffusion layer of the electric vehicle is an indispensable part of the new vehicle.
Compared with other products, the more advantages of the Cordberg gas diffusion layer are excellent downstream processing and excellent surface properties. They provide better sound absorption, lighter weight and higher resilience. Since the thickness of the material and the selected fibers will change the properties of the non-woven material, it can be customized according to customer requirements. Through the best combination of spunmelt technology and short fiber technology, products with higher tear strength, stiffness, lower weight and better sound insulation can be created.
This article is from Nonwovens Industry Journal
作者：Karen McIntyre
