Innovations from Chemnitz conquer the world

Dr Heike Illing-Günther

The work of the Saxon Textile Research Institute has nothing to do with the traditional textile industry. Textiles are no longer just clothing. Although they have to offer protection against environmental influences such as rain or cold, they are also characterised by lightness combined with functionality and are resilient, heat or corrosion resistant. Industries such as automotive engineering, aviation, construction and medical technology rely on the expertise and experience of STFI's almost 200 employees. Dr Heike Illing-Günther, Managing Director, explains in an interview on the 30th anniversary of the Saxon Textile Research Institute how market-ready innovations from Chemnitz are conquering the world.

You get the feeling that the people of Chemnitz associate something with the name STFI, but have little to do with the work in the halls? Why is that?
Dr Heike Illing-Günther: For one thing, the name has changed. When you bring up the term FIFT, i.e. Forschungsinstitut für Textiltechnologie GmbH, many people in Chemnitz remember it. It was the reference research institute for the GDR clothing industry, founded in 1957, before the reunification of Germany with 500 employees. That was a big thing back then and left its mark. It always amazes me, but the fact is that people have internalised the original abbreviation FIFT and can hardly relate to our name per se - despite 30 years of successful development of the newly founded STFI in 1992. We notice this time and again during the Days of Industrial Culture when we open our halls to the public. The response is great, as is the amazement that the successor institute to FIFT still exists and about all the things we do in the meantime.
Another reason why people have little to do with our work is that it is difficult to grasp and has nothing to do with the everyday, obvious handling of textiles. Textile development today no longer deals with jeans, T-shirts or blazers, but exclusively with functional textiles, with technical textiles. And who talks about a cut-resistant lorry tarpaulin? Nobody associates it with textiles either. Or carbon concrete - a steel-free construction and composite material. Nobody recognises that as a textile either.

The STFI was founded on 17 February 1992. FIFT and the Institute for Technical Textiles (ITT) in Dresden joined forces. 24 companies and organisations from the textile industry in Saxony and Chemnitz were involved. Since then, research and testing has been carried out in the fields of technical textiles, nonwovens, lightweight textile construction, recycling, functionalisation and digitalisation. The non-profit institute attracted attention through its collaboration with the International Automobile Federation (FIA), which organises the Formula 1 World Championship. The racing drivers' clothing was tested in Chemnitz.

Is the project with Formula 1 a figurehead?
We tested and approved the shoes of all F1 world champions for the FIA by the end of 2019, for example, for the globally renowned sporting goods companies based in Germany. Of course, the limited market share of this segment alone does not justify the establishment of a globally accredited laboratory for heat and flame protection, which is why this business area was always just the cherry on top of our expertise in the field of textile protection.
When changes in the FIA's views and wishes increased the additional costs of FIA accreditation many times over, we decided against further extension. Obviously a decision that was also followed by other of the only ten authorised laboratories in the world.

How do you get your orders?
We carry out textile research for industry. In other words, companies can approach us with an idea and we work with them to see what is possible.

Can you give an example to illustrate this?
Take Hillcon GmbH from Sebnitz, for example. It successfully produces cleaning textiles such as mops. These are normally made from primary material, i.e. as good as new. The idea was whether it would be possible to produce the mop covers, absorbent cores and outer layers from recycled material? Then we sat down together and thought about it: What do we need, what is available on the market, what could waste disposal companies provide, what are the requirements and where should the cleaning textile be used? How can we finance the research together, what funding can we apply for?
This is how co-operations are formed. After successful research, there is ideally a sample product to demonstrate the function and verify the target properties. The company then has to transform this prototype into an industrially viable and marketable product.

The institute's work consists of three areas: The employees conduct public research - supported by funding - and publish their results. They carry out research and development on behalf of companies. And they test and/or certify textiles, such as suits for racing drivers, protective clothing for foundry workers or FFP2 masks. "We produced the raw materials for the FFP2 masks here over a period of five months, sometimes in a two-shift system," explains Heike Illing-Günther. "Textile companies from the region called us and asked for the filter layer for masks. The speed with which the entire region was able to ramp up emergency production for face masks and respirators was impressive and shows the extreme flexibility and adaptability of the textile industry that remains in the region." Unfortunately, research very often benefits from crises and disasters, such as floods, storms or even the last pandemic, she says.

