Textiles play an important role in automobiles, being used in both visible and concealed components. Visible textiles include upholstery, carpets, and headliners, while concealed textiles are used in tyre cords, hoses, belts, airbags, and filters. Different fibers are used for different applications, with polyester, nylon, and glass fibers being common. Emerging technologies include the use of carbon fiber and airbag shaping to improve safety. The future of automotive textiles will be influenced by environmental, cost, and safety factors.

1. TEXTILES IN AUTOMOBILES
S.SIVAKUMAR
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
DEPARTMENT OF AUTOMOBILE ENGINEERING
KUMARAGURU COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY
COIMBATORE-641049 9444283430
sivakumar.s.auto@kct.ac.in

2. Contents:
Mobiltech
Fiber Composition in Automobiles
Automobile Components using Textiles

4. Land – Air/Space – Water
• Upholstery, car interior, carpets
• Tyres, car elements, filters,
• Heat, cable & sound insulation,
• Safety systems - airbags, seat belts
• Protective covers for land crafts, boats, aircrafts
• sailcloth, inflatable boats
• Envelopes of balloons
• Special equipment for military vehicles,
Mobiltech

5. Textiles in Automobiles
Visible components :
upholstery, carpets, headliners..(45 m2 approx.)
Concealed components :
tyre cords, hoses, belts, airbags, air and fuel
filters, noise and vibration dampening and
body panel reinforcement in composites etc.

6. Fiber composition in Automobiles
APPLICATION
AREAS
FIBRES /
PRODUCTS USED
in %
UPHOLSTERY Polyester, wool,
nylon, acrylic
18
TYRE CORDS &
FABRICS
Polyester, Nylon,
HT * rayon, steel &
aramid
12.8
COMPOSITE Glass, carbon,
aramid, HT
polyester &
polyethylene
14
RUBBER REIN-
FORCEMENT
HT polyester,
aramid
9.4
SEAT BELTS HT polyester 8.8
AIRBAGS Nylon - 6,6,
nylon - 4,6
3.7
CARPETS Nylon, polyester,
polypropylene
33.3
Source: David Rigby Associates
HT* High Tenacity
Tenacity = grams/denier (g/d)
unit of measure for the linear mass
density of fibers, is defined as the
mass in grams per 9000 meters.

7. Seat Covers / Upholstery
Selection of fabric:
Apart from strength & comfort,
the fabric should also have
 Resistance to Sun Light & UV
 Abrasion Resistance
 Reduced Flammability
 Odour free
 Antistatic
 Soil resistance.

8. Composition of seat cover
It is a trilaminate consisting of
o face fabric,
o foam
o scrim lining on the back.
The specifications of the laminate depend
on where the laminate is used: seat
central panel or back or door panel...
 PET face fabric
 The foam is PE-PU or Polyether-PU; the latter
being more hydrolysis resistant & is suitable
for humid climates
 Foam density – 26 to 45 Kg/m3, 2 to 22 mm
thick, fire resistant.
 The scrim fabric is warp knitted (nylon or
Polyester), 30-90 g/m2

9. Seat Belts
Multilayer woven narrow fabrics
– Maximum yarn packing for a given area to
have maximum strength
– Twill or Satin
– HT PET yarns (320 ends of 1100 dtex or 260 ends
1670 dtex)
– Softer & flexible along the length for comfort
– Rigidity along the width to enable it to slide
easily between buckles and retract smoothly
into housings
– Scuff resistant but not unpleasantly hard
edges
– Resistant to microorganisms

10. Performance Standards
(Seat Belts)
 Restrain a passenger weighing 90 Kg involved in a
collision at 50 Km/h into a fixed object
 Minimum straight pull strength 30kN/50mm
 Accelerated ageing
 Finished product – resistance to fastening &
unfastening 10,000 times

11. Air Bag
 Squib, which is a small explosive device,
ignites a propellant, sodium azide.
 The azide burns with tremendous
speed, generating nitrogen, which inflates
the airbags.
Within 45 to 55 milliseconds the airbag
is supposed to be fully inflated.
Within 75 to 80 milliseconds, the airbag
is deflated and the event is over.
The airbags are now designated as Supplemental
Restraint System (SRS) or Supplemental Inflatable
Restraints.

12. Fabrics for Airbag
• The fabric from which the air bag is made must withstand the
force of the propellant chemicals. More importantly, the hot
gases must not penetrate the fabric and burn the skin of the car
occupant.
• The earlier airbags were Neoprene coated Nylon 6,6 but
lighter and thinner silicon coated versions soon followed.
Latter, uncoated fabrics have appeared.
• Airbags vary in size and configuration
– driver side airbags: from 35 lit capacity upwards
– for front passengers: form about 65 lit capacity upwards

13. Airbag
(Fabric Quality Requirements)
• HT multi filament nylon 6,6 – 210, 420 and 840 denier
• High tear strength, high anti seam slippage, controlled
air permeability (about 10L/m2/min) and be capable of
being folded up into a confined space for over 10 years
without deterioration.
• Some tests require 75% property retention after 4000
hrs at 90-1200C, the equivalent of 10 yrs. UV exposure
and also cold cracking resistance down to -400C.
• Recently, Nylon 4,6 (Akzo) with melting point of
2850C has been introduced especially for airbags.

14. Recent Trends in Airbags
Side Air bags :
as 30 % accidents occur due to side impact collisions
energy from front-impact collision is
absorbed by the bumper, hood and engine, takes 30 to 40
milliseconds before it reaches the car's occupant.
in side impact
thin door and a few inches separate the occupant from another
vehicle. This means that door-mounted side airbags must begin
deploying in a mere five or six milliseconds!

