Information on marine application textiles

1. Textiles in Marine Application
By
Vignesh Dhanabalan & K.V.Lokesh
vigneshdhanabalan@hotmail.com

2. Introduction
 Activity of marine and human have existed long
way back from the time before civilization and there
has been continuous up gradations till date.
Textiles used in the marine applications are
sailcloth, ropes, boat coverings, awnings, flags,
safety equipment including life jackets and
inflatable life rafts, Boat covers, Decorative trim,
exterior upholstery, flooring, headliners, Ropes,
Nets, Fabric, Coated Fabric & composites etc.
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3. Necessity of Textiles and Textile based
Composites in Marine application
Glass and carbon reinforcing fibers in an epoxy matrix are projected
to weigh 75% less than the traditional steel shafts and offers,
The advantages of Fiber composites are corrosion resistance, low
bearing loads, reduced magnetic signature, higher fatigue resistance,
greater flexibility, excellent vibration damping and improved life-cycle
cost.
Development of composite replace the heavy weight metal structures
and complicated designing involving large man power.
Fiber-reinforced composites often aim to improve the strength to
weight and stiffness to weight ratios.
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m

4. Fiber Properties Necessary for Marine
application
UV degradation
Abrasion resistance
flame resistance
soil resistance (Easy to clean)
Resistant to bacteria and microorganism
high tear & tensile strength
Softer handle and touch
Very high bursting strength (sails)
hydrophobicity
Sea (salt) water resistance
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5. Various Application of Textile in Marine Environment
 Glass reinforced polymers are well
established in the boat-building
industry, having been used since the late
1940's.
 Their characteristics of light weight and
high strength, design flexibility, and low
thermal conductivity are very
advantageous in this application.
 maintenance and repair costs are
reduced.
 The most important advantage is their excellent
resistance to the marine environment.
 Kevlar (DuPont) is also used in combination
with glass fiber.
 More preferred Fibers are(E-glass, C & S Glass,
Carbon, Kevlar), Resins (Epoxy, Polyester)
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Minesweepers Hull

6. Sails
 The first sails were made from woven
natural fiber fabric sewn together.
 Synthetic fabrics were used because of
their advantages of greater strength
and resistance to micro-organisms and
mildew, minimal water absorption and
less distortion.
 Kevlar and even carbon fibers are also sometimes used for high
strength with low weight.
The crucial requirements for sail cloth are:
Lightweight, dimensional stability
Puncture resistance, high tear, Burst, & seam strength,
Low porosity (i.e. good cover) and low water absorbency
Good resistance to microbes and UV degradation and smoothness
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7. Inflatable craft
 Inflatable craft have become widely
used since around 1960.
 They are used as pleasure craft, as
freight carrying vessels, rescue crafts
and life boats
 Good tear strength is important to prevent propagation of any damage.
 The skirt material (Nylon, Polyester, Aramid) fabric coated with a
Hypalon polyurethane, polychloroprene , natural rubber ,PVC or
combination blend compounded for water & oil resistance.
 Polyester‘s higher yarn modulus gives it more disadvantages than
nylon. It is usually more difficult to bond rubber coating.
 Aramid fibers may be used if cost allows as significant amount of
weight can be saved.
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8. Hovercraft skirts
 Hovercraft skirt are similar as the
Inflatable craft
 Nylon is the best overall fiber for this
application.
Wasp and Paddle
 Wasp is especially safe and easy to paddle
due the hull structure.
 To build Wasp with three layers of Kevlar
& fiberglass.
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 Making a ultra lightweight paddle with composite
materials.
 make a paddle with Fiberglass, carbon, foam, wood,
& epoxy.
 Fig shown is made with carbon fiber composite

9.  The sub marine is classified with different as
per the work end use they are.
1. Ballistic missile submarines,
2. Guided missile submarine,
3. Nuclear power attack submarine,
4. Diesel-electric attack submarine,
5. Non-nuclear submarine
6. Special mission submarines.
 All These all of submarine hull are made with
the fiber (Glass or Carbon) composite material
with different level of contribution as per the
require end use purpose
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Submarines
 To minimize the evolution of toxic fumes by careful selection of materials.

