Professor Carl Lawrence
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Professor Carl Lawrence |
Carl has 12 years industrial experience in materials research employed by BISRA (Sheffield); Ruston and Paxman (Lincoln); Allen Clarke Research Centre (Caswell, Northants); Shirley Institute (now BTTG, Manchester); Turner and Newall (Rochdale) and RK Carbon Fibre and Composites (Stockport). Prior to his appointment to a chair at the University of Leeds, he was a senior lecturer in textile engineering at UMIST, where he was employed for 11 years. He is a member of the Management Board of the Technitex Faraday partnership and a member of the Techtextil Scientific Committee of Messe Frankfurt.
Yarn & Fabric Formation, Structure and Properties
Research interests are in the in field of fibre processing, in particular unconventional spinning methods with wider interests including fibres, yarns and technical textile fabric engineering, geosynthetics and associated performance testing.
Current Research Interests
Fibre Processing
Recent work includes elucidation of the complex process-fibre interactions in the carding process in collaboration with Oxford’s OCIAM, which considers the fibre dynamics and aerodynamics of the short-staple card. High-speed photographic techniques using a 10w, 1nsec pulsed copper vapour laser and 40k fps video camera were employed to directly visualize the mechanisms in detail for the first time. Unconventional spinning system development includes work on a novel method of friction spinning; the use of air-jets for self-twist yarns; an investigation into a new patented disc-ring spinning process and the use of an electrostatic system for the assembly of core-yarns. Further research includes the structure-property relation of core-spun yarns; electrically conductive yarns; and multicomponent blend structures.
Natural Fibre Engineering and Biofibres
Modification of natural protein and cellulose fibres to produce alternative engineering materials is designed to extend the range of end-use applications for such natural materials in medicine and in the industrial engineering sectors. Research also includes melt and solution spinning of biopolymers for production of biodegradable / bioresorbable fibres. Previous work undertaken at Leeds has involved wet spinning of chitin, chitosan and alginate fibres. Current studies concern the production and characterisation of fibres from a variety of biopolymers. Work on ultra-fine filaments involves the formation of sub-micron filaments that are self-bulking or have high wickability.
Geosynthetic Fabric Engineering
Interest surrounds the engineering and construction of fibrous structures for inclusion in composite systems for rail track foundations to prevent erosion pumping. Other areas of research activity concerns geotextile protection systems for geomembrane containment structures, hydraulic properties of needle-punched nonwovens for concrete casting and structure-property relationships and performance of geosynthetic materials. In the building and construction field the biaxial properties of architectural textiles and stress cracking in HDPE are important developing areas of interest.
Selected Publications
Wijayathunga V.N.; Lawrence, C.A.; Blackburn, R.S.; Bandara, M.P.U.; El-Dessouky, H.M.; Lewis E.L.V.; Cheung, T.L.V., Influence of laser irradiation on the optical and structural properties of poly(ethylene terephthalate) fibres, Optics & Laser Technology, pp.1301-1309, 2007
Bandara, M.P.U.; Lawrence, C.A.; Mahmoudi M.R., Instrumentation for the measurement of fabric air permeability at higher pressure levels, Measurement Science and Technology, pp.2247-2255, 2006
Lawrence, C.A.; Liu, P., Relation of Structure, Properties and Performance of Fibrous Media for Gas Filtration, Chemical Engineering and Technology, pp.957-967, 2006
Lawrence, C.A.; Liu, P.; Russell, S.J., Fabric Structural Characteristics for Filtration Media, Design and Development, Techtextil Symposium: Material and Technology, 2005
