Unit IV Coating of technical textiles

Coating techniques
 Introduction
• The original coating methods were largely based on various
impregnating techniques, based on an impregnating trough followed
by a pair of squeeze rollers to ensure a constant pick-up.

• The material was then air dried at constant width, usually on a

stenter, and rolled.

• However, when the coating was required on one side of the fabric
then total immersion of the fabric in the coating liquor was not
possible and other techniques had to be developed.
 Coating process

• Solvent based systems

• Water based systems – dispersions and emulsions
• 100% based solid materials – Film, powder, hot powder
 Types of coaters
• Knife coating
• Direct roller coating
• Dip/Immersion coating
• Kiss coating
• Gravure coating
• Extrusion or slot die coating
• Powder coating
• UV cured coating
• Spray coating
• Rotary screen coating
• Hot melt coating
• Transfer coating
 Knife coating
• In this method the coating fluid is applied directly to the textile
fabric and spread in a uniform manner by means of a fixed knife.

• The thickness of the coating is controlled by the gap between the

bottom of the knife and the top of the fabric.

• The way in which this gap is controlled determines the type of

machinery used.
 Knife on air
• In this technique, the spreading blade is placed in direct contact with
the fabric under tension and the coating compound is thus forced
into the fabric.
• The doctor blade presses the upper surface of the substrate & forces
the coating layer to penetrate the surface.

• The amount of coating is applied is controlled by fabric tension and

the depression of the knife.

• The sharpness of the knife, the alignment angle and the degree of
the depression onto the substrate influence the amount of coating
applied.

• The main advantage of this technique is that any irregularities in the

fabric do not affect the running of the machine.
 Other techniques

Knife over roller

Knife over table
• Knife blade is suspended above the roller. Roller can be steel or rubber coated.

• There is a gap between the substrate and the knife which controls the thickness of
the coating.

• In these techniques, although the coating thickness can be accurately controlled,

any fabric faults or joints in the fabric are likely to jam under the blade causing
fabric breakage.
Knife over roll
 Knife over blanket

• The problem of metering an accurate amount of coating onto the

substrate was finally solved by the use of a flexible rubber blanket.

• This gives a controlled gap for the coating compound and yet is
sufficiently flexible to allow cloth imperfections or sewing to pass
underneath the blade without getting trapped and causing breakouts.
 Direct roll or squeeze roll coating
• In this method, pre metered quantity of
the coating is applied on the fabric by
controlling the quantity on the applicator
roll by the doctor knife.

• The substrate moves in the same

direction as the applicator roll.

• Restricted to low viscosity compounds.

• Coating thickness depends on nip

pressure, coating formulation, and
absorbency of the web.
 Dip/Immersion coating
• The simplest, most fundamental and oldest coating
application is dip coating.

• This coating is done by withdrawing the substrate

after immersing it in a bath of coating liquid.

• This is called ‘dip coating’ or ‘immersion coating’.

• It is still used widely to form thin films, mostly using

low viscosity coating liquids.
 Kiss coating
• The pick-up roll picks up coating material from the pan
and is premetered by the applicator roll.

• Coating is applied on the web as it kisses the applicator

roll.

• Pick-up roll may be rubber covered, and the applicator

roll may be made of steel.

• Metering is done by nip pressure, and consequently the

amount of material coated on the web is dependent on
nip pressure, speed of operation, roll hardness, and its
finish.

• The coating weight and splitting of the film as it leaves

the roll are also dependent on web tension.
 Gravure coating
• The gravure coating process relies on an
engraved roller running in a coating bath,
which fills the engraved dots or lines of the
roller with the coating material.

• The excess coating on the roller is wiped off

by the doctor blade and the coating is then
deposited onto the substrate as it passes
between the engraved roller and a pressure
roller
 Gravure coating
Disadvantages
• The greatest drawback to this technique is that for a fixed depth of
engraving a fixed coating weight is obtained.

• Thus if a different coating weight is required then a new engraved roll has
to be produced.

• Further, unless the viscosity characteristics of the coating fluid are

controlled, the pattern of the printed dot can be seen on the coated
substrate.

• What is required is a printing fluid that will flow and form a flat surface in
the drying process.

• This formation of a flat coating can be greatly improved by the use of offset
gravure printing or coating. Here the fluid is printed onto a rubber roller
before being transferred onto the substrate.
 Extrusion or slot die coating
• Extrusion coating is the coating of a molten web of resin onto a
substrate material.

