The leader of CSIRO’s Fibre Science and Engineering Research Program has a history of detective work on how fibre properties influence fabric and garment properties.
Current activities
Dr Geoff Naylor is Research Program Leader for the Fibre Science and Engineering Research Program at CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
The program investigates the structure, properties and behaviours of fibres and fibrous materials for new industrial materials. It unites fibre science research across CSIRO, in particular for the natural fibre and forest products industries.
The Fibre Science and Engineering Research Program aims to:
-
create innovative fibre, textile and timber product solutions across a broad spectrum of Australia’s needs
-
stimulate international demand for Australia’s natural fibres, including wool, cotton and wood products
-
create new commercial products based on advanced fibrous structures and materials.
Work with wool
In his earlier years at CSIRO, Dr Naylor applied his training in physics to explain why some wool garments feel prickly against the skin.
This project formed part of a broad effort on understanding skin comfort at CSIRO. It allowed Australia's Woolmark Company to set wool fibre specifications for garments that do not prickle.
Currently, a team under Dr Naylor's guidance are developing an instrument that accurately measures the prickle of a range of fibres and fibre blends.
Work with cotton's fibre properties
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.’
Cottonscan
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.
Dr Naylor plans to send Cottonscan prototypes overseas for further evaluation.
Cottonscan calculates maturity from the fineness reading and other data it gets from the sample. Sample preparation is relatively easy.
A three-way Australian trial of the Cottonscan instrument has now been completed. In this trial results were compared between CSIRO, the Australian Cotton Research Institute (ACRI) in Narrabri, NSW and the Auscott Ltd Cotton Classing Office in Sydney.
Dr Naylor reported on the trials at the World Cotton Conference at Lubbock, Texas, USA, in September 2007.
Following on from this successful trial, a three way international trial is currently being conducted on three instruments.
These trials include US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service in Clemson, South Carolina, USA, the International Textile Centre (ITC) at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, and CSIRO, Belmont, Victoria, Australia.
‘Having a new instrument accepted in international testing procedures requires complex and carefully controlled comparisons,’ he said.
‘There are many checks and balances. CSIRO understands the procedures well, having invented and brought to market numerous fibre, yarn and textile testing instruments.’
The fibre maturity tester
Dr Naylor also led a second team working to improve an instrument already in used in routine cotton testing: the fibre maturity tester, or FMT. This project was supported by the US cotton industry organisation Cotton Incorporated.
Knitwear and doonas
Dr Naylor has also investigated the pilling of knitwear.
He also worked on fibre structures for a wool-filled doona. The heat trapping solution that Dr Naylor helped devise was eventually marketed by Pacific Dunlop, under the Tontine brand.
Learn more about CSIRO's work in Textiles.
Site Map | Legal Notice and Disclaimer | Privacy | Copyright | Last updated: 10 December 2009
