Home / News / Herty & NWI sign agreement to develop speciality fibres

Herty & NWI sign agreement to develop speciality fibres

24 Dec '14

2 min read

The Georgia Southern University’s Herty advanced materials development center (Herty) and the Nonwovens Institute at North Carolina State University (NWI), have entered into an agreement for the launch of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), to the accelerate the development of novel specialty fibres including islands-in-the-sea (INS) and other advanced bi-component fibres.

The CRADA brings together two world-class research organizations to overcome the technical challenges in commercializing specialty fibres. Specific technical areas that will be addressed according to the agreement include the continuous spinning of specialty fibres, the chemical and mechanical processes needed to economically utilize INS fibres in both fibre and fabric forms, and rapid prototyping of novel product concepts, such as high performance filtration media and medical fabrics, Herty said in a statement.

The agreement leverages the unique strengths and capabilities of two leading organizations in an effort to scale up basic research in fibre technology. NWI will provide the overall approach to polymer processing and Herty will provide for rapid prototyping using Herty’s wetlay capabilities.

Dr. Behnam Pourdeyhimi, director of NWI said, “The CRADA allows the two organizations to bring together their unique expertise and capabilities in materials development as well as product development. This cooperation will help bridge the gap from bench scale to commercialization.”

Specialty, tailor-made fibres, could have an immediate impact on technical textiles as global nonwovens sales continue their explosive grow from $26 billion in 2014 to $46 billion in 2020. Performance bi- component fibres could have particular impact in the medical and filtration industries with 2014 sales of $1.5 billion and $3.5 billion, respectively.

The Herty advanced materials development center, an applied research center of Georgia Southern University, is a world-class research, development, and demonstration facility. Herty is a new product and process accelerator providing technical, market, and development expertise in short-fibre composites, biomaterials, and biomass processing.

NWI is the world’s first accredited academic program for the interdisciplinary field of engineered fabrics. (GK)

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India