• Process involves an extruder which converts solid thermoplastic

polymers into a melt/resin at the appropriate temperature required for
coating.

1 extruder, 2 die, 3 chill rollers, 4 pressure roll, 5 slitter.

 Extrusion or slot die coating
Contd
• This melt is extruded from a slot die at temperatures up to 320°C directly
onto the moving substrate which is then passed through a nip consisting of
a rubber-covered pressure roller and a chrome-plated cooling roll.

• The latter cools the molten film back into the solid state.

• The coated film is then slit by the micro-slitter to the desired size and then
wound on the wind-up roller.

• Extrusion coating is normally used in high-volume applications that have

commercial advantages because the equipment requires a large capital
outlay.

• Extrusion coating is not normally used for solution or dispersion coatings

but for 100% solid content compounds.
• The compounds normally are thermoplastic polymers, copolymers, or a
mixture of different polymers.

• Extrusion coating is capable

2
of giving
2
a wide range of coating weights from
approximately 5 g/m to 5 kg/m , depending on the requirements of the
final coated product.

• Quite often this technique is used for the manufacture of waterproof

roofing membranes that coat a low-cost polymer onto a synthetic woven
substrate.

• The coating weight is governed by the extrusion head gap with the coating
being extruded directly onto the surface of the substrate.

• The production speed is restricted only by the capacity of the extrusion

system.
 Powder coating
• It is the one of the methods that uses 100% solid coating material.

• In powder coating, pre-prepared coating powder in the solid form is

deposited directly onto the substrate.

• No drying is necessary since no water is used, which may result in energy

savings.

• Powders would then be sieved to reduce the particle size distribution to

achieve a uniform coat weight on the final product.

• It is common to see particle sizes in the range of 0–80, 80–200, 200–500,

and 500–1000 μm although there are no limits to the ranges.
• The powder is added to a hopper on the powder scatter coating head
using a pneumatic powder elevator that was installed to keep a
constant height of the powder in the hopper.

• Under the hopper is a driven roller that is covered in card clothing.

• The card clothing is chosen to allow the powder particles to fill the
interstices of the needles on the card clothing.

• As this driven roller rotates, a flexible doctor blade removes any

excess powder and allows a uniform amount of polymer to pass.
Figure 3. Powder scatter coating
• An oscillating bar with a longer needle card clothing operates across the
surface of the card clothing to remove all of the powder on the roller.

• Gravity then causes the powder to fall onto an oscillating mesh to further
randomise the polymer before it is laid on the textile substrate underneath.

• This coated material is then passed into an infrared heated zone to melt
the polymer before any further processing.

• The deposition weight of the coating depends on the speed or rotation of

the card-covered roller and the speed of the textile substrate passing
through the machinery.
 Advantages of Powder coating
• Environmentally friendly process compared with fluid-based coating
methods since it does not use solvent, releases very low amounts of
VOC, and generates few waste materials or hazardous chemicals.

• Beyond its environmental attractiveness, powder coating also has

unique characteristics because the particles have a high surface area.

• It is also possible to create rich coatings with minimal penetration.

 UV coating process
• A typical UV-curable coating or binder paste contains a high-molecular
weight prepolymer, a monomer, and a photoinitiator.

• Upon irradiation with UV light, the photoinitiator produces radicals,

that start off the polymerization reaction, resulting in the formation of
a 3-D polymeric network.

• The UV-pastes which contain no water or solvent, can be cured

immediately after application.

• Typical curing times are less than a second.

UV Coating process

Monomer + Photo initiator

Coating on textile

Irradiation using UV lamp

Free radicals

UV Coated textile
 Rotary screen coating
• Similar to the rotary screen printing process that is used to apply
coloured patterns to fabric.

• The applicator is a cylindrical nickel screen, which has a large number

of perforated holes.

• The coating compound is fed into the centre of the screen, from
where it is forced through the holes by either a doctor blade or a
circular metal rod.

• The coating weight can be controlled by the number of holes per unit
area and the coating weights are very precise.
• Coating compound rheology is important in rotary screen coating to
prevent flooding or pattern distortion and is commonly controlled
using a thixotropic additive into the coating compound formulation.

• A so-called whisper blade, or flexible gravure blade, is employed on

the surface of the dots to spread them and produce a continuous
coating.

