Hannover, April 26th 2016 – Textechno, a leading German manufacturer of machines for precision test equipment and systems for textile and man-made fibres, received the DIN innovation award for DIN SPEC 8100 and its test equipment DRAPETEST serving the purpose of evaluating composite woven and non-crimp fabrics. The award ceremony took place at Hannover Messe in Germany on April 26th, 2016 in the framework of the DIN forum “standards for the world of tomorrow”.

The DIN SPEC 8100 “Automated drapability testing for woven and non-crimp fabrics used in continuous fibre reinforced plastics” was developed and implemented by Textechno, a medium-sized traditional company based in Mönchengladbach, in cooperation with DIN, as well as SAERTEX, the Fiber Institute Bremen, GROZ - BECKERT KG and FTA Albstadt.

In the automated production of carbon- or glass fiber-based woven and non-crimp fabrics for the aerospace or automotive industry, a major problem consists in undetected errors as they occur during the three-dimensional deformation for the final component (draping).

The method described in DIN SPEC uses i.a., a high-resolution camera in conjunction with an image analysis, detecting imperfections while draping. This method provides values with which the properties of the textile fabric can be characterized and it ultimately helps selecting the right fabric material for the appropriate composite.

Dr Ulrich Mörschel, CEO of Textechno explains: “With our products, we contribute to avoid conflicts between suppliers and end-users wherever possible. The development of the DIN SPEC has procured us a fast possibility to set a new and useful standard for the entire composite industry, where there are not yet many standards set.”

Dietmar Möcke, Technical Director at SAERTEX, a globally leading manufacturer of woven and non-crimp fabrics and co-initiator of DIN SPEC says: “DIN SPEC offers for the first time a standardised testing method. It allows us to provide our customers with comparable and reproducible measurement values regarding the draping characteristics of our products. Thus they get a standardized overview of the textile properties and the material´s performance.”

Dr Michael Effing, CEO of AMAC and advisor for Composite Materials to Textechno adds: “The parameters generated by DIN SPEC 8100 represent a huge added value for the entire composite industry. This is to ensure that carbon- and glass fibre woven and noncrimp fabrics for applications in high-performance components like rotor blades or structural components in Automotive and Aerospace possess the required material characteristics.”

In order to further boost the development of pioneering testing methods, the partners SAERTEX, GROZ- BECKERT and FTA Albstadt waive their shares of the prize money so that Textechno can handover a voucher worth 5000 EUR for research to the Bremen Fibre Institute.