Universität Innsbruck - Institut für Textilchemie und Textilphysik

The Institute for Textile Chemistry and Textile Physics was founded in 1982 as a scientific institute of the University of Innsbruck to increase the research and development activities in this important industrial field. The institute is situated in Vorarlberg about 120 miles away from Innsbruck where a main part of the Austrian textile industry is located. In 1989 our Institut moved from the original site in the Achstrasse to the new building of the HTL-Textil where an area of 500m² has been planned and equipped especially for the requirements of scientific work. In 1998 A.Univ.Prof. Thomas Bechtold was appointed as new head of the institute.

The themes of the scientific work are given on the one hand by industrial demands and on the other hand basic scientific investigations are performed on topics of general interest. Main emphasis of the activities: Basic scientific investigations and applied development in the field of textile chemistry and textile physics in a great variety. Some of the most important projects:

• Recycling of wasted caustic soda from the mercerizing process
• Optimization of the control equipment of sizing machinery
• Determination of heavy metals in textile effluents
• Examination of main parameters of the mercerizing process

Besides these main fields of research activities several other topics are worked on with industrial partners, e.g.:

• Development of liquid detergents for automatically dosing in textile laundry
• Optimization of the detergent products for special applications
• Substitution of chlorinated hydrocarbons in wool shrinking processes by aqueous systems