Department of Innovative Textile Technologies

Department Head: dr hab. inż. Jerzy Mańkowski, prof. IWNiRZ-PIB

The Department of Innovative Textile Technologies comprises of:

• Research Unit for Fibre Crop Processing Technologies - Laboratory for Technological Straw and Fibre Evaluation
• Research Unit for Chemical Evaluation and Refining of Fibrous Raw Materials
• Research Unit for Testing Physiological Effects of Textiles on the Human Body
• Research Unit for Natural Dyeing
• Textile Laboratory
• Fibre Bank

Scope of activity:

1. Initiate and conduct research and development work and implementing the results of this work in the fields of textile technologies and metrology
2. Monitor the current knowledge on the production and use of flax and hemp fibres by the domestic and global textile and processing industries
3. Perform tasks related to the participation in international and domestic research and development projects
4. Engage in scientific cooperation with other domestic and foreign institutions with similar scope of activity and with other research departments within the Institute
5. Perform defence tasks under relevant defence systems resulting from the safety oversight system operation
6. The department features the Textile Laboratory, which holds a Certificate of Accreditation issued by the Polish Centre for Accreditation

Laboratories:

• Laboratory for Technological Straw and Fibre Evaluation
• Textile Laboratory

Fibre Bank

The Institute of Natural Fibres and Medicinal Plants - National Research Institute features the only Fibre Bank in the world. The facility is overseen by the Department of Innovative Textile Technologies. The main idea of the Fibre Bank is to collect and study the greatest possible number of natural fibre types from different climate zones and disseminate them to identify new opportunities for their application. The Fibre Bank stores over 100 types of natural fibres. Most of these are fibres of considerable economic importance.

Accomplishments

Technologies developed:

1. Biodegradable natural fibre disinfection mats.
2. New method of rehabilitating degraded land using fibre hemp cultivation.
3. Innovative technology of harvesting fibre flax to obtain homomorphic fibre.
4. Application of hemp shives in the construction industry.
5. Beehive design incorporating hemp shive-lime composite.
6. Agricultural twine.
7. Method for cottonization/elementalization of decorticated fibre.
8. Technology for manufacturing innovative, naturally dyed, functional textile products.
9. Technology for manufacturing nonwoven fabrics from natural fibres for use in partially biodegradable type II face masks.

Awards and distinctions:

• Gold Medal for the Continuous process of bast fibre degumming and the device for the continuous degumming of these fibres at the 39th Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions, 2011.
• Gold Medal; 9th International Warsaw Invention Show - IWIS 2015; invention: Clothing acting as a supplement of a dressing in the treatment of dermatological diseases; 2015.
• Gold Medal; 67th International Trade Fair for Ideas, Inventions, and New Products - IENA 2015; Clothing acting as a supplement of a dressing in the treatment of dermatological diseases; 2015.
• Gold Medal; the World Exhibition of Innovation, Research and New Technologies, Brussels INNOVA 2015; Clothing acting as a supplement of a dressing in the treatment of dermatological diseases; 2015.
•  Laureate and Golden Emblem in the QI PRODUCT category - for Environmentally Friendly Sanitation Mats made of natural fibres, awarded by the Chapter of the “Highest Quality - 16th Edition of the Quality International Program”; 2022.