Natural Textile Fiber

Course Contents

1. Textiles and textile fiber

2. Classification of textile fibers with example

3. World production and consumption of textile fibers

4. Cotton cultivation and harvesting, growth, composition

5. Physical and chemical structure and properties of cotton fiber

6. Geographical distribution, ginning, grading, classification and end uses of cotton fibers

7. Cultivation and harvesting of different types of bast fibers such as Jute, Flax, Hemp, Ramie
etc.

8. Growth, composition, physical and chemical structure and properties of bast fibers

9. Retting, study of fiber ultimates, sorting, grading and classification and end uses of bast
fibers

10. Brief study of other types of cellulosic fibers such as leaf and fruit fibers

11. Growth, composition, physical and chemical structure and properties of wool fiber

12. Geographical distribution of main wool producing countries, shearing, classing, sorting
and end uses of wool fiber

13. Sources and types of animal hair fibers

14. Growth, composition, physical and chemical structure and properties of silk fibers

15. Sericulture and methods of production, geographical distribution, end uses of silk fibers

Reference books

1. Hand book of Textile Fibers, Volume: I and II, J. Gordon Cook

2. Physical Properties of Textile Fibers, W.E. Morton

Textiles
The term “textile” originates from the Latin verb “texere” that means to weave. But now-a-
days, textile is a process or technique which includes all the textile fibers, all kinds of processes,
all kinds of machineries and all kinds of products which are produced by fiber is called textile.

Flow chart of Textile Processing

Input material Process Output material
Textile fibers Yarn manufacturing Yarn
Yarn Fabric manufacturing(Weaving/Knitting) Grey fabrics
Grey fabrics Wet processing Finished fabrics
Finished fabrics Garment manufacturing Garments

Yarn Manufacturing
This is the first stage and most important section in textile industry. Because in this section
yarn is produced, this is the raw material of fabric manufacturing and fabric quality depends
on yarn. It is a process or techniques where yarn is produced with the alignment of parallel
textile fibers with or without twist is called yarn manufacturing. Maximum amount of yarn is
produced by spin or twist for this reason it is also known as Spinning.
Fabric Manufacturing
The process of interlacing warp and weft yarn or inter-looping either warp or weft yarn is called
fabric manufacturing.

Basically there are three types of fabric manufacturing system;

1. Weaving process

2. Knitting Process

3. Non-woven process

Wet Processing
Wet processing is one of the most important part of textile processing. This process is applied
on textile in form of liquid with involves some for chemical action on the textile. Bleaching,
dyeing, printing etc. are the parts of wet processing.

Dyeing
Dyeing is the process of applying color to fibers, yarn or fabrics by using natural or synthetic
dye. Dyeing is the application of dyes or pigments on textile materials such as fibers, yarns,
and fabrics with the goal of achieving color with desired color fastness.
Dyeing is normally done in a special solution containing dyes and particular chemical material.
Dye molecules are fixed to the fiber by absorption, diffusion, or bonding with temperature and
time being key controlling factors. There are many type of dyeing that using in textile wet
processing such as cross dyeing, union dyeing and gel dyeing. All of them has their own process
to make the dyeing process smoothly and produce a good quality of dyeing.

Printing
Textile printing involves the production of a predetermined colored pattern on a fabric, usually
with a definite repeat. It can be described as a localized form of dyeing, applying colorant to
selected areas of the fabric to build up the design.

Apparel Manufacturing
The process of making ready-made garments by cutting and sewing from finished fabric is
called apparel manufacturing.

Yarn
Yarn is a continuous length of interlocked fibers, suitable for use in the production of textiles,
sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery and rope making. Yarn can be made from a
number of natural or synthetic fibers.
Fiber
Fiber is the classes of materials which consist of fibrous structure and length is thousand times
higher than its diameter. It is defined as one of the delicate, hair portions of the tissues of a
plant or animal or other substances that are very small in diameter in relation to their length is
called fiber.

Textile Fiber
Textile fiber has some characteristics which differ between fibers to Textile fiber. Textile Fiber
is the classes of materials which consist of fibrous structure and length is thousand times higher
than its diameter and can be spun into yarn, appropriate for weaving & knitting and easily
colored by suitable dye stuff are also known as textile fiber. The major characteristic of fiber
is thousand times longer than its width.

