The Fiber Society Spring Technical Meeting

Gregory Grissett
Graduate Student, NCRC
North Carolina State University

North Carolina State University graduate students in the Department of Textile, Apparel and Technology and Management had the opportunity to attend the Fiber Society's' Spring Technical Conference held at the College of Textiles on May 23-25, 2001. This year, the spring technical conference of the Fiber Society focused on "New Frontiers in Fiber Science," and attracted attendees from around world representing both industrial and academic research centers involved in fiber related research. Twenty-three presentations filled the three-day meeting including a poster session where researchers, students from NCSU and other universities where allowed to discuss their work.

To view a from Fiber Society: "Evaluation of Meltblown Nonwoven Structures", by Yogeshwar Velu

For many of the graduate students in attendance, this was our first technical meeting. Consequently, many entered the conference expecting to learn different things than most conference attendees. Specifically this was a chance to observe professional interaction in a technical setting, what type of new research is being conducted today, and gave the graduate students a chance to put some faces to the names of the researchers whose articles we have been studying. In addition, an initial glimpse at industrial and academic research related to the field of fiber science and how research at technical centers is disseminated to the public was observed. Presentations and posters presented over the three-day conference also helped differentiate between theoretical and experimental research and the necessity of each for the progress of a particular field or area of study. Specifically the articulating of new ideas, models, techniques, methods and applications, through presentations, posters and discussions allow researchers, teachers and graduate students to expand there breadth of knowledge of fiber science while providing a forum for debate on particular areas of research .

Much of the work presented at the conference dealt with the blossoming field of electrospinning of nanofibers, which with 10 of the 23 papers presented focussed on nanofibers exemplified the popularity, importance, and potential this work and its relation to fiber science. The spinning and manufacture of fibers on the nanoscale has the potential to open up a myriad of opportunities due the unique properties of structures constructed from nano sized articles. Fabrics or webs constructed from nanofibers potentially behave as thin films with advanced filtration or separation properties due the small pores created at the fiber intercies. In addition, medical applications involving the use of webs constructed from bioabsorbable nanofibers will improve current wound dressing technology due the ability of biological materials to become incorporated in the webs structure. All in attendance left conference with clearer understanding of the advantages and problems associated with electrospinning and better appreciation of the talent involved in the study of fibers and there derivatives.

College of Textiles
P.O. Box 8301
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