CSIRO Textile & Fibre Technology

Our textiles research is being used not only for clothes, but for filters, antiballistics, gaskets, insulation, upholstery, carpets, bedding, bandages and wound dressings.

CSIRO develops medical and biomedical textiles for applications in healthcare, regenerative medicine and tissue repair.

Cutting-edge wool textile technology developed by CSIRO for industrial air filtration systems has found its first lucrative commercial application in the manufacture of respirators for the personal protective equipment (PPE) market.

CSIRO Textile and Fibre Technology scientist, Dr Keith Millington, has been awarded a Centenary Medal from the Society of Dyers and Colourists in the UK.

A cotton training program will be held at CSIRO Textile and Fibre Technology 22-24 July 2008.

This two-day workplace training program in carding technology will be tailored to the requirements of textile companies to improve process efficiencies and textile end-product.

Respirator filters containing blends of wool and synthetic fibres are now on sale in hardware stores, signalling the successful application of manufacturing technology developed by CSIRO.

The ancient craft of spinning meets 21st century nanotube fibres. The CSIRO Carbon Nanotube Team, with collaborators from the University of Texas, Dallas, won the Avantex Innovation Prize for 2005 in the New Materials category for their work with carbon nanotube fibres.

Better understanding of the sheep genetics, chemistry and surface properties of wool fibres are the goals of CSIRO’s fundamental wool research.

CSIRO scientists are using textile support structures as templates for the growth of new tissues for use in maintaining, restoring or improving the function of damaged tissues and organs.

The process of bi-component fibre extrusion to create new advanced fibres is illustrated in this video clip. (1:27)

A video clip illustrating the processing of wool fibre into fabric by the worsted or woollen processing system. (2:20)

In a world first, Mr Ken Atkinson, an Australian scientist, has spun yarns from minute fibres of carbon, without the need for a binder to hold the yarn together.

A Postdoctoral scientist at CSIRO’s textile laboratory in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, Dr Edwards is investigating medical applications of textiles, in particular, the use of textiles to support cell growth and tissue regeneration, healing damaged tissues, such as nerves.

Program and registration details for the Cotton Field to Fabric training course being run 22-24 July 2008 at the CSIRO facilities at Belmont, Geelong, Victoria, Australia. (3 pages)

CSIRO Leather Testing and Consulting Group provides a three-page information sheet on alternative methods of curing hides and skins. (3 pages)