At the Technical Textiles Seminar held at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, Professor Urs Meyer studied and described the visual effects, tactile effects, and technical merits of flocked fabrics, and proposed the characteristics and advantages of flocked fabrics in automotive interior materials. .
Here is a compilation of some of his views in the paper, which has inspiration and reference for our country to strengthen product development in this area.
Visual effect
The visual effect of the plastic part of the car has been increasingly concerned by people. Flocking produces a velvety appearance, which is a trend in automotive interior applications worldwide. Sitting in a car, passengers and drivers feel as comfortable as home, and electrostatic flocking technology precisely meets this need.
Hygroscopic effect
Due to the use of the fluff fibers, the surface area increases, and the entrapped air also increases, which achieves an effect of absorbing a large amount of moisture. For example, air is adsorbed by electrostatic flocking yarns, which can be absorbed in the air during hot weather and can be released into the air again. In this way, the driver or passenger will no longer feel the surface of the skin moist.
This makes them feel always in a dry clothing environment, and in the forward leaning, the upper body will not have a cold feeling. In this way, even in countries with high temperatures or frequent driving cars, people will not feel heavy in rheumatism after a few years. In the cold season, after people enter the car due to the large amount of moist air, the cold feeling will soon disappear. The reason is that the air in the interior of the car quickly absorbs the cold air on the surface of the body. The flocked surface can achieve a climate balance and moisture conditioning effect.
comfortability
The concept of feeling comfortable is that people feel “good” and they do not leave any negative feelings in their brains. That is, if people feel “good” and have no negative feelings, then people’s comfort is quite high. For example, when you sweat, you don't feel wet; when you bend, you don't feel cold; in the cold season, there isn't a cold feeling on the seat surface, so you don't send any signals of negative feeling to the brain. In this way, drivers can focus on driving 100% without distraction. With this, a complete environment has been formed. With flocked shift levers, roofs, hat holders and carpets, drivers can enjoy all-round comfort, which is exactly what the automotive industry is trying to achieve.
Comprehensive performance
The flocking base fabrics and flocking yarns processed into automobile interior decorative fabrics have good abrasion resistance, that is, the service life of the automobile is also prolonged according to the structure of the interior decoration materials.
Flocked fabrics were originally used as protective coverings to compensate for defects in car interior trim. Today, even in the case of yarn flocking, these wear-resistant precautions are usually not necessary either. For these decorative materials, people’s demand for the performance of various components first came first. Nowadays, the demand has been expanded, and the demand for visual aspects, namely fashion trends, has occupied the top position. Therefore, if one only considers the visual effects of decorative materials, their performance requirements will be reduced or even completely eliminated. In fabric organization, the consideration of several criteria will better meet the performance requirements.
Color fastness
In the past, the use of polyamide as a flocked raw material, the product color fastness is still a problem. With the development of the dyestuff industry and the innovation of printing and dyeing plants, its color fastness has been improved to DIN 75202 level 7. If the design sacrifices the color fastness, because of the ultraviolet radiation, a small amount of mixed dye will also cause the color fastness to decrease due to the regression.
Other special features
In terms of technology, fluff slippage is utilized in the actual coupling of the interior of the odometer drive housing or the lift window and the active roof. The sealing of the window can achieve no noise, easy movement and no scratching of the glass at all.
Areas such as cash boxes, storage boxes, and small cabinets utilize the sound-absorbing properties of flocked fabrics.
The flocked fabric ventilation unit filters dirt particles in the air and reduces aerodynamic noise.
Since the treated fluff has electrical conductivity, it is hardly charged, so that it is difficult to attract dust on its surface. Contamination of yarn flocking fabrics can be removed by cleaning foams and vacuum cleaners. Detergents can be used to remove chocolate and oil stains that adhere to the decorative fabric.
Although all flocking processes exhibit the same basic characteristics, the differences in flocking technology schemes on three-dimensional objects are significant.
Small parts such as sliders, and parts such as central dashboards, cover covers for A-B-C selector levers, and small cabinets, which are often described as "hollow objects," are heavily flocked. Only from the size comparison we can see that all of these components require a specific machine, technical solution, and fixture holding device. The joints of the contours also belong to the three-dimensional parts and are flocked either on the vulcanization line or on molded products.
The production of flocking determines its working method. Smaller production uses a lot of manual work; medium production uses semi-automatic production; and large quantities use fully automated industrial production.
