Turkish reinforcement fabrics specialist Metyx (Istanbul; www.metyx.com) has agreed to a deal with long-time partner Karl Mayer Textilmaschinenfabrik (Obertshausen / Germany; www.karlmayer.com) for the supply of additional warp knitting production lines to meet rising demand for composites in the wind energy sector.

The new lines will provide 12,000 t/y of extra glass and carbon fibre multi-axial fabric knitting capacity that Metyx will install at its main factory in Manisa / Turkey, and at other overseas facilities. The company also has a plant in Hungary, where it recently completed an expansion – see Plasteurope.com of 09.06.2017.

Metyx said the wind energy industry is a key strategic market for the group, which has made major investments in recent years in production facilities for technical textiles and composites-related products. The company bought land adjacent to the Manisa plant in 2016 to provide more space to increase production as well as to add warehousing and further expand its composite toolmaking facilities and knitting capacity.

"The recent growth of our technical fabrics division and the successful qualification programmes with key OEM customers globally producing composite wind generator blades has given us the confidence to place this multi-machinery order with Karl Mayer,” said Ugur Üstünel, managing partner of Metyx Composites.

The company said it has responded rapidly to the Turkish wind industry’s significant growth in the Aegean region since 2011, from both wind blade manufacturers as well as other composites sectors in Turkey.