The first idea of what fibers are, we get back at school in biology classes. In a broad sense, expressing a more general essence in relation to the particular, this concept represents a class of materials consisting of threads or cells.
Muscle fiber is a structural unit of muscle tissue, which is a multinucleated cell, which consists of a large number of other cells, which can be of plant, animal, mineral or artificial origin.
Originally from Old Slavonic
The origin of the word fiber associate with Old Slavonic "vlakno". This word exists in modern Bulgarian, Czech, Slovak, Serbian languages. With a slight phonetic difference found in Polish - wlOkno. There is a related concept in Old Indian: valkas, which means "bast".
In Russian in this lexical unit, changes have occurred as a result of alternating vowels: OLO-LA. Since "fiber" is a vocabulary word, its spelling must be remembered.
To get an idea of what fibers are as a classification of material, we will consider their types in more detail.
Cotton and bast
The fibers of plant origin include bast and cotton. Thin threads of cotton cover cotton seeds. They consist mainly (94%) of cellulose, and the rest is water, pectins, fat-containing, waxy, ash substances (mineral nutrition elements taken from the soil by the plant).
You can understand what fibers of cotton origin are by examining them under a microscope. We will see a flat crimped ribbon with a tubule filled with air.
These threads are hygroscopic, heat resistant, have high strength with respect to the action of alkalis. If you set fire to cotton, you will smell burnt paper.
Negative qualities include low elasticity and acid instability.
Bast fibers are obtained from a flax stem. They are elongated cells with pointed ends. In the cross section they have the shape of a pentahedron. A large percentage of the composition is cellulose (80%), and the remaining percentages are fatty, coloring, waxy mineral impurities and lignin. The presence of lignin gives increased strength. High thermal conductivity makes flax always cool to the touch.
Animal fiber
Goat, sheep, camel and other wool, as well as natural silk are animal fibers, consisting of three layers: the outer scaly, main cortical layer and the core, which is located in the center of the thread.
There are 4 types of wool fibers:
- crimped thin - fluff;
- intermediate hair - the average between fluff and spine;
- rough and slightly convoluted - awn;
- short brittle fiber - dead hair.
Depending on the types of yarn, the types of wool are distinguished: from fine, which is used to manufacture high-quality woolen products, to coarse wool used to make felt and felt. Wool is able to retain heat and is hygroscopic. When it burns, the smell of a burnt feather appears.
The lightest natural fiber is silk. Get it from the cocoon of a silkworm caterpillar.
Two proteins - fibroin and sericin - are part of the cocoon thread. Natural silk is characterized by softness, smoothness, high hygroscopicity, low creasing. The disadvantages are high shrinkage of the twisted yarn and low heat resistance. Silk is the most valuable raw material for the manufacture of light summer clothing.
Synthetic threads
What are fibers of synthetic origin, you can understand by studying their nature. They are produced through chemical synthesis from monomers, that is, low molecular weight substances. As a result, synthetic polymers are formed . Raw materials for kapron, lavsan, acrylic, krimplen, acetate silk are processed products of coal, oil, gas. These fiber threads have high strength, low creasing and shrinkage, but are not hygroscopic.
The variety of polymer properties, 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 materials for obtaining these fibers are cotton waste, various metals, glass, oil refining products, coal.
Viscose is one of the first fibers of chemical origin, adopted the scale of industrial production. It is obtained by treating wood pulp with chemical reagents.
One of the main disadvantages of viscose fiber is its high creasing ability. To reduce this quality, it is subjected to a chemical modification process. The result is a polynose fiber resembling fine-fiber cotton.