Man Made Textile Fiber

Books
1. Handbook of Textile Fibers, Vol – II – Manmade Fibers by J. Gordon Cook
2. Man-made Fibers by Moncrieff
3. Textile Raw Materials by Ajay and Rakesh Jindal
4. Physical Characterization of Textile Fibers by Ahmed Jalal Uddin
5. Production of Synthetic Fibers by A.A. Vaidya
6. Technology of Textile Processing – Vol – I – Textile Fibers by Dr. V. A. Shenai
Fibers and Manmade Fibers
Fibers are the raw materials in manufacturing of Textile materials.
Fibers: Fibers are delicate, hair like substance that is derived from plant or animal tissues, which
are very small in diameter in relation to their length. These are several hundred units longer
than they are thick.
Textile Fibers: Fibers that have been defined by Textile Institute as, units of matter, characterized
by:
- Flexibility - Fineness - High ratio of length to thickness
Manmade Fibers: A Class of Fibers which are synthetically produced from fiber forming
substances usually refers to all chemically produced fibers.
Example: Viscose Rayon, Nylon, Polyester, Tencel etc.
Different
Textile Fibers
 Fiber Classification Chart

Fibers

Man Made
Natural Fibbers
Fibers

Regenerated
Of Vegetable Of Mineral Synthetic
Of Animal Origin Natural Inorganic
Origin Origin Polymers
Polymers

Bast Fibers
Wool and Hair Cellulose Polyvinyl Glass, Metals
(Flax, Jute, Asbestos Polyamides Polyesters Polyolefin Polyurethanes Miscellaneous
Fibers (Rayon) Derivatives etc.
Hemp)

Leaf Fibers Silk and other Polyvinyl Polyvinyledine Polyvinyl Polytetrafluro Polyvinyledine
Cellulose Esters Polyacrylonitrile Polystyrene Miscellaneous
(Abaca, Sisal) filaments Chloride Chloride Alcohol Ethylene Dinitrile

Seed and Fruit

Miscellaneous
 Natural Fibers vs Man made Fibers
Natural fibers are those that originates from Natural sources (Plant, Animal, Mineral etc.) on the other hand Man
made fibers are not naturally present in the nature and are processed or regenerated by man. The fundamental
differences between natural and man made fibers are given below:
Natural Fiber Man made fiber
Length and shape of fibers are given by nature Length and shape of fibers can be controlled
Comfortable to wear Comparatively less comfortable
Hygienic and environment friendly Non hygienic and detrimental to environment
Mostly hydrophilic in nature Hydrophobic in nature
Dependent on climatic condition and nature Not dependent on climatic condition and nature
Number of molecules and molecular weight is controlled by Number of molecules and molecular weight is controlled by
nature people
Comparatively less durable Better durable than natural fibers
Generally ignites quickly, burns freely with smoke and have Readily burns and melts giving a distinct plastic burning
an afterglow following burning odor
Man Made
Fibers
Classification:
Manmade Fibers Classification:
Regenerated Fibers
Regenerated natural-polymer fibers are those fibers which are derived from or regenerated by using
natural source as a base and are chemically shaped to filament form, e.g. viscose rayon,
cuprammonium rayon, acetate rayon, casein ardil, etc.
Rayon
Rayon is a manufactured regenerated cellulosic fiber. It is the first man made fiber. It has a round
shape with smooth surface.
Synthetic Fibers
Synthetic fibers are those fibers where only chemicals are used in the manufacture of such fibers.
They do not require natural raw material as a base for the manufacture, as in the case of regenerated
fibers. For example, hexamethylenediamine and adipic acid are used in the manufacture of nylon and
dimethyl terephthalate and ethylene glycol in the production of polyester fiber etc.

Synthetic fibers can also be classified in two groups, (a) Hetero chain fibers, e.g., polyester,
polyamide, polyurethane, polyurea fiber, etc., (b) Carbon chain fibers, e.g. polyacrylonitrile, polyvinyl
alcohol, polyvinyl chloride, polyolefin and special purpose fluorine, etc., containing fibers.
Synthetic Fibers
Polyester
Polyester is one of the most popular synthetic fibers. Polyester is a kind of polymer those
contain Ester functional group in their main chain. They are most commonly referred to
Polyethylene Terephthalate.
Inorganic Fibers
Miscellaneous inorganic fibers are those fibers which are made from substances such as metal and
glass. Both these materials have been used by man for a long time in forms other than textile fibers.

