Dr Geoff Naylor.

Dr Geoff Naylor: expert in fibre science

Dr Naylor has a history of detective work on how fibre properties influence fabric and garment properties.

• 5 May 2011 | Updated 14 October 2011

• Current activities
• Cotton research
• Cottonscope
• Cottonscope
• Other recent highlights

Current activities

Dr Geoff Naylor is a Senior Research Scientist at CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.

Cotton research

Dr Naylor is a leading scientist in the Fibre Science program at CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering. He has undertaken a number of management roles at CSIRO, including as Officer-in-Charge at the Belmont site and previously as head of the Cotton Textile Research Unit at Belmont for a number of years. 

His early research on the physics of prickle and pilling demonstrated to Dr Naylor the importance of fibre properties like fineness, which has long been recognised as vitally important in the wool industry.

Fineness is important to the cotton industry too, yet he found that the industry lacked a reliable, commercial method of measuring fineness — or fibre maturity, which is equally important.

‘Both these properties influence processing, and the quality and value of cotton yarns and textiles,’ he said.

‘This is a serious gap, especially for the Australian industry, which relies on high quality to gain an advantage over competing countries.’

Dr Naylor's cotton team invented a new instrument, known as Cottonscan, to measure fibre fineness and maturity on the same sample. The instrument weighs and counts a sample of short fragments of fibre, and calculates fineness.

Cottonscope

Recently CSIRO, the Cotton Research Development Corporation (CRDC) and the Cotton Catchment Communities CRC have licensed a cotton maturity measurement device to new start-up Australian Company Cottonscope Pty Ltd.

The Cotton Research Group, now led by Dr Stuart Gordon, took up the challenge to invent and produce a fast, accurate and direct measurement of cotton maturity. They have now produced a prototype instrument, which is ready for commercial production.

Dubbed the Cottonscope, it automatically measures cotton fibre maturity, directly and accurately, in around 25 seconds.

Other recent highlights

The Fibre Science and Engineering Research Program covers a broad range of projects from cotton research to tissue engineering for regenerative medicine. Here are some recent highlights:

• Fibrous scaffolds: Repair and regeneration of human tissues is being made possible by fibrous scaffolds made from biocompatible polymers upon which cells can grow. CSIRO is producing these scaffolds and is working to make this possible.
• New BoxTag sports technologies: A team from the Research Program has been working with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) to produce a fully objective system to detect impact in combat sports. The Automated Impact Sensing System detects, in real time, contacts between boxing glove and opponent's vest or head guard and scoring is registered automatically via Bluetooth to computer. The technology is being used in the new amateur sport, BoxTag.
• Antibiofouling: Scientists from the Program are working with the Wealth from Oceans National Research Flagship to develop a diverse range of technologies that rely on physical effects at surfaces to prevent the attachment and growth of fouling organisms. Targeted organisms range from the microscale (bacteria, protozoans, microalgae) to the macroscale (barnacles, bryozoans, tubeworms).

Learn more about Fibre Science and Engineering Research Program.