The essential requirements for fibers to be spun into yarn include a length of at least 5
millimeters, flexibility, cohesiveness and sufficient strength. Other important properties
include elasticity, fineness, uniformity, durability and luster.

Human hair is one kind of fiber but it is not a textile fiber. Because it cannot fulfill the above
properties. So we can say that all fiber is not textile fiber.

Construction Model of Textile Fiber

A fiber is composed of many fibrillar bundles. Each fibril is constructed by many polymer
chain. Polymer chains are arranged in different order. Some are oriented and parallel
arrangement known as crystalline. And some are dis-oriented known as amorphous.
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.

1. It must have fibrous formation.

2. Its length is thousand times longer than its diameter (Length to width ratio).

3. It should have spin ability.

4. It should have sufficient strength, 6 cN/Tex.

5. It should have elasticity and flexibility properties.

6. It should have proper fineness.

8. It should have affinity to dye stuff.

9. It should have cohesiveness properties (Crimp)

Properties of Textile Fibers

There are three types of properties of textile fibers. Such as –

1. Physical properties

2. Thermal properties

3. Chemical properties

Physical properties

1. Length

2. Strength and extension

3. Flexibility

4. Fineness

5. Cross section

6. Crimp

7. Elasticity
8. Resiliency: It is the property of a fiber, which enables it to recover from a certain load or
stretch over a period of time.

9. Toughness: The ability of a fiber to endure large permanent deformations without rupture is
called toughness.

10. Density: The density indicates the mass per unit volume.

Thermal properties
1. Thermal Conductivity: The ability of a material to transport heat.

2. Heat Capacity: The ability of a material to absorb heat.

3. Thermal Expansion: Materials change size when temperature is changed.

4. Thermal Diffusivity: It measures the ability of a material to conduct thermal energy relative
to its ability to store thermal energy.

5. Pyrolysis: Pyrolysis is a chemical reaction. This reaction involves the molecular breakdown
of larger molecules into smaller molecules in the presence of heat. Pyrolysis is also known as
thermal cracking, cracking, thermolysis, de-polymerization, etc.

Chemical properties

1. Water: Water is very important to determine the properties of fibers. According to the
behavior of fibers with water, fibers are classified into two groups –hydrophobic and
hydrophilic. Water is used in process like scouring, dyeing, etc.

2. Absorbency: It is the ability of fiber to take up moisture and is expressed in terms of moisture
regain. It depends upon the polarity of the polymers and the ratio of its amorphous and
crystalline region. There are some terms, such as

Attracting groups: -OH, -NH, -CONH.

Non-attracting groups: -CH, -COO, -CH3

Semi-attracting groups: -Cl, COCH3, -CN

3. Acid: Textile fibers and materials are subjected to acids in various processing like bleaching.
The different kinds of fibers react differently with acids. The acid must be chosen properly to
use different process so that it doesn’t make any harm to the fiber but brings the required change
perfectly.
d) Alkali: Different kinds of fibers behave differently with different alkalis in different
situations. For example, Caustic soda in dilute solution and low temperature dissolved the wool
fibers, whereas mild alkalis have no injurious effect on wool at ordinary concentration. It is
used to many process such as dyeing, sizing and finishing.

e) Heat: Textile fibers are subjected to heat in dyeing, drying, steaming, calendaring, pressuring
and other operations. Some fibers become tough under heat such as Rayon, resin, where as
some burn under heat such as flax, cotton, jute, etc.

f) Sunlight: Sunlight reacts differently with different fibers and fabrics. For example, white
fabrics become faded in various degrees. Again black absorbs more suns heat than the white
one.

g) Biological agent: If the fibers are attacked by bacteria’s, black spots are seen on the fibers
as a result of which the strength of fiber is reduced.

h) Moisture Regain: Moisture regain is defined as the weight of water in a material expressed
as a percentage of the over dry weight of the material or the ratio of water in a material to the
oven dry weight of this material is called moisture regain. It is donated by R.

