Department of Weaving

Department of Weaving

School of Engineering & Technology is the oldest school of National Textile University currently offering NTU’s flagship BS Textile Engineering Program. Other undergraduate programs include BS Textile Engineering Technology, BS Clothing, and BS Polymer Engineering.

Postgraduate degree programs include MS Textile Engineering, MS Advanced Materials Engineering, MS Polymer Science & Engineering, MS Textile Technology, MS Advanced Clothing & Fashion, PhD Textile Engineering & PhD Advanced Materials. 

Presently, the school has more than 1200 students, of which more than 180 are pursuing degrees at the MS and PhD levels.

An important element of the undergraduate program is the industrial design project aimed at strengthening understanding of engineering fundamentals and developing advanced engineering skills. The project also develops new outreach activities to inspire promising scholars to study at the University. At a higher level, these industrial design projects may contribute to making vital equipment inventions.

Several collaborative industrial research projects involving private and strategic partners are in progress at SET. The faculty at SET is highly trained, mostly from well reputed International and national institutes, is motivated to impart high quality outcome-based education and conduct quality research.

Due to the quality of knowledge and skills acquired by students of SET, they are ranked high by the industry. The employability of our graduates has remained 100% since the beginning. 

I am delighted to welcome you to the School of Engineering & Technology (SET). The School is composed of four departments: Department of Textile Engineering, Department of Textile Technology, Department of Clothing and Department of Materials.

The school has its roots in an institute of textile technology, the parent institute of National Textile University. The school is preparing graduates in the domain of textile and polymer engineering to meet the technical and managerial human resource needs of almost entire textile industry of Pakistan. The school retains a close relationship with the industry and engaged in joint research & development activities with several industries. There are several forums such as industrial advisory board, board of studies and annual conference, where faculty and industry gathered to explore opportunities for collaboration and to find solutions of problems faced by industry.

Our education system is “Outcome Based Education”. The curriculum is designed keeping in view the requirement of industry. During the four years, the students are exposed to class lectures, lab work and different activities to transfer knowledge, impact skills and develop a positive and professional attitude. The learning outcomes of students are monitored at individual as well as cohort level and continuous quality improvement (CQI) initiatives are taken regularly.

The research facilities in SET are world class, including National Textile Research Center, National Center for Composite Materials, Advanced Textile Research and Innovation Center, Nanotechnology Research Center, Non-woven Research Center and Center for Color Chemistry, etc. In these research centers, a conducive research environment is created where basic and applied research, in the domain of textiles and materials, is carried out by BS, MS and PhD students under the supervision of experienced and qualified faculty. The research activities are generally funded by industry, NTU R&D fund, HEC and Pakistan Science Foundation etc.

I am very hopeful that in the near future SET plays a significant role to assist the export-oriented textile and materials industry to shift to value added products and grow at a good rate by providing quality human resource and world class R&D support.

Thank you 

Eng. Dr. Yasir Nawab,
Director/ Dean
School of Engineering & Technology 

Focus Area’s 

Textile Composite Materials
Dr. Yasir Nawab and Mr. Khubab Shaker

The weaving department is focusing on the use of natural fibers as reinforcement for the composite materials. The research is a unique combination of experimentation and the simulation techniques. The main areas of research include:

  • Bioactive natural fiber composites
  • Hydrophobic natural fiber composites
  • Self-healing composites
  • 3D shaped composites
  • Fibrous waste composites

The future plans of research include:

  • Composites for ballistic applications
  • Fluid flow through reinforcement
  • Shape distortion in composites
  • Wind turbine blades of composite material
  • Recycling of thermoplastic composites

Smart Textiles
Dr. Talha Hamdani

The smart textiles (electro-textiles) is helping the existing and conventional electronics to improve their physical flexibility and integration of interconnections to the electronic interface. The vision of Smart Textile is to develop textile based sensors and actuators that can interact with the real world by combining smart materials and integration of electronics into textile substrates. The smart textiles offer multifunctional properties such as conducting electricity, illumination, sensing and responding to environment as per requirements. Smart textiles cover a wide range of applications including health monitoring, protection & safety, military, sportswear, automotive & entertainment applications. Here, at National Textile University, we are working to enhance capabilities of textile materials (fibre, yarn, woven and nonwoven) to provide a complete textile based solutions for the market of small scale Pakistani industry to improve their business and to provide ease in man’s daily life.

Conventional Weaving
Dr. Muhammad Zubair and Mr. Muhammad Ayub

Pakistan is a major producer of cotton fabrics which are developed by conventional weaving including air jet weft insertion technology. It plays a vital role in Pakistan’s economy. More than 23,000 of air jet looms had been imported in a year 2003 and since then only a few hundreds of these loom have been added to textile industry. In order to be in the competition of textile production, we are required to develop, meet the international standards and to improve conventional weaving machinery at National level to fulfil our industry demand. Our focus is to innovate the conventional by improving quality and reducing cost. We are working on various research projects such as to shorten the preparatory process cycle of weaving and to develop 3D woven fabrics on conventional looms.

