Textile Industries
TEXTILE INDUSTRIES
History
• Fibers originally from wool, silk, cotton, flax and similar
materials
• 1883: 1st man-made fibers by Swan when he squirted
a solution of cellulose nitrate in acetic acid through
holes
• 1885: 1st commercial fibers from cellulose nitrate by
Chardonnet
• 1892: viscose production patented
• 1900: cuprammonium rayon fiber made
• 1921: cellulose acetate fiber
• 1940: 1st synthetic fiber – nylon (polyamide)
discovered by Carothers, commercialised by DuPont
• Mid 1950s: polyesters, acrylics, polyolefins produced
as well
Uses And Economics
• Man-made fibers – 45% of world’s fiber
production
• Uses depends on nature of individual fiber
• Clothing, carpets and upholstery made of
synthetic fibers
• Shirt & garments – blends of polyester and
cotton
• Nylon in US for carpet production
Properties Of Fibers
• General properties: length, crimp & denier
• Either continuous filament or short fibers, uniform in length,
spun into thread
• Short fibers – cotton & wool called staple
• Continuous filaments – infinite length, most synthetic fibers &
natural silk
• Synthetic staple fibers prepared by cutting continuous filaments
to short, uniform lengths usu. betw. 3.5-15 cm
• Crimp – curl or waviness placed in synthetic fibers by chemical
or mechanical action
• Denier – measure of weight of fibers per unit length & defined
as weight in grams of 9000 m, another unit is tex – weight of
1000 m
• 1st synthetic fibers were circulate, but special characteristics
imparted by manufacturing fibers with non-round cross section
• Most fiber in the market have filaments whose cross section are
not uniformly round
Synthetic Fibers
• Classification:
- Manufacture begins with preparation of polymer
consisting of very long, chain-like molecules
- Polymer spun and results in weak useless fiber
until it is stretched to orient molecules and set up
crystalline lattices
- By controlling within limits – degree of orientation,
crystallinity, and average chain length, single
polymer can be used to make a no. of fibers with
widely differing mechanical properties ranging
from weak and stretchy to strong and stiff
- 2 important factors to determine mechanical
properties of polymer: 1) attractive forces betw.
molecules and 2) flexibility & length of molecular
chains
• Spinning procedures:
1) Melt spinning – (nylon, polyester, polyvinyl,
polypropylene) involving pumping molten
polymer through capillaries or spinnerets, then
solidified by quenching in cool air
2) Dry spinning – (acrylics, vinyl-acrylic) polymer
dissolved in suitable organic solvent. Solution
forced thru’ spinnerets, evaporation of solvent in
warm air, dry filaments formed
3) Wet spinning – (acrilan, creslan) spinning of
solution of polymer and coagulation of fiber in
chemical bath
Table 35.1 Representative synthetic fibers and films
Polyamides
• Nylon 6,6 : 1st synthetic fiber made
commercially
• Used for home furnishing – carpets
• Polymerization reaction of adipic acid and
hexamethylene diamine
• Fig 35.3 - flow chart for nylon yarn using
batch process
Polyesters
• Polymers of ester formed from dimethyl
terephthalate and ethylene glycol
• Polymerization is a two stage process:
- 1st stage : monomer prepared either by ester
interchange between dimethyl terepthalate and
EG or by direct esterificaiton of terepthalic acid
- 2nd stage : polymerization of monomer
Fig 35.5 – flowchart for polyester fibers production
Acrylics And Modacylics
• Major component of several industrial
textile fibers, DuPont’s Orlon 1st attained
commercial scale operation
• Orlan made by polymerizing acylonitrile
• Resistance of chemical attack esp. to
weathering makes them useful in several
fields
• End users – sweaters, women’s coats,
men’s winter suiting, carpets and blankets.
• Suitable for pile fabrics and filter cloth
Cellulosic Fibers
• Rayon and acetate
Carbon fibers
• High-modulus carbon fibers prepared from
rayon, polyacrylonitrile or pitch
• Rayon fibers are charred at 200 – 350oC
& carbonized at 1000 – 2000oC
• Carbon fibers sold in three forms:
1) Low modulus – used as electrically conducting
surface for electrostatic spraying and injection
molding to get electrical conductivity,
resistance to heat and improved wear
2) Medium modulus – fiber can be formed into
fabrics
3) High modulus – lowest priced high-modulus
yarn available and used when stiffness is
critical
Carbon fibers – reinforcing plastics which can
be used for sporting goods (fishing rods) &
engineering plastics
Finishing and dyeing of textiles
• Modification of fibers and fabrics by special treatment to
change their properties & to improve their usefulness is
increasing
• Three important finishes: 1) flameproofing or fire
retarding 2) mildew or rotproofing and 3) water
repellency
• Temporary flame proofing achieved by application of
ammonium salts or borax and boric acid
• Ideal flame proofing allows cleaining or laundering and
but maintain desirable fabric characteristics is difficult
• Mildew proofing obtained by use of organic and inorganic
compounds eg. Acrylonitrile, chlorinated phenols
• To produce water repellent finishes durable to usual
cleaning processes, special quarternary ammonium
compounds are heat treated onto fiber
