New textile developments

• We help businesses to design and develop new textile structures, functional fabrics and new materials with unique properties.
• We identify new materials and evaluate their potential to generate new applications in accordance with the company’s objectives.
• We design the final product and check its properties to make sure we meet the standards required by the company, with a user-focused approach.
• We study production parameters to guarantee improved productivity and viable industrialisation.

Concept and design

• Design and conceptualisation of functional fabrics, adapted to target consumers.
• Research into new fibres.
• Identification of new composites made from natural or synthetic raw materials.
• Hybridisation. Combination of fibres.
• Ergonomic products with a comprehensive approach.
• Fabrics for monitoring biosignals.
• Warming fabrics.
• Shape memory fabrics.
• Structures for IoT.
• 3D fabrics.
• Technological and production feasibility studies.
• Concept testing.

Prototyping and product improvement

• Combination of materials to achieve specific functionalities.
• Development of complex textile structures.
• Functional requirements (anatomical, pattern, etc.).
• Usability requirements (appearance, interphase, etc.).
• Dimensional and mechanical specifications (weight, thickness, flexibility, elasticity, etc.).
• Development of functional prototypes.
• Pre-series, series 0.
• Industrialisation assistance.

e-Textil and wearables

Also known as electronic textiles or smart textiles, more and more textile products incorporate built-in electronic components and control devices, which can be used for monitoring or stimulation while adapting to current technologies and user preferences.

• Design and validation of wearables.
• Technology applied to garments.
• Technological and production feasibility studies.
• Monitoring of variables for various areas of application (sport, health, home, transport, architecture, fashion, etc.).
• Sensor integration (temperature, breathing, pulse, movement, posture, etc.)
• Development of customised electronics and integration of printed electronics.
• Filtering and characterisation of signal from electronic devices.
• Hybridisation. Combination of fibres.

Laboratory tests and trials

• Textile innovation: process optimisation, fibre conditioning, threads and fabrics, photomicrography, microphotography of sections of fibres, and weaving element cleaning.
• Textile fibres: qualitative identification of fibres and blends of fibres, quantitative identification of fibres and blends of fibres, length of fibres, cotton maturity, and measuring fibre diameter.
• Fabrics: composition labelling, maintenance labelling, density, fabric thickness, mass per unit area (grammage), determination of fabrics’ dimensional variations, resistance to tears caused by sharp objects, elasticity, resistance to snagging, cover factor, determination of rigidity, coating adhesion, trial methods for assessing upholstery fabrics, etc
• Threads: Thread composition and characteristics, yarn count of a fabric’s thread, singling twist and reverse twist, regularity of linear mass, coefficient of friction, measurement of humidity, assessment of appearance, potential for textured threads to shrink, analysis of multifilament threads, strength and elongation at break, and elasticity.
• Finishing: Dye samples, preparation and dyeing processes, colourimetry with L*a*b* or L*C*H* coordinates, defect reproduction, preparation: cleaning.
• Industrial manufacturing: Behaviour of knitted fabrics when sewn and ironed, pattern studies and fabric optimisation, pre-shaped garment studies, seam strength and resistance to unravelled threads at the seams.

Management 4.0

We improve the efficiency of textile companies in their industrial processes in a sustainable, digital and smart way.

• Trials and machinery preparation services.
• Knowledge transfer for production launch.
• Electronics and sensors applicable to industrial environments.
• Production equipment connected to a network to automatically collect data.
• Middleware integration and advanced data analysis.
• Pre-series, series 0.
• Artificial intelligence and machine learning applied to production management.
• Adoption of and conversion to interoperable environments.
• Development of expert systems for predictive maintenance.
• Development of functional prototypes.
• Industrialisation assistance.

Circular economy and sustainability

Comprehensive water cycle

• Optimization and validation of technologies, chemical and physical treatments and biological water treatments
• Regeneration and recycling systems for wastewater. Advanced filtering, membranes.
• Sustainable water management and reduced consumption.

Energy efficiency

• Analysis of equipment efficiency and energy recovery.
• Analysis of the application of renewable technologies in the industrial energy mix.
• Monitored micro-network with management system, capacity studies for integrating power generation technology (photovoltaic and micro-wind), battery bank and programmed charging.

Industrial ecology and sustainability

Laboratory tests and trials

• Smart management systems, connected and efficient industry, production digitalisation.
• Platforms for management, monitoring, control and sensors.
• Solutions for digital security (cybersecurity) of equipment, facilities and devices.
• Production process quality control: machine vision, laser scanner, thermography, physico-chemical and microbiological analysis, image control.
• Virtual reality, augmented reality.
• Advanced solutions for task automation: autonomous robotics (aerial, ground and sea vehicles) and industrial robotics (robotic cells, tooling design, collaborative robotics, modelling and simulation).
• Modelling and simulation of products and processes.

Composite materials

A composite material is a material made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties that, when combined, produce a material with characteristics different from the individual components.

• Combinations with other materials, fabrics and hybrid fibres.
• Hybridisation to improve behaviours like elasticity and impact resistance.
• Complex knitted fabrics that minimise the bending of the fibre.
• Teixits reforçats qué, mitjançant l’orientació de les fibres, incorporen noves propietats.
• Disseny d’estructures tèxtils preformades.
• Disseny i caracterització de spacers i estructures tèxtils 3D.
• Teixits trenat i brodat per evitar el trencament de les fibres.

Appraisal and marketing of products and technology

Eurecat has developed new composite materials that incorporate fabrics specially designed to offer new properties.

• Collaboration in obtaining patents and licenses to use.
• Scouting and identification of textile products and technologies.
• Drafting of scientific texts for distribution on platforms and in leading magazines and journals.
• Creation and improvement of data sheets.