Classification of Textile Fibers

Textile fiber is a material mainly made from natural or synthetic sources. This material will be converts into the making of textile yarns and fabrics; woven, knitted, non woven, and carpets. It may be in a form of a pliable hair like strand or as the smallest visible unit of textile production.

Classification:

Since from the past, there are many types of textile fiber that have been used or developed in textile production such as cloth, rope, household and etc. In textile industry, fiber can be classified into two different types based on their sources which are Natural fiber and Synthetic fiber or well-known as Man-made fiber.

Natural Fibers: 

natural fiber, any hair like raw material directly obtainable from an animal, vegetable, or mineral source and convertible into nonwoven fabrics such as felt or paper or, after spinning into yarns, into woven cloth. A natural fiber may be further defined as an agglomeration of cells in which the diameter is negligible in comparison with the length. Although nature abounds in fibrous materials, especially cellulosic types such as cotton, wood, grains, and straw, only a small number can be used for textile products or other industrial purposes. Apart from economic considerations, the usefulness of a fiber for commercial purposes is determined by such properties as length, strength, pliability, elasticity, abrasion resistance, absorbency, and various surface properties. Most textile fibers are slender, flexible, and relatively strong. They are elastic in that they stretch when put under tension and then partially or completely return to their original length when the tension is removed.

Synthetic Fibers: 

The term Synthetic fiber refers to materials that is not originated in natural sources but are developed by human by using chemical and mechanical process. Thus, Synthetic fiber is well-known as the Man-made fiber. Unlike Natural fiber, the properties of this fiber can be determined or controlled early before the production occurs. Unlike natural, Synthetic fiber is produce in a filament yarn or filament staple yarn base on the end-use. The dimensional appearance can be varies according to the demands usage and in fact, it can be as same-like appearance and properties as the Natural fiber. There are two base types of man-made that have been widely used by the textile industry, Natural Polymer base and Synthetic base. 

Man-Made Fibers: 

Man-made fiber is an artificial fiber, which is made by a polymerization process in the factory. But some man-made fibers are made from natural fibers which are called regenerated man-made fiber. Man-made fibers are classified in two ways. There are as follows

• Organic: Viscose, acetate, acrylic etc.
• Inorganic: Glass, metal, carbon etc. 

Characteristics of Textile fiber:

There are different types of fibers, but all of are not textile fibers. To become a textile fiber, it must have some fundamental properties  and characteristics. 

The properties of textile fiber are given below;

• It must have fibrous formation.
• It Length is thousand times longer than its diameter.
• It should have spun able ability.
• It should have sufficient strength and spinning ability.
• It should have contained elasticity and flexibility characteristics.
• It must be Fineness.
• It must have special color.
• It should have affinity to dye stuff.

Fiber Availability:

Natural fiber requires a long time to restock the production although it is renewable sources but in terms of continuous production, natural can’t fulfill the needs. Unlike natural, Synthetic fiber takes a shorter time to restock the production but still because of the widely use of oil, it takes a much longer time to renew the oil sources. In terms of continuous production, synthetic could provide more than needs to fulfill the industrial requests.

Conclusion:

In order to sustain the oil’s stock on the production of synthetic fiber by replacing it with new sources, several research and developments have been done in order to do so. Soy fiber and Corn fiber are some of the new advancement in regenerated fiber’s product base on their stock availability and good properties. Although natural fiber seems loss in terms of availability compare with synthetic, many countries already have their own farms or fields in order to meet the local and world demands such as China(wool, cotton), Australia(cotton, wool), Sudan(wool), and Greece(cotton).