Centre for Material and Fibre Innovation
ITRI
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Fibres and textiles research areas: |
Fibres and textiles have very diverse applications. The number of applications has been increasing in recent years.
We have over 30 researchers in the Centre for Material and Fibre Innovation, who work on a range of fibre and textile related projects.
We are the leading group in research into electrospun nanofibres, particularly bi-component nanofibres. Nanofibre materials are used in areas such as advanced filtration, protective clothing, and biomedical applications.
(Source: T. Lin &, HX Wang and XG Wang, Advanced Materials, 17, 2699-2703 (2005))
Conducting polymer coated textiles are usually dark or black. Our research is focused on producing coloured conductive textiles.
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Coloured conductive textiles |
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Our focus in animal fibre research is on innovative processing and application of animal fibres, particularly Australian merino wool. For instance, in collaboration with Wuhan University of Science and Engineering and Beijing Institute of Clothing Technology, we have converted wool fibres into very fine powders and then used the fine powders to produce new hybrid fibres with enhanced properties. We are also exploring other application for animal fibre powders.
Photochromic textiles change colour when exposed to UV light and revert to their original colour in the absence of UV. We have developed a technique that imparts fabric with very quick photochromic response and good coloure fastness.
We can functionalise different substrates with a number of techniques, including plasma treatment.
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| (Untreated) | (Treated) |
We do extensive modelling of fibres, yarn spinning, and fabric appearance, using advanced numerical modelling and image processing techniques.
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| (An irregular wool fibre) | (Air drag in ring spinning) | (Fabric pilling) |
