About Fibers, Part 1: "Types of Fibers"

Hello everyone,

Starting now, I'll be writing about various aspects of fibers in irregular updates.

I'll strive to write easy-to-understand articles, so please bear with me.

Now, let's get to today's topic: "Types of Fibers."

Fibers can be broadly divided into two types:

"Natural Fibers"

and

"Chemical Fibers"

"Natural fibers" are those found in nature, such as cotton, linen, wool, and silk.

"Chemical fibers" are those chemically produced, such as acrylic, polyester, and nylon.

Natural fibers can be further divided into the following three types:

"Plant Fibers"

"Animal Fibers"

"Mineral Fibers"

"Plant fibers" are fibers obtained from plants, such as cotton and linen.

"Animal fibers" are fibers obtained from animals, such as wool, silk, and down.

"Mineral fibers" are fibers obtained from minerals, such as asbestos.

On the other hand, "chemical fibers" are classified into the following four types:

"Regenerated Fibers"

"Semi-Synthetic Fibers"

"Synthetic Fibers"

"Inorganic Fibers"

"Regenerated fibers" are made by dissolving naturally occurring raw materials such as rayon, cupro, and natural rubber to regenerate them into fibers.

"Semi-Synthetic Fibers" are made by mixing natural raw materials with chemicals, such as acetate and promix.

"Synthetic Fibers" are made artificially from petroleum, such as nylon, polyester, and acrylic.

"Inorganic Fibers" are made from inorganic materials such as metal fibers, glass fibers, and carbon fibers.

Now, the above classification is based on the production of the fibers, but there is another way to classify fibers.

This is a classification based on the length of the fiber, and there are two types:

"Long Fibers (Filaments)"

"Short Fibers (Spun Fibers)"

"Long fibers (filaments)" are fibers that are long enough to form a single thread.

"Short fibers (spun fibers)" are fibers that are short enough to require processing to form a single thread.

"Long fibers (filaments)" include silk among natural fibers, and all synthetic fibers can be produced as long fibers (filaments).

"Short fibers (spun fibers)" include all natural fibers except silk.

So, are there no short fibers (spun fibers) among synthetic fibers? The answer is yes, short fibers (spun fibers) exist among synthetic fibers as well.

Furthermore, there is also silk that is made of short fibers (spun fibers), but I will write about that in more detail when I write about silk in more detail.

In short, it is as follows:

Natural Fibers

• Plant Fibers

• Animal Fibers

• Mineral Fibers

Synthetic Fibers

• Regenerated Fibers

• Semi-Synthetic Fibers

• Synthetic Fibers

• Inorganic Fibers

Long Fibers (filaments)

Short Fibers (spun fibers)

This is a very simple explanation, but that's all for today.

Next time, I will write in more detail about plant fibers.

Thank you for reading to the end.

(Please let us know if you find any errors.)

References

Aichi Prefectural Textile Promotion Association (2016) "TEXTILE HANDBOOK"

Teruhiko Ichimi (2014) "Easy-to-Understand Knowledge of Apparel Materials, Revised Edition" Seiunsha

Etc.

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