Dehghani A.A.; Lawrence, C.A.; Mahmoudi, M.R.; Greenwood, B.; Iype, C., Aeroydnamics and Fibre Transfer at the Cylinder-Doffer Interface, Journal of The Textile Institute, pp.35-50, 2004
Dehghani, A.A.; Lawrence C.A.; Greenwood B.; Mahmoudi M.R.; Iype C., Aerodynamics and Fibre Transfer at the Cylinder–Doffer Interface, Journal of The Textile Institute, 2004
Mahmoudi, M.R.; Lawrence, C.A.; Dehghani, A.A.; Greenwood, B., Effect of the Licker-in on Fibre Tuft Assembly, Journal of the Textile Institute, pp.147-158, 2004
Lawrence, C.A.; Pourmohammadi, A.; Leaf G.A.V., Fibre Trajectory in the Transport Channel of an Air-laid Nonwoven Process: Part II-Experimental Observations of Fibre Motion, Journal of The Textile Institute, 2003
Lawrence, C.A., Fundamentals of Spun Yarn Technology, Elsevier Books, 2003
Lawrence, C.A., Nanoscience and Intelligent Materials: Developments and Futrue Possibilities for Textiles, International Textile Design and Engineering Conference INTEDEC 2003, Edinburgh, 2003
Lawrence, C.A.; Pourmohammadi, A.; Leaf G.A.V., Fibre Trajectories in the Transport Channel of an Air-Laid Nonwoven Process: Part 1 - Theoretical Model , Journal of the Textile Institute, pp.49-61, 2003
Mahmoudi, M.R.; Lawrence, C.A., The Use of Air-jet Technology to Produce Self-twist Yarn Part 1: Preliminary Study, Textile Research Journal, pp.141-148, 2003
Mahmoudi, M.R.; Lawrence, C.A.; Dehghani, A.A., The Use of Air-Jet Technology to Produce Self-Twist Yarn Part II: Application of Tandem Jet Twisters, Journal of the Textile Institute, pp.149-165, 2003
Mahmoudi M.R.; Lawrence C.A.; Dehghani, A.A.; Greenwood B.; Iype C., The effects of fixed flats on yarn quality, Journal of The Textile Institute, pp.197-209, 2002
Lawrence, C.A.; Tebay, R.N.; Caddick, V.R.; Warwick, R.G., Geocomposites in Railways Engineering and their effects on 'Line and Level', Railways Engineering Conference, London, 2002
Lawrence, C.A.; Thomas, R., The Oxidation and Mechanical Performance of HDPE Geomembranes: A more practical durablity parameter, International Geosynthetics Society Annual Conference, Geosynthetics: State of the Art and Recent Developments, NICE, pp.779 - 782, 2002
Lawrence, C.A.; Tebay, R.N.; Caddick, V.R.; Warwick, R.G., Geosynthetic Protection of Ballast and Sub-grade in Railway Foundation Structures, Geosynthetics Society Annual Conference, Geosynthetics: State of the Art and Recent Developments NICE, pp.901-904, 2002
Lawrence, C.A.; Mahmoudi, M.R., The Melt Spinning of Fibres and Filaments by the Centrifugal Process, Poster Presentation, Polymer Fibres 2002, UMIST Manchester , 2002
Lawrence, C.A.; Mahmoudi, M.R., UK0128148.4 Centrigual Spinning Process, , 2002
Mahmoudi, M.R.; Lawrence, C.A.; Dehghani-Sanij, A.A.; Greenwood, B.D.; Iype, C., Targeted actions research: a quick response process for new products in the wool sector, First AUTEX International Conference, 2001
Lawrence, C.A.; Dehghani-Sanij, A.A.; Mahmoudi, M.R.; Greenwood, B.D.; Iype, C., The Short staple Opening and Carding of Wool Fibres: Part 1 Cotton Blowroom Opening of Wool, Textile Research Journal, 2001
Lawrence, C.A.; Mahmoudi, M.R.; Dehghani-Sanij, A.A., The Use of Air-Jet Technology to Produce Self-Twist Yarns, Part 1: Prelimiary Study , Journal of The Textile Institute, 2001
Lawrence, C.A.; Mahmoudi, M.R.; Greenwood, B.D., Development of Lightweight Woven Fabrics from Wool Microfibre Blends, International Textile Congress, Terrassa, 2001
Lawrence, C.A.; Mahmoudi, M.R.; Greenwood, B., Target Action Fresearch: A Quick Response Process for New Production in the Wool Sector, 1st AUTEX Conference, 2001
Lawrence, C.A.; El-Jack, A.; Tebay, R.N., Geotextile Protection Systems for Geomembrane Containment Structures, Tecnitex 2001, Technical Textiles: Designing Textiles for Technical Applications, 1st Autex Conference, pp.428-438, 2001
Lawrence, C.A.; Mahmoudi, M.R.; Greenwood, B.D.; Iype, C., The Short Staple Opening and Carding of Wool Fibres: Part 2: The Effect of Carding Variables on Mean Fibre Length, Textile Research Journal, 2001