ABSTRACT
This chapter covers various aspects of human-made synthetic fibers: fundamentals, manufacturing, operations, classification, properties, and commercial applications. A new concept of human-made synthetic fiber is the backbone of the textile industry. It can be sub-divided into five broad groups: commodity fibers, high-performance fibers, technical textiles/specialty fibers, special-technique fibers, and ceramic fibers. Each fiber group has its own inherent physical and technical properties. The segment of commodity fibers possesses physical properties required in the fashion sector. Typical examples of commodity fibers are nylon, polyester, acrylic, and viscose, mostly used for apparel (tensile strength 5~7 g/denier) and industrial uses (7.0 ~10.0 g/denier). High-performance (HP) fiber have tenacity and a Young’s modulus above ~20–50 g/denier (or ~2.2–5.2 GPa) and 600–1500g/denier (~ 6.6–15 GPa), respectively. HP fibers, known as superfibers, are suitable for applications in technical and high-technical textiles due to their higher thermal and chemical resistance. Commercially available HP fibers like high-density polyethylene (HDPE), high-modulus polyethylene (HMPE), meta-aramids, para-aramids, carbon fibers, polybenzimidazole (PBI) fibers, polyphenylene benzobisoxazole (PBO) fibers, glass fibers, and technical/specialty fibers are fibers that posses some sort of performance-enhancing property, such as conductive fibers, anti-microbial/fungal/bacterial fibers, wound-healing fibers, superabsorbent fibers, flame-retardant fibers, antistatic fibers, water-repellent fibers, and fire-resistant (FR) modacrylic and multifunctional fibers. Special-technique fibers are equally important for manufacturing highly valued fabrics. These fibers are hollow fibers, bi-component fibers, melt-blown fibers, and ultrafine nanofibers. Technologies for manufacturing all these superior new concept fibers are very complex in terms of process and materials. Like Kevlar, a high-performance fiber needs very sophisticated technology known as dry jet spinning.
