The International Conference on Performance Wear and Functional Textiles presented the Technical Textiles Accomplishment Award to Professor Seshadri Ramkumar of Texas Tech University.
Ramkumar supervises the Nonwovens and Advanced Materials Laboratory at the Institute of Environmental and Human Health at Texas Tech. He has also been playing a vital role for the promotion, growth and international linkages in technical textiles in India.
He was selected for the award at the conference held in Coimbatore for his research in non-woven textiles and the promotion of technical textiles, a growing sector within the textile field.
Non-woven technology involves no weaving or spinning. The raw material on one end of the machine and the fabric comes out of the other. Non-woven fabric is made by putting together small fibers in a sheet or a web and then binding them together, either mechanically with an adhesive or using heat.
Non-weaving machines are 2,000 times faster than weaving machines and these fibers are used for disposable products like filters, and medical garments among others.
Non-woven technology has environmental merits, too. "We experimented with bio-degradable produce as well as coir, cotton and jute and this technology is flexible to natural fibers too," he said.
Ramkumar aims to promote the non-woven textile industry in India. Since 2004 he has been making efforts to grow the non-woven and technical textile industry base in India.
He said the textiles industry in India is second only to agriculture in economic importance, given that it employs 35 million people. India imports 60 percent of the non-woven material it needs from countries like Taiwan, Korea, China and the US.
But he noted that India has taken aggressive steps to produce more of it. It has created a national mission for it and has allocated $170 million to the industry. Already, Ramkumar said, India has initiated steps to establish four centers of excellence: medical textiles, geotextiles, agrotextiles and protective textiles. This offers a business opportunity for US and European textile industries to expand into -- and seek new markets.
"The value added textiles sector is a highly profitable one. But only a few companies are in the field in India. What we need is collaboration with foreign countries,' he said.
He is organising a trade delegation from the US to India soon for this. "Now the industry is looking to the Indian market after the opening of the economy," he said.
In a recent study, Ramkumar and another researcher, Appachi Arunachalam, predicted a yearly growth of 13.3 percent for India's non-woven and technical textile industry, which is more than twice the annual 5 to 6 percent expected growth patterns in the United States and Europe.
The report titled India Rising: Opportunities in Nonwovens and Technical Textiles, show the growth and potential of India's technical textile industry and the consumption of nonwoven technical textiles from 2007-2050. That report was published in Nonwovens Industry and Textile World Asia.
"In this era of globalisation, such a study will be useful for the US textile industries to seek joint ventures and collaboration with the emerging market," Ramkumar said. "By 2035, the growth rate of the nonwoven and technical textile industry will be exponential. However, with the new government initiatives in India, the growth rate will be even faster."
Ramkumar was honored last year with the Top Twenty Under 40 Award for his achievements in inventing a non-woven military wipe by the Young Professionals of Greater Lubbock.
The non-woven military wipe can be used to protect and clean soldiers and military aircraft that have been contaminated with lethal chemicals. The wipe technology, developed at Texas Tech, has been proved to be one of the best dry wipe technologies available.
He also serves as the co-chairman of the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry's India committee. The textiles sector in India will be more important in the future and innovations in this field are vital, he said. Currently the sector involves $55 billion; by 2020, it will grow up to $115 billion.
"My immediate mission is to promote the growth of the technical textile industry in India which will be worth 15 billion dollars by 2012. I plan to do this by bringing many international players to India and establish collaborations with institutes and organisations," he said.
He is the founding chairman of the editorial board and editor of technical section of Asia's first comprehensive non-woven and technical textiles magazine, Nonwoven & Technical Textiles, published in India.
Ramkumar, who has a PhD from Leeds University in Britain, joined Texas Tech in 1998.
Image: Seshadri Ramkumar
