Fibers & Beyond

Dawn Carrick, ITS President, chaired the 193rd Board of Directors’ Meeting of ITS, held in Milestones Restaurant at Mississauga on 15 April 2003. Erhardt Schumann of DuPont Canada, ITS Past President, sponsored the ITS Board of Directors’ Supper Meeting.

The 94th Scientific Session ‘Fibres & Beyond’ of the Institute of Textile Science was held on 16 April 2003 at BodyCote Ortech Inc. in Mississauga, Ontario. ITS President, Dawn Carrick, welcomed distinguished speakers and participants. She introduced the ITS Board of Directors: Peter Aspley, Shafiul Islam, Jerry Bauerle and Darko Medved to the participants and speakers.

ITS Vice-President, Dr. Shafiul Islam, CText FTI, of TexTek Business Solutions, chaired the 94th Scientific Session: ‘Fibers & Beyond’. Three distinguished speakers made their resourceful presentations with an insightful interactive questions and answers session.

Clark McAlpine, Vice President – Operations, Coats-Bell, Arthur, Ontario presented ‘The World of Industrial Sewing Thread – From the Global Supplier’ – an overview of the types of spun and filament threads available and their properties that are engineered to specific end uses. A visual tour of a thread manufacturing plant was presented.

Dr Edward Tokarsky, Research Associate – Fluoro Products, E.I. DuPont de Nemours, Wilmington, Delaware, presented his research, ‘New Generation Teflon® ETFE Performance Fibers’. DuPont ETFE fiber delivers high performance for outdoor and Industrial applications. This fibre has superior resistance to most chemicals, solvents, weathering & UV exposure even at elevated temperatures. This was the first presentation in Canada of this revolutionary fibre.

John Alexander, Director – Sales and Marketing, ABC Netting, Brampton, Ontario, presented ‘Industrial Applications for Raschel and Tricot Knitted Net and Fabric’. ABC Netting specializes in the warp knitting of knotless netting and industrial fabric using Raschel and Tricot machines. A variety of fibres are used to produce netting for a myriad of industrial, aquaculture, and sports-related end uses.