Undergraduate Research Projects 2017-18

  • Thermal Conductivity of honeycomb woven structures: Effect of air pockets’ size and Effect of material
  • Characterization of conductive yarn
  • Comfort properties of woven sports fabrics
  • Extraction of fiber from creeper plants and their application in composite materials
  • Two-dimensional (2D) fabrics and three-dimensional (3D) preforms for stabbing protection
  • Ageing of fabric for outdoor use (effect of temperature, humidity)
  • Aloe Vera extract for wound healing
  • Characterization of piezoelectric fabric
  • Development of UD fabric from carbon yarn wrapped with PP
  • Development of multilayer protective fabric for motorcyclists
  • Comfort properties of hybrid woven fabrics produced from filament and staple spun yarn
  • Development of car seat comforter
  • Development of auxetic woven fabric
  • Advanced mechanical testing of woven fabrics under different loadings.
  • Development of primary and secondary motion control mechanism
  • Improving the washing fastness of terry towel using Core spun PC yarn

Undergraduate Research Projects 2016-17

  • Mechanical stability of leno and plain fabrics: Application in geo textiles
  • Clothing for protection against pesticides
  • Audit (Energy, leakages) of a weaving mill
  • Conversion of conventional weaving loom to high speed rapier loom
  • Shape weaving (nodal, joint less) using narrow loom
  • Designing expandable comber board for jacquard shedding system
  • Designing a creel based loom let off and an intermittent take up system for weaving of technical fabrics
  • The investigation of change in float size of 3D orthogonal interlocks to develop auxetic structures
  • Extraction of natural (banana) fibers and their use in wet laid non wovens
  • Development of smart fabric with low cost conductive ink using charcoal
  • Development of sample denim weaving setup on lab scale
  • Effect of size recipe on yarn performance during weaving (pure PVA and conventional recipe)
  • Cost of air loss in weaving dept. vs parts consumed to control air leakage
  • Stab resistance of hybrid woven fabrics
  • Explosive resistant auxetic woven fabrics
  • Development of cold protective apparel using spacer fabrics
  • Modeling the stretch and recovery properties of elastane fabric
  • Abrasion, cut and tear resistant protective clothing for motorcyclists
  • Kitchen Apron: protection against hot surface contact, hot liquid and low-pressure steam burns

Undergraduate Research Projects 2015-16

  • Comparison of Impact properties of leno fabrics with plain woven fabrics Kevlar
  • Production of 3D non crimp fabrics on conventional loom
  • Denim treated with herbal extracts for better health conditions
  • Heat management of a loom
  • Development of woven auxetic fabrics for sandwich composite reinforcement
  • Development of woven auxetic fabrics for Impact resistant of bullet proof jackets
  • Comparison of conventional and organic cotton fibers and comparison of their surface morphologies
  • To study the effect of neem extracts on the antimicrobial properties of cotton fabrics
  •  Correlation between clothing air gap space and fabric mechanical and comfort properties
  • Development of woven breathable surgical masks
  • Dimensional and physical properties of gloves made from reclaimed fiber
  • Development of artificial ligaments from synthetic fibers
  • Solar Textile
  • Study the relationship of UV radiation and tensile strength degradation of seat belt
  • Development of spacer fabric using terry loom
  • Aloe-vera extracts for wound healing and UV protection
  • The effect of humidity on drying rate and properties of sized yarn
  • Energy conservation in size recipe cooking
  • Development of lab scale equipment recycling of PVA
  • Standardization of size recipe on the basis of strength and hairiness

Undergraduate Research Projects 2014-15

  • Design and development of a wind mill prototype.
  • Recyclability of non-woven reinforced thermoplastic composite
  • Green composites, structural study
  • Drapability of woven, knitted, multilayer fabric : A relation with structure, bending length and properties
  • Flax woven denim for antimicrobial protection
  • Porosity and permeability of 3D woven fabrics
  • Electromagnetic shielding properties of bio-composites.
  • To study the ageing properties of fabrics produced from natural fibers.
  • Rectifying the curling of one selvedge side in lycra qualities.
  • Cost reduction through optimization of electricity, air consumption and chemical consumption.                                                                            
  • Modeling the comfort properties of Bilayer woven fabrics.
  • Development and characterization of cellulose based fabrics.
  • Comparison of compression properties of stretch knitted fabrics and bi stretch woven fabrics.                                       
  • Waste control at different steps in weaving.
  • Multilayered fabrics for acoustic applications (Sound Absorption).
  • To study the properties of sized yarn with recycled size material and effect of heating system.                              
  • Development of a thermally insulating fabric from a unique weave design
  • Multilayer Fabrics for UV Protection
  • Study the biodegradability of geotextiles from different materials with temp, humidity and soil.

Funded research projects

1. Title: Carpet: Development of indigenous carpet loom,Funding body: Pakistan Carpet Manufacturers & Exporters Association.
2. Title: Improving the mechanic properties of hockey stick using nano materials ,Funding body: Anwar Khawaja Composites
3. Title: Development of low cost piezo-resistive nonwoven fabric for sensing applications ,Funding body: Higher Education Commission, Pakistan
4. Title: Experimental investigation and modeling of mechanical behavior of natural fibers based composite materials fabricated using local raw material ,Funding       body: Higher Education Commission, Pakistan