Business

India: Metallisation technology is finding a good market in the country now, as the trend is towards performance wear

Flexsil™ is a unique technology that entails bonding between atoms of nylon and silver, to impart effective, and controlled functional properties to a fibre, yarn, or fabric. Developed, perfected and commercialised by two brothers - Satish N Chandra and N. S. Prasad directors of Ag Flex Technologies, Flexsil now offers not just the raw material, but also functional apparel. The company is currently developing wound care applications for a global leader in wound care dressings. Excerpts of an interview with Textile Excellence.Can you elaborate on Flexsil's unique anti-bacterial treatment? How does the treatment work?

Flexsil™ is not a treatment technology. Our metallisation technology entails permanent chemical bonding between the substrate (nylon) with silver. The various atoms of nylon get bonded with silver via a process called coordination bonding. The metalised nylon can be in form of filament yarn, staple, chopped fibre, fabrics or foam. The silver on the surface of the substrate is of highest purity (99.99%+). The action of this technology is very unique as under normal conditions it is dormant. When silver metal on substrate comes in contact with bacteria/fungi positive ions of silver are released. The ions first lyse the cell wall, then goes after the respiratory segment of bacteria and finally binds with DNA thereby completely killing the pathogenic bacteria. As binding with DNA occurs there is virtually no chance of resistance being built up against silver by bacteria.

Flexsil also controls odour by adsorbing and deactivating odour causing agents such as dead bacteria, dead skin of humans, offensive decomposition of organic materials, etc.

Flexsil also helps in moving of heat from one direction to other of wearer keeping them comfortable based on weather conditions. It helps in moisture movement. Flexsil controls static generation based on application. It is also excellent in radiation control and is used extensively for electromagnetic interference shielding applications as well.

How did you develop this product and technology?

This was done together with my brother N S Prasad. We had experience in silver as part of masters programme thesis in USA and additionally being involved in silver in one form or other. With this knowledge we invested 3 - 4 years for approximately 12 - 14 hours a day to come up with this technology and optimise it.

Some leading MNCs have developed silver-based anti-bacterial treatments for textiles. How is that different from Flexsil?

Most of those processes incorporate some kind of silver into a polymer. Finished goods are then to be dipped into this liquid media.

Our technology is different as we metalise the base substrate which can be then woven, knit, carded, spun into any construction. So the products need no special treatment/dip to be used. Our products can be highly conductive, other silver based treatments can never be conductive. Their technology can be used as basic anti-bacterial application for limited use. Flexsil goes way beyond anti-bacterial and is truly a platform technology.

Which are the other companies that offer such technology?

There is one in Europe called Statex, one I hear is in Korea and another called Noble in USA. While their basic products look similar, these products are not based on specific applications.

How many products do you have under the Flexsil banner?

We offer Flexsil as both raw material and finished goods so the list is fairly long. For example as raw materials we offer filament yarn, staple, spun yarn, twisted yarn, chopped fibre, fabrics and foam.

As finished goods we offer socks, base layer, shirts, shorts, EMI shielding briefs for pregnant ladies, radiation protection camisoles, washing machine Tucky, home goods products such as sheets, mattress ticking, wound care products and also unique spray technology called Actimist™

Our recent foray has been into smart wearable textiles for monitoring heart function, pulmonary functions. For these kinds of works, our products are very well received in Japan.

One of the largest car manufacturers in the world is running trials for their EV car platform. So far, all tests have come on very well and we hope the product will be launched in 2-3 years' time. This will be for sensors, EMI shielding, anti-microbial application and for anti-static application.

How big is the Indian market for such innovative applications?

When we started work on this technology the market was not mature enough to accept such products. This was due to general misconception that silver is expensive hence goods made of silver must be expensive. Initially we tried to sell our technology as raw material and due to expected higher price of this there was apprehension. Now that we are selling finished goods, for example a pair of therapy socks for MRP 299, the response has been tremendous. These products now can be found of Flipkart, Snapdeal, etc.

Is India or the export market your focus?

We started as export market but now we are focusing heavily into domestic market as well.

Can you tell us something about your product for the wound care industry?

We are working with one of the largest companies in the world for wound care dressing application. They have loved the technology and this is one of the rare occasions where they have used technology which is not theirs as the active ingredient. This is testimony of the vibrancy of our technology. This product is due to be released this year.

As we are very versatile in our product range, we have come up with unique technology where we have optimised the release of silver ion based on application. For example, if there is a need for high amount of initial ion release and subsequently steady release we are easily the only silver technology in the world that can do this. Our technology is safe and proven to be safe. It is also very effective and since we can optimise the product based on application we are also very cost effective.