AUTOMOTIVE TEXTILES- SEAT BELTS

B. K. BEHERA

Department of Textile Technology IIT Delhi

Problem of road accident

1.2 million people die every year from road crashes
By 2020 road accident will be 3rd most important health problem worldwide next to heart disease and depression Head injuries in crashes cause more than 50% death Occupant restraints such as air bag & seat belt are most effective in preventing death/injury

Automotive textiles
Break up of textiles in a modern car (%)
Carpet & mat Upholstery Pre-assembled Interior components Tyre Safety belts Air bag Others : : : : : : : 33.3 18.0 14.0 12.8 8.8 3.7 9.4

Seat belts
An energy absorbing device Fundamentally it is desired to delivered non-recoverable extension to reduce the deceleration force by which the body encounters in a crash

Role of seat belts

Prevent ejection from the vehicle in an impact

Role of seat belts

Reduce the risk of contact with the interior of the vehicle or reducing the speed of such impacts

Need for seat belt

Prevent ejection from moving car Stop people going through wing shield Minimise injuries due to impact with vehicles hard interior Ensure better control of car Hold people in position for protection due to air bag

Invention
USA-A strap to support the waist line Sweden-To support occupant body diagonally

Present belt- Combination of both

Types of seat belts

Lap Sash Lap and Sash Three point Criss-cross Harness

Lap
Adjustable strap that goes over the waist Used frequently in older cars, now uncommon except in some rear middle seats Passenger aircraft seats also use lap seat belts

Sash
Adjustable strap that goes over the shoulder Used mainly in the 1960s, but of limited benefit because it is very easy to slip out of in a collision

Lap and Sash

Combination of the two separate belts Mainly used in the 1960s and 1970s.

Criss-cross
Experimental safety belt presented in the Volvo SCC It forms a cross-brace across the chest

Three-point
One single continuous length of webbing Help spread out the energy of the moving body in a collision with the chest, pelvis & shoulders

Harness
Four-point harnesses Five-point harnesses Six-point harnesses

Four point harnesses

Five-point harnesses
The lap portion is connected to a belt between the legs and there are two shoulder belts, making a total of five points of attachment to the seat

Typically found in child safety seats and in racing car

Six-point harnesses
Similar to a five-point harness but includes an extra belt between the legs, which is seen by some to be a weaker point than the other parts

These belts are used mainly in racing

Applications
Use of seat belts by child occupant Use of seat belt by expecting mother Seat belts are also used in car, buses, racing car, aircrafts and helicopters

Innovation of seat belts

Seat belt cushion

seat belt with mobile compartment

Innovation of seat belts

Seat belt pads

sheepskin cover

Innovation of seat belts

Full body seat belt seat harness

belt with pillow

Safety seat belt: Engineering aspects

Key components

Push button mechanism

Key components

Seat belt mounting

Seat belt extension

Seat belt extender

Basic mechanism of seat belt

1. Retractor

Basic mechanism of seat belt

2. Locking mechanism

Basic mechanism of seat belt

3. Pretensioner

Basic mechanism of seat belt

4. Load limiters

Seat belt: Textile aspects

Seat belt manufacturing

Manufacturing process
Feeding of HTPY on creel weaving dyeing

stretching
setting quality checking winding and packing

Seat belt manufacturing

Selection of machine Selection of raw material Selection of construction details Post weaving process

Major machineries for the manufacture of seat belt webbings are

High speed automatic needle looms Warp yarn tension control device Tape collection machine Cone Creel of 600 ends Continuous Dying machine Steam Boiler Compressor Effluent Treatment plant Packing machine Test lab equipments for assessing breaking strength, color fastness, grip fastness etc.

Needle looms
Commercial loom consists of 6-8 weaving locations Needle inserts weft from one side of warp sheet & a firm band selvedge is formed Other side of webbing is held by an auxiliary needle which manipulates a binder and 10 cm thread. These are combine to give a run proof selvedge Speed as high as 1000 picks/ min.