15. Shaped Airbags
Side Airbag
There are essentially two
types of side airbags
commonly used today, the
side torso airbag and the
side curtain airbag.
Side airbag inflated
Knee airbag
It is located beneath the
steering wheel. Knee airbags
are designed to reduce leg
injury.
Knee Airbag

16. Side Torso Airbag
Side-impact airbags or side
torso airbags are a category of
airbag usually located in the
seat, and inflate between the
seat occupant and the door.
These airbags are designed to
reduce the risk of injury to the
pelvic and lower abdomen
regions. Some vehicles are now
being equipped with different
types of designs, to help reduce
injury and ejection from the
vehicle in rollover crashes.

17. • Curtain airbags have been said to reduce brain injury
or fatalities by up to 45% in a side impact with an
SUV. These airbags come in various forms (e.g.,
tubular, curtain, door-mounted) depending on the
needs of the application. Many recent have a long
inflatable curtain airbag that protects all 3 rows of
seats of high end vehicles.

18. Seat belt airbag
In 2009, the S-class ESF safety concept car showcased
seatbelt airbags. They will be included standard on the
production Lexus LFA in late 2010, and the 2011 Ford
Explorer will offer rear seatbelt airbags as an option.
Rear curtain airbag
In 2008, the Toyota iQ
launched featuring the first
production rear curtain shield
airbag to protect the rear
occupants' heads in the event
of a rear end impact.
Center airbag
In 2009, Toyota developed the first
production rear-seat center airbag
designed to reduce the severity of
secondary injuries to rear
passengers in a side collision.

19. On motorcycles
• Various types of airbags were tested on
motorcycles by the UK Transport
Research Laboratory in the mid 1970s.
• In 2006 Honda introduced the first
production motorcycle airbag safety system
on its Gold Wing motorcycle. Honda claims
that sensors in the front forks can detect a
severe frontal collision and decide when to
deploy the airbag, absorbing some of the
forward energy of the rider and reducing
the velocity at which the rider may be
thrown from the motorcycle.
• Airbag suits have also been developed for
use by Motorcycle Grand Prix riders. They
are connected to the motorcycle by a cable
and deploy when the cable becomes
detached from its mounting clip, inflating to
protect the back.

20. Headliners
• It is multilayer construction:
– Decorative face fabric
– Soft touch PU foam
– Chopped glass mat
– Semi rigid PU foam (core material)
– Chopped glass mat
– Non-woven scrim fabric
All layers are hot pressed with thermo plastic
powder/film

21. Nonwoven Applications
• Bonnet: Bi-component yarn (nylon6 sheath with PET
cover) to reinforce acoustic insulation
• Air-filters: nonwoven with activated carbon and
antibacterial chemicals to remove malodours
• Carpets: less weight, low cost & recycling -
needle felt PP
• Surfaces such as window seals, dash board
components – PET & Nylon 66 flocked surfaces to
eliminate rattles & squeaks as well as
contributing to overall aesthetics.

22. CARPETS
• Carpets are classified according to their application and
location.
TYPES APPLICATION LOCATION
Type 1 Door trim, quarter trim Inner side surface of 2-door
car passenger compartment
Type 2 Trunk trim Rear trunk inside
Type 3 Floor Floor of passenger
compartment
Type 4 Cargo floor, High floor High floor surface of vans
Type 5 Rear shelf Shelf behind rear seat

23. Tyres
1. THE TYRE IS A COMPOSITE OF A RELATIVELY LOW
STRENGTH, HIGH ELONGATION RUBBER MATRIX & A HIGH
STRENGTH, LOW ELONGATION TYRE CORD.
2. THE TYRE CORD GIVES THE TYRE SHAPE, SIZE, STABILITY,
LOAD CARRYING CAPACITY, FATIGUE & BRUISE
RESISTANCE.
3. TYRE CORDS ALSO AFFECT IMPACT RESISTANCE,
RIDE, HANDLING, TREAD WEAR &
FUEL ECONOMY

24. Composite market of India
Current level of composites production is 3,05,000 Metric Tonnes
The per capita usage of Composites in India is 0.24 kg which offers
enormous potential for growth
Growth driving factors:
Automotive and Marine sectors are changing from conventional steel/metal
combination to advanced composites.
Off-Shore wind energy will bring new innovation in advanced composites
whereby a huge market will be made available.
Improvements made on the quality of raw materials, processes and on finished
products has increased customer confidence.

25. Carbon Fiber
 Carbon fiber is a long thin strand of carbon atoms that are bonded together in
a honeycomb crystal lattice called Graphene.
 Some of the Graphene layers are folded around each other in random
orientations but most are aligned parallel to the long axis of the strand.
 This makes the fiber incredibly strong along the axis of the strand. (highest
APF)
 The strands are usually wound into a yarn then woven into a fabric. (By
altering the weave pattern the fabric can be stronger in one direction or be
equally strong in all directions.)
 The fabric is then mixed with epoxy and molded to form the desired shape.
A 6 μm diameter carbon filament compared
to a human hair.
Fabric made of woven carbon
filaments

26.  Organic Polymers such as Polyacrylonitrile are spun or drawn into long
thin strands.
 Then the strands are heated to a temperature of 1,000-3,000° C for several
minutes in a furnace filled with a gas mixture that does not contain
oxygen.
 The strands are twisted together into a yarn, which are then woven into a
fabric.
 The fabric is then impregnated with an epoxy to form a composite.

27. Stress-Strain Curve for Fabric

28. FUTURE
The factors influencing future of automotive
textiles:
• Environment
• Cost
• Safety

29. THANK YOU