Let, oven dry weight of a material =D

Weight of water in this material =W

𝑊
Moisture Regain, R= 𝑥100
𝐷

i) Moisture Content: Moisture content is defined as the weight of water in a material express
as a percentage of the total weight of the material or The ratio of water in a material to the total
weight of the material is called moisture content. It is denoted by C.

Let, Oven dry weight of a material =D

Weight of water in this material =W

𝑊
Moisture Content, C= 𝑥100
𝐷+𝑊
Types of Textile Fiber:

1. According to Origin of fiber

 Natural fibre
 Manmade or Synthetic fiber
2. According to form fiber
 Staple Fiber
 Filament Fiber

1. Natural Fiber

Natural fiber is that which is produced naturally. The source of origin could be vegetable,
animal and mineral origin.

a. Vegetable Origin:

1. Bast Fibers (Jute, Flax, Ramie)

2. Leaf Fibers (Sisal, manila)

3. Seed and Fruits Fibers (cotton, coir)

b. Animal Origin:

1. Wool and Hair Fiber

2. Silk and other Filaments

c. Mineral Origin:

1. Asbestos

a. Vegetable Fibres:

These fibres are basically cellulosic fibres. Besides their use as textiles, these fibres are also
used in the manufacturing of papers. Vegetable fibres are basically obtained from various parts
(Organs) of the plants such as seeds, bast, leaf, fruit, stalk, etc.

1. Seed fibres: Seed fibers are obtained from seeds such as cotton, kapok, etc.
the cotton fibres are widely used for the apparel purpose, medical uses, and other textile
applications.
 2. Leaf fibres: Leaf fibres are obtained from leaves of plants such as Palf(
Pineapple leaf fiber), sisal, etc. Leaf fibres are used for marine ropes and cement reinforcement.

3. Fruit fibres: Fruit fibres are obtained from the fruit of the plant such as coir
fibre (coconut fruit). These fibres are mainly used for manufacturing doormats, carpets, etc.

4. Bast fibres: Bast fibres are obtained from the bast surrounding to the stem of
the plant. Such as jute, hemp, flax, ramie, etc. These fibres have more strength, durability and
do not get affected by moisture so that they are used for manufacturing durable yarns, fabrics,
packaging material and paper.

5. Stalk fibres: Stalk fibres are extracted from stalks of the plant – such as
straws of rice, wheat, and other crops. Bamboo and grass fibre is also included.

b. Animal Fibres:

The fibres which are obtained from animals are called as animal fibres. The fibres are mainly
made up of protein molecules. The basic element of a protein molecule is carbon, nitrogen,
hydrogen, oxygen.

Wool (Hair fibres obtained from the animals) & silk fibres are common examples of animal
fibres.

The fibres obtained from the sheep are referred as wool fibres, the hair of the horse, camel,
goat are also obtained as fibre. 90% of hair fibres are wool fibres used various applications.

Silk is very delicate filament. It is obtained from silkworms. Silk formation takes place by the
secretion of proteinous molecules in liquid form through the glands of the silkworm. It is
located on the head of the worm. This liquid proteinous material gets converted into the solid
filament. During this secretion process, the worm forms cocoons from which silk is extracted.

The Fibres obtained from the feathers of the birds is called as avian fibres.

c. Mineral Fibres

These are the inorganic materials shaped into fibres. Asbestos is the example of mineral fibre.
These fibres are fireproof, resistance to acid so that these fibres mainly found in the industrial
application.
2. Synthetic Fibers/Manmade Fibers/Artificial Fibers

Synthetic fibers are produced by the polymerization of various monomers. It is made by the
man for this reason, it is so called.

A) Natural Polymer Based:

1. Cellulosic

2. Cellulose Ester

3. Protein

4. Miscellaneous

B) Synthetic Polymer Based:

1. Polyamides

2. Polyester

3. Polyvinyl Derivatives

4. Polyolefines

5. Polyurethanes (Elastomer)

6. Miscellaneous

C) Inorganic fiber

Above textile fibers are processed by different methods. All textile fibers contain their own
characteristics.

A) Regenerated Synthetic: (Natural Polymer Based)

Regenerated synthetic fibres are also called as semi-synthetic fibres.

These fibres are made up of naturally long chain polymer structure, which is modified and
partially degraded by a chemical process to enable the polymerization reaction to form the
fibres. Most of the semi-synthetic fibres are called cellulose regenerated fibres.

