TTRI & Dow's new elastic & comfortable XLA fiber upgrade
18 Oct '06
1 min read
Taiwan Textile Research Institute (TTRI) and Dow Chemical Co. have declared that many textile applications are in the pipeline which will use Dow's XLA fiber emphasizing on elasticity and comfort.
The fiber which is neither a Spandex nor a polyester as claimed by Dow, uses polyethylene (PE) as its ingredient. This fiber has many benefits like low cost, light weight, higher elasticity and resistance to chlorine. This fiber can be used in suits and pants to swimwear and are very stretchable.
Thomas Huang, TTRI chairman said that the efforts of Dow, TTRI had paid dividend. Dow had given fiber while TTRI provided technical support to upgrade the fiber. Other components are used to make fiber less susceptible in knitting, weaving and dyeing processes.
TTRI is looking to handover the technology to downstream producers and then market it in the rest of the world. The fiber will be directly pitted against Spandex's Lycra which was developed by DuPont. Lycra is the leader in elastic fiber market for decades.
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