What are fibers? Types and origin

The first idea of what fiber is, we get back in school at the lessons of biology. In a broad sense, expressing a more general essence in relation to the particular, this concept is a class of materials consisting of threads or cells.

Muscle fiber is a structural unit of muscle tissue, which is a multinucleate cell, which consists of a large number of other cells that can be of plant, animal, mineral or artificial origin.

Originally from the Old Slavonic

The origin of the word "fiber" Associated with the Old Slavonic "vlakno." This word exists in modern Bulgarian, Czech, Slovak, Serbian languages. With a small phonetic difference is found in Polish - wlOkno. There is a related concept in the ancient Indian: valkas, which means "lyke".

In the Russian language in this lexical unit, changes occurred as a result of the alternation of vowels: OLO-LA. Since "fiber" is a dictionary word, its spelling needs to be remembered.

To get an idea of what a fiber is as a classification of the material, let's take a closer look at their types.

Cotton and bast

Fibers of vegetable origin include bast and cotton. Fine cotton threads cover the seeds of cotton. They consist mainly of (94%) cellulose, and the rest is water, pectins, fat-containing, waxy, fly ash (elements of mineral nutrition taken from the soil from the plant).

You can understand what cotton fibers are by examining them under a microscope. We will see a flat, convoluted ribbon with a canal filled with air.

These threads are hygroscopic, heat-resistant, have high strength in relation to the action of alkalis. If the cotton is ignited, then the smell of burnt paper will be felt.

Negative qualities include low elasticity and instability to the action of acids.

Fibers are obtained from the stem of flax. They are elongated cells with pointed ends. In the cross section, they have the shape of a pentahedron. A higher percentage of the composition is cellulose (80%), while the remaining percent falls on fatty, coloring, waxy mineral impurities and lignin. The presence of lignin gives increased strength. High thermal conductivity makes flax always cool to the touch.

Fibers of animal origin

Goat, sheep, camel and other wool, as well as natural silk are animal fibers, consisting of three layers: the outer flake, the main cortical layer and the core layer, which is in the center of the thread.

There are 4 types of woolen fibers:

• Twisted thin - down;
• Intermediate hair - the middle between down and awn;
• Rough and little crimp - awn;
• Short brittle fiber - dead hair.

Depending on the type of thread, the types of wool are also distinguished: from fine, which goes to the production of high-quality woolen products, to the coarse, used for making cloth and felt. Wool is capable of keeping heat and hygroscopic. When it burns, the smell of burnt feather appears.

The lightest natural fiber is silk. Get it from the cocoon caterpillar silkworm.

Two proteins - fibroin and sericin - are part of the cocoon thread. Natural silk is characterized by softness, smoothness, high hygroscopicity, low crushing. Disadvantages are high shrinkage of twisted yarn and low heat resistance. Silk is the most valuable raw material for making light summer clothes.

Synthetic threads

What are fibers of synthetic origin can be understood by studying their nature. They are produced through chemical synthesis from monomers, that is, low-molecular substances. As a result, synthetic polymers are formed . The raw materials for capron, lavsan, acrylic, kremplen, acetate silk are products of processing of coal, oil, gas. These filaments have high strength, low crease and shrinkage, but are not hygroscopic.

The variety of properties of polymers, the ability to vary them, and the availability of raw materials are incentives for the development of the production of synthetic fibers.

Chemical fibers

They are obtained by processing such synthetic substances as polyamides, polyesters, as well as natural materials: cellulose, proteins, casein and others. The raw material for obtaining these fibers is cotton waste, various metals, glass, refined products, coal.

Viscose is one of the first fibers of chemical origin, which adopted the scale of industrial production. It is produced by treating wood pulp with chemical reagents.

One of the main drawbacks of viscose fiber is high crushing. To reduce this quality, it is subjected to the process of chemical modification. As a result, a polinose fiber resembling a fine cotton fiber is obtained.