• Although this has been carried out in the industry for some
considerable time, only low-weight and relatively non-uniform
coatings are produced.
Figure 2. Rotary screen coating
 Spray coating
• A coating material can be sprayed directly onto the substrate surface.

• A low-viscosity chemical compound is contained in a pressurised vessel and carried

onto a substrate by a high-pressure stream of air through a nozzle.
 The spray coating methods are

• Compressed air vaporization

• Airless pressure spray

• Hot vapour impelled spray

• Electrostatic spray

• Dry powder resin spray

The most common method is the compressed air vaporization, where the air & coating
materials are pressed out through the nozzle.
 Applications
• A wide variety of designs of the nozzle system allows varied pattern in
the spray to be achieved, again depending on the requirements of the
final product.

• In the past, spray coating was used extensively to apply a binder

chemical to wadding products and with other applications when
uniformity of coat weight was not an important factor in the final
product.

• Currently used for the application of low-weight coatings, mainly

using a hot melt polymer.
 Disadvantages
• The process is not currently considered to be most appropriate for
coating technology when uniform coating weights are necessary.

• The use of spray coating decreased over the past two decades with
the introduction of other application techniques, principally blade
coating and gravure coating that can achieve a significantly more
uniform coat weight distribution.

• An increase in costs for the base chemicals used in the process has
also led to a change in application techniques to give more uniform
coatings and reduce waste.
 Foam coating
• The application of a coating to a substrate using foam technology
allows previously uncoatable textiles to be coated.

• This is because of the fact that they would have a relatively open
structure, and lower viscosity compounds generally pour through
the open areas and produce an incomplete or very uneven coating.

• Many foam coatings are used to give a softer handle to the final
product, which is essential on products such a drapes or curtains that
require a soft handle but uniform coating.
 Types of foam coating
• Depending on the actual coating chemical, foaming of the material is
undertaken by either chemical or mechanical means.

Foam coating

Mechanical Chemical

Rotating Rotor & Stator

• The rotating disc system is the least expensive but does tend to give a
foam that has a wide variety of bubbles. This can lead to some pinholes and
blisters in the final product.

• The most uniform system for foam manufacture is the rotor and stator
system in which a series of pins on the rotor are rotated at high speed with
the pins on the stator remaining static.

• Different manufacturers use either round or square pins, but there is little
evidence of which is the more efficient.

• Generally, there is a positive pressure in the mixing head in the region of 3

bar, which would assist in the uniformity of the foam production.

• The vast majority of coating of foams is made using the mechanical foam
technique.
 Foam techniques
• Foamed coating compounds are produced by mixing the base chemical
with air or, in some cases, an inert gas such as nitrogen.

• The base chemical contains a saponification agent to allow a foam to be

produced.

• The air is introduced into the base chemical in a specific amount in order to
allow the appropriate density of foam to be made.

• Typically, a reduction in density for an acrylic formulation for drapes is from

1200 to 200 g/l, thus giving the final product a much improved handle or
feel.

• Once the coating has been applied, the product is passed through a drying
oven to leave approximately 4% moisture when it is passed through a
calendering system to remove the aeration and give a uniform solid coating
with the required softness of handle.
Mechanical foaming technique

Figure 3. Rotor/stator mechanical foam machine.

 Chemical foam techniques
• A chemical foam is made by including in the formulation a chemical that
decomposes under heat and liberates a gas.

• Most common additives are azodicarbonamides that liberate nitrogen upon

decomposition.
• This system is most commonly used in coating polymers such as
vinyl's where a foam or cushion layer is required.

• For blown vinyl production, chemical foams have been found to be

more appropriate than mechanical foams because a more stable and
durable foam is made.

• Generally, chemical foams are not subjected to the crushing process

used in mechanical foamed products because the foam presence is a
crucial feature in the final material.
 Disadvantages
• The main problem with these chemicals is that their decomposition
temperature is higher than any subsequent processing temperature
of the coated textile.

• As a result of this, an addition to the formulation of a catalyst very

significantly lowers the decomposition temperature and allows
liberation of gases to aerate the coating compound.
 Transfer coating
• Transfer coating is a sequential coating process where the coating
material is first applied to a silicone release paper and then dried.
 Transfer coating
Contd
• The coated silicone release paper passes through the laminating rollers
with the substrate, with the coating layer facing the substrate surface.

• Heat and pressure applied by rollers and ovens cause coating layer bonding
with the substrate.

