Techtextil 2022

2022-06-23

Two VDMA sustainability awards of the German textile machinery industry 2022 presented to young engineers from ITM

The awarding of the 2022 promotional prizes of the Walter Reiners Foundation of the VDMA, Textile Machinery Association, to students and young engineers from German universities for outstanding achievements in their studies took place on 22 June 2022 during Techtextil 2022 in Frankfurt/Main. The nationwide promotional awards were presented by Mr. Peter D. Dornier, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Walter Reiners Foundation, at the VDMA exhibition stand. For the first time, the focus of the selection of the submitted works was on sustainability.

Ms. M. Sc. Marina Andrea Michel was honored with the sustainability award "Best Master Thesis of German Textile Mechanical Engineering 2022", endowed with 3,500 EUR, for her master thesis "Functionalization of yarns by means of cyclodextrins for the filtration of micro- and nanoplastics, transfer to woven fabrics", which she worked on at the Institute of Textile Machinery and High-Performance Textile Materials Technology at TU Dresden.

Unsere diesjährigen Preisträger:innen vom ITM: M. Sc. Marina Andrea Michel und Simon Hoebel zur Verleihung mit Peter D. Dornier (2.v.re.) und Prof. Dr. Chokri Cherif (li.) © ITM/TUD

The subject of the master's thesis was a process for the textile-chemical finishing of yarn and fabric materials made from renewable raw materials with cyclodextrins that bind micro- and nanoplastics (MNP). The basic findings here demonstrate the outstanding potential of fiber-based filters made from these materials to significantly and sustainably minimize MNP pollution, both from local drinking water sources to global water cycles. The master's thesis, prepared by Ms. Michel, involves for the first time the creative and highly innovative application of cyclodextrin molecules to bind minute plastic particles of different shapes and molecular compositions.

Mr. Simon Hoebel received the sustainability award "Best Research Paper of the German Textile Mechanical Engineering 2022", endowed with 3,000 EUR, for his excellent research paper "Further development of the test rig for the production of flexible highly drapable thermoplastic fiber tape structures from recycled carbon fibers and thermoplastic fibers for highly stressable thermoplastic composite components", completed at the ITM.

The objective of the award-winning research work was to further develop a test rig as well as application-related technological know-how for the development and production of unidirectional highly drapable thermoplastic fiber tape structures made of recycled carbon fibers (rCF) and thermoplastic fibers (TFS) for highly stressable thermoplastic CFRP components. As part of the research, Mr. Hoebel investigated the entire process for producing highly drapable thermoplastic fiber tape structures from carding, drawing, tape doubling and consolidation. Thermoplastic UD composites were fabricated from the developed rCF-TFS and their mechanical properties were characterized. The results of the study work show the great potential of this novel process chain and the high-performance and sustainable thermoplastic fiber tape structures based on it using rCF.