Accelerated development and optimized design of technical textiles and nonwovens while reducing experimentation? The demand for techniques that can realize this is particularly high in areas such as the sports, medical and clothing industries. Our TexMath software tool enables efficient prediction of textile behavior under stretch, shear, bending, torsion or compression. The formation of folds under stretching and shrinkage of yarns or critical shear angles can also be simulated and optimized during the entire manufacturing process.

From high-performance textiles to compression and sportswear: The modular TexMath software program from the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM enables both the simulation of mechanical material properties and the optimization of textile products.

The TexMath simulation software ensures that process chains in production can be adapted to new materials in advance. Complicated patterns and layers can be mapped using the software and a direct connection to the textile machine can be made. The desired woven, knitted and warp-knitted products are precisely calculated with the software and their material properties simulated. In addition to the evaluation of a specific textile design using simulation, the tools also offer the optimization of performance characteristics for different design variants. The aim of the software is to realize the design according to product properties and target criteria.

One area of application for the TexMath software is the optimization of compression textiles for the medical sector or for sports. For optimum effectiveness, the accuracy of fit of the material is particularly important here. For example, TexMath can be used to simulate the knitting process to produce a bandage with predefined compression properties and thus design the optimum knitted fabric. This virtual bandage is then loaded in a further simulation and put on a virtual arm or leg. Thanks to TexMath, the calculated pressure profile makes it possible to evaluate the compression properties of the support in advance and to directly control the knitting machine according to the optimum design.

TexMath can also be used to design spacer textiles, such as those used for the upper material of sports shoes and for the production of high-performance textiles, and to optimize their structure and flow mechanics in advance. The newly developed input interface is particularly user-friendly. The textile class (i.e. knitted, warp-knitted, woven, braided and spacer fabrics) can be easily set. The new graphical interface allows quick and easy configuration.

TexMath consists of several components: MeshUp, FibreFEM and FIFST. Each of the components contained in TexMath has its specific area of application. In addition, the tools have interfaces with each other as well as connections to the GeoDict® software, which can be used to carry out fluid mechanical simulations on the textiles, for example. An interface with FeelMath enables further detailed three-dimensional mechanical simulations to be carried out on specific yarn or contact points, so that strength and service life can also be investigated.