On June 4th 2018, Higher Education Commission Pakistan has released a grant of 2.84 million to Depart of Materials & Testing, NTU for upgradation & strengthening the Textile Physical Testing Laboratory under the project “Institutional strengthening”. This will be utilized for procuring three testing instruments, High resolution microscope, Elmendorf Tear Tester, and Pneumatic Bursting Strength Tester.
The proposed instruments are common instruments for textile physical testing laboratory. Their addition in our laboratory will strengthen the textile testing and research approach for undergraduate and postgraduate students. High resolution microscope is required to analyse fiber up to yarn and fabric surface characteristics. It will help undergraduate students to learn about fiber physical structure and to distinguish in different fibrous materials. It will enhance their analytical skills to differentiate and study fiber and yarn surface properties. Surface modifications in research perspective will also be studied on these instruments for postgraduate students.
Considering the diversion of our textile industry based on international market, knitted fabrics have high volume in our export goods. Our laboratory still lacks in testing instruments for this main textile product. Bursting strength tester will be a good addition in testing of knitted fabric structures and products. It will provide key knowledge to undergraduate students about knitted structure parameters and will make them good technical workforce as per requirement of our industry.
Textile testing protocols and instruments change with time which require their upgradation to keep up with international standards. The tear strength testing of weaved fabric has been modified to comply new testing protocols. To keep up with industrial requirements, advanced tear strength tester is need of the time for laboratory upgradation. It is a basic course testing instrument for undergraduate students to understand and study the tear testing of different qualities of textile weaved products. Furthermore, it is also extensively used for postgraduate research projects for product development.