AWI announces winners of Wool Science Awards

17 May '07

3 min read

Deakin University's Tong Cheng also won a Personal Award for discovering a way to apply photochromic dyes onto wool. The fibre then shows fast optical responses, but the handle of the fabric isn't affected. Miss Cheng's research can be extended to a wide range of applications including biologically active compounds or normal dyes.

The versatility of felt has been investigated by Jemima Hetherington, from the University of Manchester; winning her a Graduate Award. By researching the traditional use of felts, and creating a large number of innovative products, Ms Hetherington showed that felt is an extremely versatile fabric. Jemima's work proved that there is nearly an unlimited number of felt products that can be created, and potentially opens up a whole new market.

In order to characterise the effects of ageing of historical wool tapestries, Dr. Anne-Marei Hacke investigated eighteen such tapestries from the 15th to the 17th Century. Because historically-important tapestries are generally made from wool or silk, their ageing and restoration is very important. Dr. Hacke discovered the marker for ageing, the first step to allow museums to develop repair methods; winning her a Special Award.

Australian Wool Innovation Limited

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