Also known as technical coated textiles or rubber proofed fabrics, coated textiles grant rubber characteristics to a wide variety of fabrics and materials. We produce these materials specifically for a range of industries from marine and aviation to defence. However, the superior safety properties that coated textiles provide enable you to use them in a variety of applications.

Coated textiles are typically manufactured using either the spread coating or calender coating process.

Also known as knife coating, the spread coating process utilises a precision knife over air and knife over roller technique. The fabric is suspended under tension below the blade, which enables us to easily change the thickness of the coating. This enables us to apply solvent based polymer coatings directly onto the fabric from a variety of weights on a single side or two sides of the material.

Once the solvent has fully evaporated it leaves behind a layer of polymer on the fabric. This is then cured in extreme temperatures in specially crafted ovens to vulcanise the coating and fix its final characteristics. In order to achieve the best results, the weave structure of the fabric must be tight and capable of being held taught.

Calender coating utilises a different set of tools to achieve similar results. The process involves passing fabric through a set of heated rollers. These heated rollers serve an important purpose as they singe off any surface fibres which gives the fabric a superior smoothness.

The rubber coating is applied simultaneously as the fabric passes between the rollers. This reduces production time as it enables us to coat both sides at the same time. The thickness of the coating can be changed by adjusting the width of the nip between the rollers.