Fibre Research

The Aditya Birla Group is the world's largest producer of viscose staple fibre (VSF) and viscose filament yarn (VFY), commanding a 17 per cent global market share in VSF and 30 per cent domestic market share for VFY. The Group ranks among the top three quality producers of acrylic fibres: Grasim is India's pioneer in VSF production and the leading producer of VFY in India.

Marketed under the Birla Acrylic brand, the product range comprises of a variety of acrylic fibres used for making sweaters, jogging suits, socks, stuffed toys, blankets, carpets and upholstery.

R&D

The Fibre Science Laboratory at ABSTCPL works in collaboration with the Group's fibre businesses, to focus on development of new products, processes and technologies for cellulosic fibres, value-added acrylic fibres and on improvement of product quality and process performance. The team has widespread expertise in the areas of wet and dry-jet-wet spinning of polymers; dope preparation, homogenisation, and modification and characterisation of polymers and fibres and fibre processing.

The Fibre Science Laboratory is equipped with fibre spinning and processing assemblies for cellulose and acrylic fibres, high shear and high temperature mixers and homogenisers for dispersions, emulsions and polymer solutions. The testing facilities for fibre characterisation comprise of microscopic characterisation, tensile properties, molecular weight distribution, crystallinity and orientation, washing durability and UV-Vis spectrophotometer.

Grasim has also established several R&D units covering different stages of the value chain:

• The Grasim Wood and Pulp Research Institute in Harihar, Karnataka.
• The Birla Research Institute for Applied Sciences at Nagda in Madhya Pradesh, is involved in the development of different generations of cellulosic fibres.
• The Textile Research Application Development Centre at Kharach in Gujarat, is a NABL accredited laboratory and is involved in addressing research and development related to downstream textile value chain comprising fibres, yarns, processing and garments.