Textile Fibers

Prof. Aravin Prince Periyasamy

aravinprince@gmail.com
http://www.aravinprince.blogspot.in

Key Terms
Fabrics

Fibers
Natural Fibers
Regenerated Fibers

Synthetic Fibers

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Definition of Fibers.
A morphological term for substances characterized by their flexibility,

fineness and high ratio of length to cross sectional area.

A unit of matter, either natural or manufactured, that forms the basic

element of fabrics and other textile structures.

It is defined as one of the delicate, hair portions of the tissues of a plant or

animal or other substances that are very small in diameter in relation to

there length.

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 A fiber is characterized by having a length at least 100 times its diameter or

width.
The term refers to units that can be spun into a yarn or made into a fabric by

various methods including weaving, knitting, braiding, felting, and twisting.

The essential requirements for fibers to be spun into yarn include a length of

at least 5 millimeters, flexibility, cohesiveness, and sufficient strength. Other

important properties include elasticity, fineness, uniformity, durability, and
luster.

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Types of Fibers and Yarns

Fibers are spun into yarn
Yarns are uninterrupted threads of textile fibers that are ready to be

turned into fabrics

Natural
Originate from natural sources
Plant (cellulosic) or animal (protein)
Manufactured, synthetic, or man-made (terms interchangeable)
Originate from chemical sources
May also be from regenerated or recycled sources

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Natural Fibers
Natural fibers are textile fibers made

from plants or animals

Cellulosic (from plants)
Cotton
From cotton plants
Flax (linen)
From flax stems
Jute (Jute stems)
Protein (from animals)
Silk

From cocoons of silkworms

Wool

From fleece (hair) of sheep or

lambs

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Characteristics of Natural Fibers

Natural fibers are usually:
Absorbent
Comfortable
Cooler to wear
Wrinkle more
Shrink when washed

Important natural fibers are:

Cotton
Linen
Jute
Wool
Silk
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Cotton
Cellulosic fiber
From bolls (seed pods) growing on bushes
Environmentally friendly cotton can be grown in a

range of colors
Main textile products of China, India, Iran, Pakistan
and Egypt
Made into a wide range of wearing apparel

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Cotton
Advantages:

Disadvantages:

Comfortable

Shrinks in hot water

Absorbent

Wrinkles easily

Good color retention

Weakened by perspiration and

Dyes & prints well

sun
Burns easily
Affected by mildew

Washable
Strong
Drapes well
Easy to handle and sew
Inexpensive
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Linen (Flax)
Flax is the fiber name; linen is the

fabric name.
Worlds oldest textile fiber, dates
back to Stone Age 5,000 years.
Cellulosic fiber from stem of flax
plant.
Towels, sheets, and tablecloths
are called linens.

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Linen (Flax)
Advantages:

Disadvantages:

Strong

Wrinkles easily

Comfortable

Can be expensive

Hand-washable or dry-cleanable

Shrinks

Absorbent

Burns easily

Dyes and prints well

Affected by mildew and

Resists dirt and stains

Durable
Withstands high heat
Lint-free

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perspiration
Ravels
Difficult to remove creases
Shines if ironed

Jute
Jute is a long, shiny vegetable fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong

threads.
The fibers are off-white to brown, and 14 meters (312 feet) long.
Bangladesh is the worlds largest exporter of jute. Jute is grown in the
same land-water area as rice and is a very difficult crop to grow and
harvest.
Other important jute export countries include India, China, Burma
(Myanmar), Pakistan, Nepal and Thailand.

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Advantages
Great antistatic properties
Low thermal conductivity.
Moisture Regain properties is good
enough (about 13.75%).
100% Biodegradable; so it is
environment friendly fiber like Cotton.
Cheap in market.
Can be widely used in Agriculture
Sector, Textile Sector, Woven Sector,
Nonwoven Sector.
Jute Fiber can be blended with Natural
and Synthetic fibers.

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Disadvantages
The crease resistance of Jute is very low.
Drape Property is not good enough.
Create Shade effect and becomes yellowish if sunlight
is used.
If Jute is wetted it lose its strength.

Coir
Is a natural fiber extracted from the husk of coconut
Products such as floor mats, doormats, brushes,

mattresses, etc.
Technically, coir is the fibrous material found between the
hard, internal shell and the outer coat of a coconut.
Other uses of brown coir (made from ripe coconut) are in
upholstery padding, sacking and horticulture.
White coir, harvested from unripe coconuts, is used for
making finer brushes, string, rope and fishing nets.

