Research Summary:
Ms Gericke is responsible for the development and coordination of the programme in Textile and Polymer Science (launched in 2003). This relatively new approach to this study field focus on textile science with a strong scientific base in Chemistry and Polymer Science. The research focus is on the development and evaluation of technical and performance textiles for niche markets – including smart textiles and nano-fibres.

Research Description:
As this is a relatively new division in the Department of Chemistry and Polymer science, the research in textile science is still in the developmental phase. Current projects focus on fibre particulate emissions in medical textiles, characterization of bamboo fibre and -fabrics, breathability of waterproof breathable fabrics, micro-encapsulation using an ultrasonic atomizer, etc.







Groundbreaking work has been done by PhD student (Eugene Smit) in the field of electro-spinning of nano-fibres for various end-uses. The research on electrospun nanofibers has focused on the production of continuous uniaxial fiber bundle yarns from electrospun nanofibers. In the first breakthrough method for doing this, nanofibers are electrospun onto a liquid bath and collected continuously off the bath surface. This technique results in continuous uni-axial fiber bundle yarn with very high degrees of fiber alignment. In ongoing work, new designs for improving the properties of nano-fibre yarns are investigated in collaboration with the SCIR. Novel techniques in electro-spinning of hollow and bicomponent nano-fibres are under development.