Thus malleable and ductile nature suggested the use as textile fibers long ago, but the cost and
technical difficulties hindered its wide use.

Glass, Carbon, Metal, Ceramic Fibers etc. are examples of Inorganic Fibers
Glass Fiber
Glass fiber is formed when thin silica based or other formulation based glass is extruded into
many fiber forms with small textile processing.
Forms of Man Made Fibers
Man made fibers are broadly found in 3 forms:
1. Continuous Filament:
1. Mono Filament
2. Multi Filament
2. Staple
3. Filament Tow
Continuous Filaments are of long continuous length. They are spun from Spinnerets and is
determined by the size of yarn to be made.
Staple Fibers are those of discontinuous length, they are chopped to shorter lengths of a few
inches. The length depends on their use.
Filament Tow is a form that is kept with ten or hundred of thousands of filaments bundled
together in a loose rope and wound up in some sort of spool or package.
Properties required for Fiber forming
polymers:
Hydrophilic: For man made fiber to be comfortable to wear the forming polymers need to be
hydrophilic so that the system permits the entry of water molecule.
Flexibility: Fiber forming polymers should be linear and flexible, they should not be branched.
Orientation: Fiber forming polymers should be capable of being oriented. They should be able to
be arranged or aligned into more or less parallel order in the direction of longitudinal axis of the
filament or fiber.
Molecular Weight: Molecular weight should be high.
Chemical resistance: Polymers should be chemically resistant against common degrading agents
such as sunlight, weather, soiling, laundry liquors, dry cleaning agents etc.
Solubility: Polymers must be soluble in some solvents from which they can be spun.
Melting point: Fibers melting point must be higher to be useful for textile operation.
Importance of Orientation of fiber
1. Orientation of fiber mainly refers to the ratio of crystalline to amorphous materials.
2. Well oriented fibers are always the expected for having
Better strength performance. The better oriented the
Fibers, the stronger the element.
3. Although crystalline structure provide more strength,
Rigidity, The amorphous region provides intensity for
more water or chemical uptake, flexibility and reactivity.
4. In the case of natural fibers, the ratio of crystallinity to
Amorphous region is fixed by nature where as in case of
MMF it can be controlled to a large extent by condition
Under which fiber is produced.
 History
▪1664 – English physicist Robert Hooke suggested possibility of extruding artificial silk by a mechanical
imitation like silkworm.
▪1885 – French scientist Georges Audemars manufactured Nitrocellulose (Gun Cotton) which was
unacceptable due to extreme flammability.
▪1884 – Count Hilairie de Chardonnet (France) produced regenerated cellulose fiber from Nitrocellulose.
▪1891 – Manufacturing of first commercially produced man-made fiber Chardonnet silk began. Viscose
Rayon was discovered by CF Cross and EJ bevan.
▪1905 – First commercial production of Viscose Rayon by Courtaulds.
▪1921 – First commercial production of Acetate by British Celanese.
▪1939 – First Synthetic fiber Nylon was invented by WH Carothers at Du Pont in 1930 and commercial
production started in 1939. He also discovered Noeprene Rubber and Aliphatic Polyester.
▪1941 – Polyester made by JT Dickson and JR Whinnfield at Calico printers association, UK.
 History
▪1950 - Commercial production of Acrylic by Du Pont.
▪1953 – Commercial production of Polyester by ICI (UK) and DU Pont.
▪1959 – Commercial production of Spandex (Lycra) by Du Pont.
▪1963 – Commercial production of Aramid y Du Pont. World’s strongest and lightest fiber which is
15 times stronger than steel was discovered by Chance.
▪1981 – Courtauld discovered Lyocell.
▪1992 – Full commercial production of Lyocell by Courtaulds.
▪1998 – Commercial production of PBO (Poly-para-phenylenebisoxazole) by Toboyo. PBO is a high
performance fiber used for it’s good fire resisting ability.