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Hemp
Hemp fiber was widely used throughout

history. Items ranging from rope, to

fabrics, to industrial materials were made
from hemp fiber.
Hemp was often used to make
sail canvas, and the word canvas derives
from cannabis.
Today, a modest hemp fabric industry
exists, and hemp fibers can be used in
clothing.
Pure hemp has a texture similar to linen.

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Banana Fibers
A native plant of Southeast Asia, banana is now
grown extensively in all tropical countries for fruit,
fiber or foliage.
These fibers are obtained mainly from stem.
The fibers obtained from the central core are of
. quality compared to the fibbers obtained
lower
mainly from pseudo stem. At present, banana fiber
is available in three qualities

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It is used to make fancy items like bags, table

mats, purses, etc and their latest venture is
weaving of banana fiber fabric

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Wool
Protein fiber from sheep or lambs
Worsted wool is higher quality with long

staple fibers (over 2 inches)

Natural insulator
The term wool can only apply to all animal
hair fibers, including the hair of cashmere or
angora goat
As well as the specialty hair fibers of camel,
alpaca, llama, or vicuna

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Wool
Advantages:

Disadvantages:

Warm

Affected by moths

Lightweight

Shrinks with heat and moisture

Wrinkle-resistant

Needs special care, dry cleaning

Absorbent

Absorbs orders

Dyes well

Scratchy on skin

Comfortable

Weakens when wet

Durable

Harmed by bleach, perspiration

Creases well
Easy to tailor
Recyclable
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Silk
Silkworms spin cocoons in filaments
Filament is a very long, fine, continuous thread
It can take as many as 500 cocoons to create 1 blouse

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Silk
Advantages:
Soft
Drapes well
Dyes and prints well
Very strong
Lightweight
Resists soil, mildew, and moths
Comfortable
Absorbent

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Disadvantages:
Expensive
Needs special care, dry cleaning
Stains with water
Yellows with age

Weakened by perspiration, sun,

soap
Attacked by insects, silverfish

Sisal fibers
Sisal is a perennial hardy plant, which

unlike the other fibers is not a

seasonal crop.
It can establish and easily grow in all
states of India covering sub humid to
arid and semiarid regions, which cover
major parts of India.

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Pineapple(PINA) Fiber
Pia is a fiber made from the leaves of a

pineapple and is commonly used in the

Philippines
It is sometimes combined with silk or
polyester to create a textile fabric.
The people there used to extract fibers from
pineapple leaves and through hand spinning,
made a soft, sheer and a little stiff fabric- the
pia fabric. It's regal and exotic!

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Man Made Fibers

Manufactured Fibers
Manufactured fibers are fibers created by a manufacturing process of any

substance that is not a fiber.

Cellulosic- from generated fibrous substance in plants.
Non-cellulosic or synthetic- made from petrochemical products.
Process
Raw materials melted or dissolved to form thick syrup
Liquid extruded through spinneret
Extruded filaments stretched and hardened into fibers

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Rayon
1st manufactured in 1894 by the American Viscose
Company
Used during WW 1 for industrial products
Derived from wood pulp, cotton linters, or vegetable
matter
Rayon led to crepe, velvet, and satin fabrics

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Rayon
Advantages:

Disadvantages:

Soft and comfortable

Wrinkles easily unless treated

Drapes well

Low resiliency

Durable

Heat sensitive

Highly absorbent

Susceptible to mildew

Dyes and prints well

Stretches

No static or pilling problems

Weakens when wet

Inexpensive

Fabric shrinks if washed

Colorfast

May need dry cleaning

May be washable

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Acetate Rayon
Developed in early 20th century
Produced in 1924 by the Celanese Corporation
Used to line coats and fabrics
Advantages:
Luxurious appearance

Disadvantages:
Requires dry cleaning

Crisp (texture) soft hand

Weak

Wide range of colors; dyes and prints well

Heat sensitive

Drapes well

Poor abrasion resistance

Resists shrinkage, moths, and mildew

Dissolved by nail polish remover (acetone)

Low moisture absorbency, relatively fast

drying
No pilling, little static

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Lyocell
Lyocell is the newest of the cellulosic manufactured fibers
Trade name is Tencel

Advantages:

Absorbent
Biodegradable
Strong
Resists sunlight, aging, and abrasion

Disadvantages

Susceptible to mildew

Used to Make:
Reusable woven materials
Fashion fabrics
Soft denims
shirts
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Bamboo
It is a regenerated cellulose fiber.
Bamboo fiber is 100% made from

bamboo through a high-tech process.

Fastest growing plant and takes only
3-4 years to reach maturity

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Advantage:
High strength, health care
Anti- bacteria
Moisture management and
Soft hand feel
Anti-static
Perfect for Sensitive Skin

Disadvantage:
Poor spinability
High cost (30 to 40 % higher than cotton)

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Corn Fiber
Trade name of this fiber is Ingeo.
Ingeo fiber combines the qualities of natural

and synthetic fibers in a new way.

