HS Niederrhein
Robert Groten cooperates with NCSU

Prof. Groten and Prof. Dr. Behnam Pourdeyhimi, founder of the Nonwovens Center at North Carolina State University (NCSU), Raleigh, NC/USA, which later became The Nonwovens Institute (NWI), Raleigh, have known each other for more than 20 years. Pourdeyhimi proposed Groten, who had been on NCSU's Industrial Academic Advisory Board (IAB) for several years, to NCSU as an adjunct professor.
Among other things, Pourdeyhimi developed microfilament nonwovens based on islands-in-the-sea at NCSU. Groten is working at Freudenberg SE, Weinheim/Germany, on the development of microfilament nonwovens based on segmented filaments with a pie geometry. Both share the goal of one day being able to produce high-quality, durable clothing from microfilament nonwovens.
In 2019, the first HSNR student did her research internship and Master’s thesis at the NWI on “Production of comfortable, decorative, light and durable garment out of bicomponent-fiber nonwovens”. Another HSNR student is currently doing an internship and his Master’s thesis on the topic of efficiency of mouth-nose protection masks at NCSU.
The work will be rounded off by a joint publication in the Journal of Science and Medicine.