Technical textiles and textiles with special functions are now increasingly being used in many industries. You have been working on a textile noise barrier on the Sachsenring motorway. Has anything come of it?
It would have been technologically feasible. But it still hasn't been built. It's an exciting topic and sustainable: attractive noise barriers that are lush with plants, for example. The finer the leaves on the plant, the better it absorbs sound and filters out dust. And by the way, it also consumes CO2, produces oxygen, humidifies the air and thus cools the city centre climate in summer. Unfortunately, stable greenery only works in spring, summer and autumn in our latitudes. It is more difficult in winter because it is difficult to water the plants evenly during periods of frost or even permafrost. Plants then grow poorly. We are limited here. We would have to come up with a combined system to at least achieve a sound-absorbing surface design in winter, for example.

Which project in the institute's recent history are you particularly proud of?
We definitely have to mention subsoil irrigation. There are arid regions in the world where nothing works without irrigation. The United Arab Emirates were predestined for demonstrator applications: Desert where nothing grows and the dream of green cities. If you visit Dubai, Abu Dhabi and the like today, you can immediately see what it's all about. But they have a much bigger goal: to be able to cultivate food themselves at some point. So far, around ten per cent of them have already achieved this. To increase this, textiles can and will play a major role in storing and distributing water or providing shade.
The idea behind this invention was not to bring water to the surface through drip hoses, but to work with underground mat-shaped irrigation textiles to prevent evaporation. The advantage: the water is distributed evenly in the space close to the roots and there is no loss through evaporation. We received the Techtextil Innovation Award for this in 2007. This research resulted in a market-ready innovation. It resulted in products that are now marketed worldwide by a medium-sized group of companies - with marvellous reference projects now also in Europe, such as the Hafencity in Hamburg.

How is Germany positioned in terms of textile research?
We have 16 textile research institutes spread throughout Germany, although they are actually somewhat concentrated in the textile regions, such as in Saxony-Thuringia, or in North Rhine-Westphalia, Aachen and Wuppertal, or near Stuttgart. This is an excellent network, which we know perfectly and therefore also use ourselves or are happy to advise the small and medium-sized textile industry and, if necessary, pass them on to the perfect partners.

Do you have a unique selling point among the 16 textile research institutes?
Yes, it is definitely the nonwovens and their very different manufacturing technologies. On the one hand, this is something we were born with and, of course, have consistently expanded and perfected over the last 30 years. Originally, technical textiles, of which nonwovens are one representative, were the niche assigned to us when we were founded in 1992. Today, we are the only institute in Europe that combines all nonwoven forming and bonding technologies under one roof and makes them available to the industry for development. We are very proud of this.

The Centre for Sustainability at the STFI site is due to be completed in August. The new building complex on Annaberger Strasse will then house other areas of textile recycling and testing. "The big challenge in the future will be to find products that can be kept in the production cycle using different recycling methods. Technologically, almost anything will be possible. But we need marketable, functional products - as we know them today - and the willingness of people to use these products in the same way," explains Illing-Günther, citing a "crazy example" of a lack of sustainability. "Nonwovens that are laid under the ground to stabilise slopes or that are laid under the concrete layer on motorways to prevent cracks in the base layer. This material is still made exclusively from primary material and is therefore always pristine white. Why can't such a nonwoven be made of recycled material and be grey?"

Is there an answer to that?
(laughs). Not a satisfactory one. It's always been like that. The flawless quality of the product is also desired here, especially as it has to be certified for use, i.e. it has to undergo and pass various tests before it can be used. There needs to be a rethink in many areas and, of course, research and development must ensure the equivalence of recycled materials. As already mentioned, much is possible in terms of technology. The car industry is a good example. Every car manufacturer is obliged to use a certain percentage of recycled material in their cars. But nobody advertises this. This is because recycled products sell less well and are inherently associated with lower quality by the consumer.

Do you see the STFI as a scientific beacon in the city?
As an application-orientated research and development beacon for sure, not as a purely scientific one. This is a discussion that we are always happy to enter into. There are two lighthouse universities of excellence in Germany that still offer textile training. These are Dresden and Aachen, and Chemnitz University of Technology has once again succeeded in anchoring textile training in the technical sense. Then there are countless universities of applied sciences that offer a good education, combined with basic research and knowledge transfer. We see ourselves as an industry-driven, application-orientated developer. No company asks us why something works. They want it to work and they want it to be proven - sometimes even accredited, sometimes even certified.

What visions do you have for the STFI in 2025?
That's only three years. Our plans cover the next 30 years (laughs). By 2025, our organisation will have further strengthened its base, i.e. we will have further expanded our core competencies. In terms of the shift in focus, sustainability will be an even bigger issue than it is today - regardless of whether we are looking at energy-efficient production technologies, natural materials or biodegradable products.