Seat belt weaving

To catch cord yarn, a binder thread and a locking thread are knit at one edge portion Of webbing

Pick needle insertion in shed

Selvedge formation with catch cord yarns

High speed automatic needle loom

High speed automatic needle loom

High speed automatic needle loom

High speed automatic needle loom

High speed automatic needle loom

High speed automatic needle loom

Raw material
First seat belts were made from nylon
They are now almost exclusively made from

polyester
Spun-dyed yarns are used but other colours are

produced by pad thermosol dyeing using selected dyes

PET is preferred

PET has superior resistance to UV degradation Low extensibility Higher stiffness

Fabric
Design criteria
To allow maximum yarn packing within a given area for maximum length & good abrasion resistance Thicker yarn which provide even & better abrasion resistance Seat belts should be soft & flexible in length direction and rigid in width direction

To facilitate easy sliding through buckles retract smoothly to housing

Fabric
Narrow fabric of multiple layer woven twill or sometimes satin weave Loom state fabric width is about 5 cm
Fabric is about 50 gm per linear metre Bound selvedge
continued

Fabric construction

Typically 320 ends of 1100 dtex or 260 ends of 1670 dtex high-tenacity continuous filament polyester yarn with 550 dtex weft

Some typical specifications

Material: PA/PET Body warp yarn: 1260 D/108(fil.) Selvedge warp yarn: 250 D / 24 (fil.) Weft yarn: 500D/48(fil.) Binder thread: 100 D/18(fil.)

Locking thread: 250 D/24(fil.)

Dyeing root
Spun dyed
High light & rubbing fastness Piece dyed To provide more colour co-ordinated interiors

Dye
Pad thermosol dyeing is used

Resistance to light, wet crocking and perspiration fastness

Fabric finishing

Shrinkage induced in length direction to improve the energy absorption property, so that finished fabric weight is changed to 60 gm/m from 50 gm/m

Different Routes for Finishing of Seat belt

Yarn Spun-Dyed With carbon Black White Yarn Weaving

Weaving
Finishing Seat belts

Dyeing (piece dyeing)

Finishing

Heat setting
Material run through an Infra-Red dryer To impart precise extension

To suppress its recovery in the event of crash

Heat setting
Mechanism: By shrinking the webbing in a
controlled manner which increases the weight

of webbing from 50 gm/m to approx. 60 gm/m

Coating

Some seat belts are lightly coated to improve

Cleanablity Durability Ease of passage Impart anti static

Belting fabric properties

A woven fabric
Relatively stiff in filling direction and flexible in warp direction

Because weft yarn used stiffer

Filling yarn twistless multifilament polyester yarn Filling yarn resin bonded multifilament yarn
continued

Performance Tests And Standards for seat belt webbings

Mechanical performance of the webbing as per BSI and the SAE. Width Thickness Breaking strength and elongation for dry and wet webbing Abrasion resistance at various environmental conditions and in contact with buckles and fittings Influence of extreme environmental conditions and temperatures Rubbing fastness Microbial resistance

Quality standard
@BS 3254; 1960 Requires a belt to restrain a passenger weighing 90.7 kg involved in a collision at 50 km/h into an immovable object @BS 3254 Part 1 1988 Restraining devices for adults Minimum belt widths 4.6 cm minimum for the waist strap and 3.5 cm minimum for the shoulder strap
continued

Quality standard
@ BS 3254 Part 2 1991
Restraining devices for children Minimum belt widths for children depending on their weight, 2.5 cm for the smallest (9 to 18 kg) and 3.8 cm for larger children (18 to 36 kg)

Breaking strength
BS 2576; 1986 Breaking strength and elongation-strip method for woven textiles Minimum breaking forces for adults are 13.3 kN for the waist strap and 10 kN for the shoulder Minimum of a straight pull tensile strength test result of at least 30kN/5cm

