Testing equipment

AWTA Ltd is the largest wool testing organisation in the world. Most of the equipment used by the company cannot be obtained "off the shelf" and must be manufactured as required. Consequently AWTA Ltd maintains the capacity to design and manufacture most of the equipment it requires, and also acts as a supplier to other wool testing laboratories within Australia and overseas.

Two of the most important items of equipment in use in the laboratories are the ATLAS instrument and the LASERSCAN instrument. The ATLAS is used for measuring Staple Length & Strength, and the LASERSCAN is used for measuring the various parameters associated with fibre fineness, such as Mean Fibre Diameter, CVD, SD and Fibre Curvature. Both instruments were developed by CSIRO with the support of funds provided by The Woolmark Company from research levies paid by wool growers.

AWTA Ltd has negotiated the rights to manufacture these instruments. What is not widely known is that the Company paid for the manufacturing rights and also pays a royalty on every one of these instruments it manufactures.

Wool growers and others frequently ask questions about the various items of testing equipment, and a selection of these are included here.