Examples – Viscose rayon, modal, cupra (Rayon), bamboo viscose, tencel, Lyocell.

The cellulose required comes from various sources such as rayon from the tree wood, modal
from the beech trees, seacell from seaweed.
 B) Synthetic Fibre (Synthetic polymer based)

Synthetic fibres are manufactured from the petrochemicals.

Examples – Polyester, nylon, acrylic, etc.

These fibres are formed by the polymerization of monomers. Once the polymer is formed, it
can be formed into a filament by converting that polymer into fluid form and then extruding
the molten or dissolved polymer through narrow holes to give filaments. To form the fibre from
molten polymer it gets passed through the spinneret.

These fibres are generally very strong, fine and durable with very low moisture absorbency
property so that these fibres are also called as hydrophobic fibres.

C) In-Organic Fibre

These fibres are also called as metallic fibres. Metallic fibres are drawn from the ductile metals
such as copper, gold, sliver and can be extruded or deposited from more brittles such as nickel,
aluminum and iron. From stainless steel also fibres can be formed. These fibres are not that
much widely used but these fibres have their special applications in technical textile.

Textile Fiber Classification

Difference between Natural and man-make fibre

Natural fibre Man-made fibre

a. The fibre which we get from nature, is called a. The fibres made by synthetic or regenerating
natural fibre. system.

b. No of molecules is not limited b. No. of molecules are limited.

c. The no. of molecules controlled by nature. c. The no. of molecules controlled by man. The
The length cannot be controlled. length can be controlled.

d. The fabric made from natural fibre is d. Man-made fibre is uncomfortable and not good
comfortable and good for health. for health.

e. It is expensive. e. It is not expensive.

f. It cannot grow everywhere. We have to f. It can grow everywhere. For production, no

depend on nature. dependence on nature.

g. It is not much favorable for finishing. g. It is favorable for finishing.

h. Hygienic. h. Some are not hygienic.

i. Example – cotton, jute, kapok etc. i. Example – Rayon Nylon, Lycra etc.

Compare between Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic fibre

Hydrophilic Hydrophobic

a. The fibre, which has more joint for water that a. The fibre, which has no joint for water that
means more absorbency, is called hydrophilic. means less absorbency than hydrophilic, is called
hydrophobic.

b. Example – Cotton, wool, silk etc. b. Example – Nylon, polyester

c. More absorbent. c. Less – absorbent.

d. More amorphous. d. More crystalline

e. Generally rough – surface. e. Smooth surface.

 Hydrophilic Hydrophobic

f. Dyeing can be done easily. f. Difficult to dye.

g. Not easy to dry. g. Easy to dry.

h. More strength h. Less-strength

Natural fibres are replaced by man-made fibres

There are two kinds of fibres available in textile field, man-made fibre and natural fibre. The
Man Made Fibres are replacing the natural one. The reasons for this change can state below –

We know fibre quality depends upon its properties like strength, length, fineness, elasticity,
crimp, colour, maturity, and action with water – alkali acids etc. In case of man-made fibre, it
can give the fibres our required properties as we want. But in case of natural fibre, it is not
possible because it get its characteristics properties from the nature. For examples, we can get
polyester (MMF) fibre both in staple and filament form but we cannot set cotton (Natural Fiber)
fibre into filament form. There are also other points.

Such as –

 The strength of MMF is greater than n.f.

 The production of n.f. depends upon natural condition. But the properties of MMF do
not depend on n.f.
 Man-made fibre processing is easy than natural fibre.
 The properties of MMF i.e. strength, appearance, action of acids, elasticity etc can be
changed but not in case of n.f.
 Man-made fibre is cheaper than n.f.
 Floods, droughts, natural calamity has no effect on men made fibre.
World consumption of textile fibers

1. Synthetic fibers: 63%

2. Cotton fibers: 25%

3. Wood based fibers: 7%

4. Other natural fibers: 5%

World consumption of textile fibers- in million metric tons

Fiber name Consumption (million metric tons)

Cotton 25.2
Wool 1.1
Cellulosic 6.2
Acrylic 1.6
Nylon 4.7
Polyester 54.7
Polypropylene 4.9