Man-Made Fibre: Types and Production | World | Economic Geography

In this article we will discuss about the types and production of man-made fibres.

Types of Man–Made Fibre:

There are two main types of man-made fibres:

1. Cellulosic Fibres:

These fibres, the most important of which is rayon, were developed in Britain in the late nineteenth century and are derived from natural cellulose. The main sources of cellulose are spruce wood-pulp and cotton linters.

Other fibres based on natural substances such as groundnut protein and casein (a constituent of milk) have also been developed but these are expensive to produce and cannot compete with either wood-pulp- based or true synthetic fibres.

2. True Synthetics:

True synthetic fibres are produced chemically from coal or petroleum mole­cules. Coal was at first more important hut has been almost entirely superseded by petroleum, and the real rise in the production of synthetics such as nylon, acrilan and polyester has paralleled the rise of the petrochemicals industry as a whole.

The great expan­sion of nylon manufacture also owes a great deal to the development of nylon stockings for women. The enormous and continuous demand created for stock­ings formed the basis of the industry, but in recent years many different types of fibres with special prop­erties have greatly expanded the market for true syn­thetic fibres.

Production of Man-Made Fibre:

Rayon may be manufactured in two ways. In the production of viscose rayon the cellulose is dissolved in caustic soda and carbon bisulphide and the resultant solution is extruded through a spinneret with numer­ous holes, into a coagulant where it solidifies to make filaments. Acetate rayon is made by using acetic acid, acetic anhydride and acetone to produce the cellulose solution and extruding the filaments into a current of warm air.

The basis of most true synthetics is the ben­zene fraction of crude oil. The oil is crack­ed to split it into its various constituents and in a polymerization plant its chemical structure is changed to produce the basis of synthetic fibres. The fibres are known by an enormous array of different names such as nylon, tetron, terylene, acrilan, courtelle, crimplene and so on but are of two basic types, name­ly nylons and acrylic fibres.

Synthetic fibres are produced as continuous fila­ments and thus differ markedly from the natural fibres which come in a variety of staple lengths. Some synthetic fibres are used in the form of continuous filaments. Rayon so used produces a light-weight, glossy material which is usually called artificial silk.

Nylon is used in continuous fibres for making stock­ings or making pure nylon materials. Such fabrics may have properties which are superior to those of natural fibres. For instance, most synthetics are more crease-, shrink- and water- resistant than natural fibres. Many are also elastic and durable and most are easily laundered, e.g. they may require no ironing.

However, they have some disadvantages. By and large, synthetics are not such good insulators as natural fibres and they are not absorbent and may not ‘breathe’. Originally, many synthetics were inflammable but most are now made fire-resistant. From the point of view of the gar­ment trade, continuous filaments are not particularly versatile in use or appearance. They do not have the variety of texture of natural fibres.

Most of these disadvantages were overcome by the development of a process for cutting the continuous filaments into staple lengths. This gave the synthetic fibres far greater versatility. They could be spun and woven in different ways, and produced in a variety of thicknesses and staple lengths, to resemble most natural fibres.

In addition they could be mixed with natural fibres so as to combine the best properties of both synthetic and natural fibres. Production of dis­continuous rayon filaments now exceeds that of con­tinuous filaments and about half the true synthetic fibres are produced in discontinuous or staple form.

Improvements are constantly being made in syn­thetic fibres, and new processes for their production are being found. In this way it has been possible to produce synthetic fibres which replace most of the natural fibres. Competition against wool has been particularly acute since wool is one of the most ex­pensive natural fibres.

Cotton, with a wide variety of uses and fairly low-cost production, has suffered less competition, but man-made fibres have replaced cot­ton for some industrial uses, such as in tyre-manufac­ture. Nylon increasingly competes with natural fibres in rope-making and other fields. However, the use of mixtures of synthetic and natural fibres has been of great importance in the textiles industry and has stimulated the output of some natural fibres.

Overall production of synthetic fibres has risen rapidly in the 1970s and by 1977 production was almost three times that of 1966 but this growth has not been maintained in the face of high oil costs. By the late 1970s higher prices and a stable demand for synthetics had led to overproduction in Europe as a whole, and the potential production capacity was underutilized.

Within the growing production cellulosic fibres like rayon have played little part since the raw materials have many other uses and cannot be pro­duced in greater quantity. Oil pro­duction has continually increased and with it the pro­duction of true synthetics.

This means that the share of rayon has tended to decline in world terms. Only in the U.S.S.R. (which has vast forest reserves) and China (which has a poorly developed petrochemical industry) have rayon production figures been rising greatly.

The main producers of man-made fibres are the in­dustrialized countries including the U.S.A., Japan, West Germany, the U.S.S.R. and the U.K., though in many instances production of rayon is de­clining or remaining stable while in most countries production of true synthetics has increased.

The manufacture of rayon was first located in tra­ditional textile-making regions. Thus in Britain the first plants were set up in Lancashire and the Mid­lands. Later developments were more dispersed. In the U.S.A., the South has a number of advantages for synthetic textile manufacture including the existence of the flourishing cotton textile industry and a tradi­tion of employment in the textile trades; the ready availability of both wood-pulp and cotton linters; and a plentiful supply of H.E.P. Japan began to make synthetic textiles in the 1920s, the chief advantage being that raw materials did not have to be imported but could be derived from local chemicals industries.

Nylon and other true synthetics are linked with the petrochemical industry. Their raw materials are derived from the refineries by pipeline and the fibre plants are often integrated into much larger refining and petrochemical plants. Oil products are not only used as raw materials but also to power the fibre- manufacturing process.

The spinning and weaving of synthetic textiles may be found in traditional textiles areas but, because synthetic fibres can be readily transported, textile in­dustries may also be found in new areas. In Britain, for example, synthetic textiles are made in South Wales and Northern Ireland as well as in the Midlands and Lancashire.

In the U.S.A., too, the synthetic tex­tiles industry is very dispersed. It is found in tradi­tional areas in the South and in New England, as well as in Ohio and on the Great Lakes shorelands, where it is linked with the chemical rather than the textiles industries. Japanese synthetic textiles industries are concentrated around the Inland Sea with ready access to imported petroleum.