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1 - Early background and history of geotextiles
Book chapter

1 - Early background and history of geotextiles

R.M. Koerner
Geotextiles, pp 3-15
2016
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100221-6.00001-2

Abstract

Background Fabrics Geotextiles History
This opening chapter of the book traces the origin of polymeric geotextiles from their beginnings until 1977, which was the year of the first international conference on the emerging topic held in Paris, France. After that time, geotextiles rapidly became available worldwide and the formative period was essentially concluded. Furthermore, from that year onward, books, journals, courses, magazines, societies, institutes, and many more conferences followed in rapid succession and continue to the present. The very earliest time frame (1950s and 1960s) described in this chapter first saw the use of woven fabrics in coastal and hydraulic engineering in The Netherlands, Germany, and the United States. This was followed by the emerging use of nonwoven fabrics in several European countries (in the early 1970s), which somewhat contrasted with the further use of woven fabrics in the United States. Some other countries were also involved, and they will be noted accordingly. A major point to be made throughout these very beginning years was that besides some smaller textile companies (TenCate/Nicolon, Huesker, and Carthage-Mills), many large chemical companies (most notably ICI, Rhone-Poulenc, Chemie Linz, and Enka/AKZO in Europe and DuPont, Phillips, Amoco, and Celanese in the United States) were the “drivers” of early technology. Their sales, marketing, and technical personnel initiated many field applications. They also performed in-house research and even funded limited external research. This, in turn, spurred several faculty and consulting engineers to further explain the details and nuances of the applications being developed.

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