10. Yacht
 The yacht used in the America’s Cup
races shown in the fig.
 Aramid honeycomb sandwich
structure material were used for the
hull.
Marine Upholstery
 Cruise ships can be regarded as floating hotels‘
and, therefore, textile properties requirements
must be of contract standard.
 Furnishing, windows cover, bed sheets & spreads,
carpets are required some important property's
they are durable, FR, noise and vibration
damping, excellent fast to light, rubbing and salt
water , antistatic, etc.,.
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11. Twines and Fish Net
 Nylon is used in first generation .
 In the second generation mostly using HPPE yarns
because it have more property than first generation
fibers like lesser weight, less elongation, UV
resistant, seawater resistant, anti rot properties &
good life long etc..,,
Marine Rope
 There is a range of ropes optimized for the different uses in climbing
as per the end use purpose.
 mid-twentieth century with the introduction of
nylon ropes, followed by polyester. These ropes
were about half the weight of steel ropes for
about twice the diameter and the same strength.
 Ropes made from the second generation of
synthetic fibers-aramid, Vectran, high-modulus
polyethylene, and PBO, PBI -give diameters
similar to steel but in one-tenth its weight.
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12. Oil Booms
 The base fabric for life rafts & Jackets is
generally woven polyamide with butyl or
natural rubber, thermoplastic polyurethane
or polychloroprene coatings.
 The Life Rafts is 230-685 gsm & Life
jackets are 230-290gsm
 usually produced from woven nylon base
fabric of about 175GSM coated with
Hypalon, polychloroprene, PVC or
PVC/nitrile rubber are inflated to a fairly
low pressure.
 but they have to be oil resistant.
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Life Rafts & Life Jackets

13. Immersion Suit
 It will cover the whole body.
 Retro-reflective tape on head, chest & arms.
 Immersion suit are made of synthetic fiber or high
performance fibers and also treating with some
finishes like water repellent, flame retardant
finishes, etc..
 Marine canopies are mainly made with synthetic material base
polyester, nylon, and some other synthetic fibers.
 Base material are coated or laminated with PVC, PTFE, or PU coating
 These marine canopies also have the required specific function like UV
resistant, salt water resistant, etc
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Canopies

14.  Peel bond adhesion
 Clean ability after soiling
 Dye fastness to perspiration
 Dye fastness to crocking (both dry and wet)
 Dimensional stability
 Flammability
 Tear/tensile strength
 Sewing seam strength
 Bursting strength
 Stretch and set test.
 UV Degradation test
 Water repellent test
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The following tests are required for marine
textiles

15. Conclusion
Marine textiles materials are used for interior trim and for ensuring comfort
and providing relaxing atmospheres.
Textile materials have used in the form of composite for various utilities like
weight reduction, strength improvement, environmental friendly.
improvements and advances are assisted by the invention of novel processes
and more specialist materials, and composites.
Significant discoveries bringing tremendous benefits have been made with
the introduction of glass fiber, carbon, aramid and other specialist fibres
within the last 50 years.
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16. 1. Walter Fung and Mike Hardcastle, textile in automotive Engineering, Cambridge
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References
vigneshdhanabalan@ho
tmail.com

17. References
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Cambridge England, Woodhead Publishing Limited, 2005, pp:124-125, ISBN 10: 1-85573-
601-2.
12. <<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_submarine_classes_in_service>,viewed: 29 July
2014.
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ericgreeneassociates.com/images/History_of_Submarine_Composites.pdf>
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(Lsa) Code, The Maritime Safety Committee, Adopted on 4 june 1996.
19. Phase I Final Rule and Technical Development Document of Uniform National Discharge
Standards (UNDS), Sonar Dome Discharge: Nature of Discharge April 1999, sourced at
http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/lawsguidance/cwa/vessel/unds/upload/ 2007_ 07_
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vigneshdhanabalan@ho
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