Fiber Definitions — textile fibers, yarn fibers and fiber properties from Apparel Search
Fiber, in American English, or fibre in International English, is an elongated stringy natural, man-made or manufactured material. In the case of natural fibers, they often tie together the parts of natural creatures. Natural vegetable fibers generally consist of cellulose; examples include cotton, linen and hemp, and cellulose fibers are used in the manufacture of paper and cloth. Natural animal fibers include spider silk, sinew, hair and wool, and there are naturally occurring mineral fibers such as asbestos.
Man-made fibers are those that are made artificially, but from from natural raw materials (often cellulosic). Examples include fiberglass, rayon, acetate, cupro and the more recently developed Lyocell.
Synthetic fibers include nylon, acrylic, polyester and graphite fiber.
Synthetic fibers and man-made fibers are the result of an extensive search by scientists to increase and improve upon the supply of the naturally occurring animal and plant fiber.
| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/fiber 9/12/04 Modified by Apparel Search. |
The classification turns on origin, not on use. Natural vegetable fibers generally consist of cellulose, so cotton, linen and hemp belong together as plant fibers whose chemistry is the chemistry of cellulose, and cellulose fibers are used in the manufacture of paper and cloth as well as textiles. Natural animal fibers are protein rather than cellulose: spider silk, sinew, hair and wool are the animal family's contributions, and each carries the properties of the animal it came from, warmth, elasticity or strength. Mineral fibers are the third natural group, represented by asbestos, which is a naturally occurring mineral fiber rather than a plant or animal product. Because natural fibers often tie together the parts of natural creatures, they come with the variability of living things: fineness, length and colour vary from plant to plant and animal to animal, and grading exists to sort that variation into usable lots.
Man-made fibers keep a foot in the natural world. Rayon, acetate, cupro and lyocell are all made from cellulose, so their raw material is plant matter that has been dissolved and re-formed, and fiberglass applies the same idea of re-forming a natural material to glass. Synthetic fibers break the link altogether: nylon, acrylic, polyester and graphite fiber are polymers made by synthesis, and their properties are set by the chemist rather than by the plant or animal. The glossary that follows from this definition is organized the same way, with natural fibers such as cotton, linen, hemp, wool, silk and the specialty hairs on one side, and the regenerated and synthetic fibers, acetate, acrylic, rayon, lyocell, nylon, polyester and olefin, on the other. Every textile, from the simplest cloth to the most technical fabric, is a choice somewhere on that map: which origin, which polymer, which fineness, and which combination of fibers will give the finished product the hand, strength, absorbency and care behaviour it needs.
Natural fibers, man-made fibers and synthetic fibers. Natural fibers come from plants, animals or minerals. Man-made fibers are made artificially but from natural raw materials, often cellulosic. Synthetic fibers, including nylon, acrylic, polyester and graphite fiber, are made entirely by chemical synthesis.
Man-made fibers are made artificially but from natural raw materials, often cellulosic; examples are fiberglass, rayon, acetate, cupro and the more recently developed lyocell. Synthetic fibers are built from synthesized polymers rather than from a natural fiber material, and the distinction matters for how each fiber is labelled, processed and cared for.
Synthetic and man-made fibers are the result of an extensive search by scientists to increase and improve upon the supply of the naturally occurring animal and plant fibers. Natural supply is limited by land, animals and seasons, while manufactured fibers can be made in the quantity, fineness and properties a product needs.