• The release paper is then peeled away, leaving a smooth or embossed, as

desired, coated surface.

• More expensive than direct coating, it can be used for very delicate
substrates, since little or no tension is applied during the process.

• Another advantage is the low degree of penetration, which reduces

stiffness and generates flexible coated fabrics.
 Applications
• Agriculture

• Construction

• Clothing

• Geotextiles

• Home Furnishings

• Industrial

• Medical
 Fusible interlinings
• A fusible interlining is a fabric that has been coated with an adhesive
coating, which under the influence of heat and pressure will melt and
form a bond with any other fabric that is pressed against it.
 History of fusible interlinings
• The use of stiffening materials in clothing has been known for many
thousands of years.

• The Elizabethans used both linen and woven animal hair to reinforce
and stiffen the elaborate clothing of the court ladies and gentlemen.

• In 18th century, Alexander Parkes, who at the Great Exhibition of 1862

introduced a nitrocellulose plasticised with camphor, which he called,
with all due modesty, Parkesine.

• This material was a thermoplastic and could thus be moulded by heat

and pressure.
 Contd
• Eventually it was given the name ‘celluloid’ and its use was extended
into many areas.

• It was, for example, the original material on which the early moving
pictures were shot.

• Unfortunately, celluloid had one major disadvantage, it was highly

flammable and burned with an almost explosive violence.

• This prompted the search for a less flammable alternative to

celluloid.
• The beginning of the 20th century saw the development of another
thermoplastic resin from cellulose, cellulose acetate.

• Benjamin Liebowitz in USA developed a fabric that consisted of both cotton

and cellulose acetate woven together.

• It could be softened in acetone, which produced a very sticky fabric that

was used to reinforce the collar of a man’s shirt.

• The Trubenised Process Corporation exploited this invention producing the

Trubenised semi-stiff collar, which was washable.

• Because the cellulose acetate adhesive did not form a continuous glue line
in the collar, the collar remained permeable and hence very comfortable to
wear.
 Function of fusible interlining
• The basic function of a fusible interlining is to control and reinforce
the fabric to which it is fused.

• It does this by giving a degree of stiffness to the fabric by increasing

the apparent thickness of the fabric, causing the flexural modulus of
the fabric to increase proportionally to the cube power of that
thickness.

• Thus a relatively small increase in thickness will produce a relatively

large increase in the stiffness of the laminate.
 Modern adhesive development
• In the early 1950s a search began for a fusible adhesive resin which could
be coated onto the base fabric and fused by the action of heat and
pressure alone, thus avoiding the use of flammable and toxic solvents.

• The first of these was obtained by the plasticization of PVA, which was
applied to the fabric in the form of a knife coating by an emulsion of
plasticised PVA.

• After the material was dried, the coated fabric was wrapped in a release
paper for use.

• The fused products were stiff and were used in the preparation of fabric
belts for ladies dresses and suits; this is still their main use.
Main resins used for coatings
 Disadvantages and recent developments
• However, the continuously coated fabrics used as fusibles produced
laminates that were rather too stiff for normal clothing use.

• For other purposes, the resultant stiffness of the laminate could be

controlled by the particle size of the adhesive powder and by the
amount of powder in the glue line of the laminate.

• The most recent development has been the introduction of a reactive

adhesive resin.

• This material melts when heated and then undergoes crosslinking,

thus producing a very stable bond.
 Laminating
• Textile laminates are produced by the combination of two or more fabrics
using an adhesive.

• The hot-melt adhesive is environmentally friendly, requires less heat and is

now preferred over the more conventional solvent-based adhesives.

• Hot melt adhesives will replace most of the other adhesive techniques,
either on energy grounds, or environmental grounds.

• The other driving force behind this change is the continued development of
the hot-melt adhesives that are available to the manufacturer, which
produce laminates at a higher speed, or more permanently bonded
laminates.
• An interesting development in the improved
efficiency of the process, for example, was the
development of Xironet.

• This is a lightweight net of fusible adhesive, which

when sandwiched between two fabrics can
effectively laminate the fabrics together by the
application of heat and pressure from a heated
calender.

• To improve the permanence of the adhesive bond,

and as mentioned above, a hot-melt adhesive has
been developed that will crosslink after the
adhesive bond has been formed.

• These materials will melt at 130°C and form an

adhesive bond and on further heating will crosslink
to give an adhesive that is relatively inert.
End of the Lecture