Classification of Textile Fiber

0

Based on source Textile Fibers are classified into two groups.

Vegetable or Cellulosic fibers:

The fibers that are derived from plants are called vegetable fibers. The basic material of all plant life is cellulose. Cellulose is made up of elements like carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. These cellulose fibers have certain common properties like low resilience, high density, and good conductor of heat. They are highly absorbent and are resistant to high temperature. Cotton, flax, jute, ramie, coir and sisal are some of the examples of vegetable fibers.

Animal fibers:

The fibers which are obtained from animals are called animal fibers. Wool and silk are common examples of animal fibers. They are made up of protein molecules. The basic elements in the protein molecules are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. Animal fibers have high resiliency but weak when wet because they are bad conductors of heat. Alpaca, Llama, rabbit, horse and kesin are also some of the animal fibers.

Mineral fibers:

They are the inorganic materials shaped into fibers and are mainly used in the fire proof fabrics. Asbestos is the example of mineral fiber. Mineral fibers are fire proof, resistant to acids and are used for industrial purposes. Carbon and graphite are also mineral fibers.

Man made or Synthetic fibers:

These refer to those fibers that are not naturally present in nature and are made artificially by man. Man made fibres have high strength and strong, when wet low moisture absorption characteristics. Examples of man made fibers are nylon, polyester etc.

Regenerated cellulosic fibers are called semi-synthetic as raw materials are of natural source but made in laboratory. Some regenerated fibers are Viscose rayon, acetate rayon and cupramonium rayon.