Strength and resilience are balanced with
comfort, softness and drape in textiles. In
addition, Ingeo fiber has good moisture
management characteristics.
This means that Ingeo fiber is ideally suited to
fabrics from fashion to furnishings.

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Advantages of Corn fiber

Good color fast (i.e. does not fade).
Wrinkle free (doesnt need ironing).
Good Resilient - it doesnt shrink.
Doesnt absorb odors.
Has excellent soil release and stain resistance.
Has excellent performance when compared to other fibers.
Is hypoallergenic. Ingeo has never caused an allergic reaction in

independent testing.
Has excellent U.V. resistance (better than polyester).

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Milk Fiber
Milk Yarn is made from milk protein fibers.
To make it, milk is first dewatered, i.e. all the water content

is taken out from it and then it is skimmed.

New bio-engineering technique is then applied to make a
protein spinning fluid.
This fluid is suitable for wet spinning process through which
the final high-grade textile fiber is made.

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Advantages

Eco-friendly in nature.
It can be considered as Green Product .
More compatible to human skin.
Milk fiber has sanitarian function.
Comfortable, excellent water transportation & air permeability.
Milk Fiber has the advantages natural Fiber combined with
synthetic Fiber.

Disadvantages of casein fiber

It gets wrinkles easily after washing and needs to be ironed every time.

It should not be washed in machine and that is because it's not a very hard fiber

It has a low durability

Due to abundance of other fabrics like polyester, milk fabric never really became that popular

It is expensive

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Synthetic Fiber

Polyester
Synthetic fiber developed in the 1950s by DuPont
Advantages:
Strong
Crisp, but soft hand
Resists stretching and shrinkage
Washable or dry-cleanable
Quick drying
Resilient, resists wrinkles
Abrasion resistant
Resistant to most chemicals
Colorfast
Strong, durable
Dyes well

Disadvantages:
Low absorbency
Static and pilling problems
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Nylon
Invented in 1938 by DuPont
1st synthetic fiber
Made completely from petrochemicals in an experimental laboratory

Advantages:
Lightweight
Exceptional strength
Abrasion resistant
Easy to wash
Resists shrinkage and wrinkles
Resilient, pleat retentive
Fast drying, low moisture absorbency
Can be pre-colored or dyed in a wide range

of colors
Resists damage from oil and many chemicals
Insulating properties

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Disadvantages:
Static and pilling
Poor resistance to sunlight
Low absorbency
Picks up oils and dyes in wash
Heat sensitive

Acrylic

Manufactured in the 1950s by DuPont.

Originally used for blankets and sweaters because it resembled wool.
Fiber composed of linear macromolecules having in the chain at least 85% by mass
of acrylonitrile repeating units.
Advantages:
Lightweight, soft, warm, wool-like hand
Dyes to bright colors
Machine washable, quick drying
Resilient, retains shape, resists shrinkage

and wrinkles
Wool-like, cotton-like, or blended appearance
Excellent pleat retention
Resists moths, oil, chemicals

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Disadvantages:
Low absorbency
Develops static
Pilling
Heat sensitive
Weak
Dissolved by nail polish remover

(acetone)

Spandex
Developed in 1959 by DuPont
Stretches over 500% without breaking

Advantages:
Lightweight
Retains original shape
Abrasion Resistant
Stronger than rubber
Soft, smooth, supple
Resists body oils, perspiration, lotions, detergents
No static or pilling

Disadvantages:
Whites yellow with age
Heat sensitive
Harmed by chlorine bleach
nonabsorbent
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Microfibers
Newest trend in fashion
1st developed in 1989 by DuPont
Ultra-fine fiber
Denier is a unit of measurement used to identify the

thickness of diameter of a fiber

Advantages
Extremely drapeable
Very soft, luxurious hand
Washable or dry cleanable
Shrink-resistant
Strong
Insulates against wind, rain, and cold

Disadvantages
Heat sensitive
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Kevlar & Nomex

Advantages
Exceptional strength
Exceptional heat and
flame resistance
Resistant to stretch and
abrasion
Disadvantages
Not absorbent

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Kevlar
Bullet Proof Vests
Cut/Heat and Chemical

resistant Gloves

Nomex
Fireman Uniforms

Racing Apparel

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The End
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Aravin Prince Periyasamy

Asst Prof/ Textile Technology
D.K.T.E Societys Textile Engineering College, Ichalkaranji
Dist-Kolhapur, M.S, 415116
aravinprince@gmail.com
http://www.aravinprince.blogspot.in
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