Properties Requirement
46 cm wide Static load bearing capacity up to 1500 kg Extensibility up to 25-30% Strength and good abrasion resistance Light weight Soft and flexible for use Properties in warp direction more critical The edges must be scuff resistant Heat and light resistance Some antistatic nature

Selvedge requirement
Bound Smooth, no protruding thread Abrasion resistance Soft & comfortable to wear

Neat selvedge

Seat belt vs Air bag

Both are occupant safety resistant device Seats belts are easy to use, inexpensive means of protection effective,

Air bag provide additional safety but not an alternative to seat belt

continued

Seat belt vs Air bag

Seat belt & Air bag coexist to provide absolute safety

Air bag provide protection against headon collision while seat belt provide protection irrespective of live of crash

Quantity

14 m length per car, of 800 gm weight

Defect in seat belts

1. Fraying

Defect in seat belts

2. UV damage

Market
Global market for seat belt
Domestic market for seat belt

Domestic Market of Webbings for Seat belt

Domestic Market for seat belt

According to Non-woven industry report, of the Rs 30,000 crore technical textiles Indian market projected for 2007-08, around 6% is generated from the sale of automotive textiles. Nearly 75% of automotive textiles are used for tire cord fabric and seat belts. The market of seat belt webbings accounts for 10% of the market of automotive seat belts in value terms. The demand for seat belt webbings and other rigid webbings is expected to grow at 10% per annum

Global Market for seat belt

According to a Market Research firm, the
market for all types of narrow fabrics is

estimated at US $ 2.4 billion in 2005. This is

projected to grow at about 3.6% per annum

during 2005 to 2010

Domestic Market of Webbings for Seat belt

Particulars

2003-04 1.3 2,600 260

2007-08 1.8 3,700 370

(%) 8 10 10

Four Wheelers in India (Million)

Seat Belts (INR Million)

Seat belts webbings (INR Million)

The major machinery suppliers to manufacture seat belt webbings

Jacob Muller AG, Germany

Mageba Textilmaschinen GmbH, Germany Kyang Yhe Delicate Machine Co. Ltd., Taiwan Comez Spa, Italy Metag, Italy

Staubly

Major global manufacturers of seat belts and webbings

Autoliv, Sweden Key Safety Systems, USA TRW, Germany Delphi Corporation, USA Webbing and Trimmings, Australia Ribbons Limited, UK Takata, Japan Tokai Rika, Japan Furniweb Industrial Products Berhad (FIPB), Malaysia

The major users of seat belt webbings in India are the seat belt and webbings manufacturers

IFB Autolive, Bangalore

Abhishek Auto Industries, Gurgaon TRW Rane, Chennai Shivam Narrow Fabrics, Mumbai

Recent developments in seat belt

Smart Belt The smart belt can adapt its restraining force and hence the load on the occupant to the crash severity

Trunk belt for fragile goods

webbing

Recent developments in seat belt

Use of pebble weave
2-up 2-down configuration Superior aesthetics Less abrasion resistance Used in replacement seat belt because standards are less demanding

Recent developments in seat belt

Inflatable belts
A folded envelop of 3 is covered by 2 face fabric warp knitted structure yarn 3000 denier An amalgamation of air bag and the seat belt The belt is held by weak stitches that merit open when the belt is inflated Under impact the belt give about 450% more surface area Could be fitted in rear seat

Recent developments in seat belt

Developments in material
Honeywell Performance Fibers of Colonial Heights, Va., developed the fiber, called Securus, combines PET with polycaprolactone or PCL, an amorphous, rubbery polymer that gives it a bit of stretch, to absorb some of the crash energy

Conclusion
Seat belts the most important safety device in cars and trucks
About 14 meters of seat belt, weighing about 800-1000 gms. are used in an vehicle Belt strength considerably drops after two years. Therefore it is must to change belt after every two years