Research to Explore Different Failures and their Countermeasures in Automotive Seating Fabrics

In automotive seating system, seat upholstery quality has an important role in defining the overall quality and aesthetics of vehicle interiors. Technical textiles for seating system used in automotive applications are generally categorized into woven or knitted type. An automotive textile material is a composite material made up of three layers; base fabric (top layer), foam (middle layer) and scrim (bottom layer) as shown in Fig. 1. There are many challenges to be overcome during development of fabric e.g. mechanical, physical and aesthetic issues have an impact on overall seat quality, appearance and performance. These issues get highlighted during testing, which takes place during development stage of fabric. The concerns mentioned above are found in automotive textiles in both woven and knitted types of fabrics sourced from different manufacturing set-ups.

This paper focuses on identification of problems during testing, followed by root cause analysis. In technical textiles, design of the fabric, its structure and finishing plays a significant role in ascertaining overall property of the fabric, either enhancing or deteriorating it. In this paper, parameters affecting different properties were studied and evaluated. Major parameters considered are:

1. 1
   Construction of fabric
2. 2
   Material GSM
3. 3
   Density of lamination foam

Figure 1