Synthetic Fibers

Today they're many thousand different materials. Most of them are different types of clothing, or cloth. Good portions of these are combinations of synthetic fibers woven or threaded together to make a final product. These synthetic fibers are a large group of polymers. Synthetic polymers offer more possibilities, since they can be designed with molecular structures that impart properties for desired end uses. All fibers are ploy-something or polymers. That means they are long strings of repeating chemical elements. Some fibers come from ground plants that synthesize connected units of cellulose like cotton. Others are protein chains found on animals - wool, or the hair on your head. Other fibers are spewed from insects and worms, like spider webs and silk. Many of these polymers are capable of dissolving or melting, allowing them to be extruded into the long, thin filaments needed to make most textile products. Synthetic polymer fibers can be made with regular structures that allow the chains to pack together tightly, a characteristic that gives strength. Filaments today can be made from some synthetic polymers that are much lighter and stronger even than steel(Warner,p129-139).

All manufactured fibers can be engineered to produce desired qualities. The size of polymer molecules is important. A polymeric material contains many chains with the same repeating units, but with different chain lengths. Mostly, higher molecular weights lead to greater strength. As polymer chains get bigger, their solutions become more viscous and difficult to process. These straight chains may be branched, with small chains extending out from the backbone. The branches also may grow until they join with other branches to form a huge, three-dimensional matrix. Then, a century ago, the first manufactured fiber, rayon, was developed. The secrets of fiber chemistry for countless applications had begun to emerge. It started in France when rayon was produced from