The ITA Institut für Textiltechnik of RWTH Aachen University is the core of the ITA Group International Centre for Sustainable Textiles. It focuses its core competence on the goal of ensuring the holistic biotransformation of textile technology and thus the use of biological principles for small-run-oriented value-added processes and acts as an internationally active research and training service provider for fibre-based high-performance materials, textile semi-finished products and their manufacturing processes.
The Institut für Textiltechnik of RWTH Aachen University (ITA) is affiliated with the Chair of Textile Technology in Mechanical Engineering and is headed by Professor Dr. Thomas Gries. The ITA is part of the department of Mechanical Engineering at RWTH and represents the textile-related contents of the course of studies “Plastics and Textile Technology” in various bachelor and master courses of mechanical engineering at RWTH Aachen University.
The institute focuses on mechanical engineering and textile process engineering, polymer technology and high-performance fibre materials, textile preforming and fibre composites, medical technology, smart textiles and joining technology as well as simulation and measurement technology. The ITA develops textile semi-finished products and other products for the fields of mobility, building & living, health, energy & environment, information & communication, production engineering and materials engineering.
Furthermore, the ITA acts as a qualification service provider in academic teaching and industrial training as well as advanced training for industry professionals. In addition, it supplies numerous other industrial sectors with targeted innovations for new processes and textile materials, including the sporting goods industry and the ICT sector.
The ITA is industry-oriented, interdisciplinary and internationally oriented. Publicly funded cooperation projects combine the competences of the ITA, industrial companies and academic research partners from various disciplines. In those pro-jects, precompetitive innovative process chains and new textile solutions are developed for selected applications. Part of the focus lies on supporting the innovation activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Furthermore, direct research and development orders from industrial companies are used to bring prototypes to market maturity or to carry out process analyses and economic feasibility studies. The ITA’s international orientation is based on targeted cooperation with recognized academic and industrial research partners in Europe and Turkey, Asia and the USA.
For research and development work, the ITA possesses a fully equipped pilot plant with approximately 250 textile machines and test benches covering all textile process stages from spinning to joining. In addition, various laboratories (textile testing, polymer analysis) and workshops are staffed by skilled personnel (mechanics, electronics, software and hardware).