Synthetic polymer fibres
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Introduction
Synthetic polymer fibres
Synthetic polymer fibres can be classified based on the general chemical mechanism used for building the linear polymers.
Fibre type Fibre composition Cross-section appearance Polyester Poly(ethylene-terephthalate) Depends on spinneret Nylon polyamide Depends on spinneret Acrylic Poly-acrylonitrile Depends on spinning conditions Polypropylene polypropylene Depends on spinneret Elastane polyurethane fibrillar QuestionsClick on the headings below for more information
Polyester-PES
- Variants – PET most common
- Methylene groups, Carboxyl groups, ester link, benzen rings
- DP 115-140
- 65% Crystalline 35% amorphous
- Highly oriented in amorphous areas
- Very useful – most used synthetic fibre
Polyamide-PA
- First synthetic fibre 1939, DuPont
- Parachutes, shirts, underwear, carpets, outdoor clothing
- Today substituted by PES/Cotton in shirts, underwear etc.
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Nylon
- Amide groups
- Degree of polymerisation (DP): 50-80
- Zig-zag molecule chain, high crystalline and orientation
- 65-85% crystalline 15-35% amorphous
- Nylon 6 (PA6) and Nylon 6.6 (PA6.6)
Acrylic-PAN
- 1950 DuPont
- Homo-polymer – Compact structure – Bikryl®
- Co-Polymer open structure – Acrilan®
- DP ~ 1000
- Wet or Dry spinning, no melt spinning
Elastane-EL
- 1959 – DuPont
- Elastomeric fibre
- Hard and soft segments
- Stretched repeatedly return to original length
- Blended with other fibres
- Spandex® Lycra®
×
Lycra®
Trevira expand
Pair the following international fibre abbreviations with the correct generic fibre name:
What changes in the spinneret would have to be done for the following to occur:
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Project
Contact
This resource was developed as part of an Erasmus+ project, funded with support from the European Commission under grant agreement 2016-1-SE01-KA203-22064.
The project was a collaboration between:
- The University of Borås, Sweden
- The University of the Highlands and Islands, Scotland
- The University of Alcalá, Spain
- Digital Connections, Scotland
This resource has been released under Creative Commons license CC-BY-SA 4.0.
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