Bicomponent fibre: man made fibre where more than one polymer for each filament is extruded through each hole in the spinneret.
Brand name: name given by a textile company to their particular textile product, e.g. Tencel (Courtaulds), Lycra (DuPont), Varuna (Liberty). Also known as trade name.
Copolymer: a polymer in which the molecular repeating units are not all the same.
Cotton wool: absorbent fibrous product made from cotton and/or viscose, used for medicinal and cosmetic purposes.
Dry spun: describes man made filament produced by dry spinning, where the dissolved polymer is converted into filaments by extrusion through the spinneret into warm air which causes the solvent to evaporate.
Elastomer: any polymer with very high extensibility and substantially complete recovery.
Extrusion: the process of forming filaments from fibre-forming substances by forcing them in plastic or molten form, or in solution, through the holes of the spinneret.
Fruit Fiber: Natural textile fibre from the fruit of a plant, eg, coir
Generic name: The name of the fibre. All textile fibres are classified: for natural fibres this relates to the fibre source, e.g. Cotton from the cotton plan, wool from sheep. For manmade fibres the main basis for classification is the chemical structure, e.g. polyester, polyamide.
High wet modulus fibre: Regenerated cellulose fibre with a wet strength very similar to that of cotton.
Hallow fibre: A tube-like manmade fibre or filament. Increases bulk and improves insulating properties.
Leaf fibre: Natural textile fibre from the leaf of a plant, e.g. Sisal, raffia
Manufactured fibre: Alternative, and increasingly used, term for manmade fibre.
Melt spun: Describes manmade filaments produces by melt spinning, where the molten polymer is converted into filaments by extrusion through the spinneret into cold air which causes the polymer to solidify on cooling.
Microfibre: Extremely fine manufactured fibre or filament of 1decitex or less (10,000 metres or 10 kilometers of filament weigh one gramme or less).
Modified cellulosic: Manufactured fibre where the cellulosic raw material is chemically modified to produce a chemical derivative. Examples are cellulose acetate and cellulose triacetate.
Natural polymer manmade fibre: a fibre produced by man from naturally occurring polymeric substances where the physical form is changed, eg, viscose, a regenerated cellulosic fibre, is made from wood pulp from trees.
Seed fibre: Natural textile fibre from the seed of a plant, e.g. cotton, kapok.
Spinneret: Metal plate perforated with holes through which the fibre-forming substances in either a plastic or molten state, or in solution, are extruded in man-made fibre manufacture.
Spinning solution: Solution of fibre-forming polymer as prepared for extrusion through the spinneret.
Synthetic fibre: Manmade textile fibre where the fibre-forming material is synthesized or built up from simpler chemicals, in contrast to fibres manufactured from naturally occurring fibre-forming polymers.
Vegetable fibre: Natural textile fibre from a plant.
Wet spun: Describes man made filaments produced by wet spinning, where the dissolved polymer is converted into filaments by extrusion through the spinneret into a coagulating bath of chemicals, causing the filaments to solidify.
Related Terms
Acetate: Manmade natural polymer cellulose ester fibre. Generic name.
Alpaca
- Natural animal hair fibre from the alpaca. Generic name.
- Animal from which the fibre alpaca is obtained.
Angora: Natural animal hair fibre from the Angora rabbit. Generic name.
Angora goat: Animal from which the fibre mohair is obtained. Also known as the mohair goat.
Angora rabbit: Animal from which the fibre angora is obtained.
Aramid: Manmade synthetic polymer fibre. Generic name.
Bactrian camel: Animal from which the fibre camel or camelhair is obtained.
Camel: Natural animal hair fibre from the Bactrian camel. Generic name.
Camelhair: Natural animal hair fibre from the Bacterian camel.
Cashgora: Natural animal fibre from the cashgora goat.
Cashgora goat: Animal from which the fibre cashgora is obtained.
Chlorofibre: Manmade synthetic polymer fibre. Both polyvinyle chloride and polyvinylidene chloride are classified as chlorofibres. Generic name.
Cupro: Manmade natural polymer regenerated cellulosic fibre. Generic name.
Elastodiene: Manmade natural or synthetic polymer fibre with very high elasticity. Generic name.
Fluorofibre: Manmade synthetic polymer fibre. Generic name.
Glass fibre: Manmade fibre obtained by drawing molten glass. Generic name.
Guanaco:
- Natural animal hair fibre from the guanaco. Generic name.
- Animal from which the fibre guanaco is obtained.
Horsehair: Natural animal hair fibre from the mane and tail hair of horses and ponies. Generic name.
Polyolefin: Manmade synthetic polymer. Polypropylene and polyethylene are both polyolefin fibres.
Polytetrafluoroethylene: Manmade synthetic polymer fibre, also known as PTFE. It is fluorofibre.
Polyvinyl alcohol: Manmade synthetic polymers of vinylal fibers are composed.
Polyvinyle derivatives: Group of manmade synthetic polymer fibres, including the generic fibres acrylic, modacrylic, chlorofibre, vinylal and fluorofibre.
Polyvinylidene chloride: Manmade synthetic polymer. It is a chlorofibre.
PTFE: Abbreviation for polytetrafluoroethylene, a manmade synthetic polymer. It is a fluorofibre.
Raffia: Natrual vegetable leaf fibre obtained from the raffia palm.
Ramie:
- Natural vegetable bast fibre. Generic name.
- Plant from which the bast fibre ramie is obtained.
Sisal:
- Natural vegetable leaf fibre. Generic name
- Plant from which the leaf fibre sisal is obtained.
Triacetate: Manmade natural polymer cellulose ester fibre. Generic name.
Vicuna:
- Natural animal hair fibre from the vicuna. Generic name.
- Animal from which the fibre vicuna is obtained.
Vinylal: Manmade synthetic polymer fibre.
Fibre properties related terms
Blending: Process of efficiently combining different fibres together.
Bright: Term used to describe textile materials, especially manmade fibres and yarns, where the lustre has not been significantly reduced.
Clear: Refers to manmade fibres which have not been delustred, and therefore have a glassy, highly lustrous appearance.
Extensibility: Ability of a fibre to stretch.
Extra Dull: Describes a manmade fibre or filament where the amount of delustrant is very high, and the fibre/filament appears opaque and without lustre.
Fibre cross section: Characteristic appearance of a fibre when a cross section is viewed under a microscope.
Fibre shape: The overall external form of the fibre.
Filament blend: Manmade blend where two or more different filaments are spun at the same time.
Lustre: The sheen of a fibre. This is dependent on the amount of light that is reflected from the fibre. Fibre with a high degree of lustre can be described as bright.
Manmade filament blend: Manmade blend where two or more different filaments are spun at the same time.
Minimum care: describes fabric where crease resistance is good during wear and washing, and minimum ironing is necessary to maintain a good appearance.
Minimum iron: See minimum care.
Mixture: Fabric where more than one type of fibre is present but the fibres are not intimately blended with the yarn(s).
Moisture content: A numerical percentage value expressing the ratio of the mass of moisture in a material to the total moist mass.
Rot: Decay caused by natural forces.
Rot resistance: Ability of a fibre to withstand decay caused by naturally occurring algae and/or fungi.
Solvent: Substance capable of dissolving another substance.
Static electricity: Electricity produced by materials rubbing together. Can be a problem with synthetic fibres with low absorbency.
Stretch: Term specifically used in the textile industry to describe a fabric or yarn with greater than usual extensibility and recovery.
Super-dull: Describes a manmade fire with a large amount of delustrant present so that the appearance is extremely matt.
Thermoplastic: Capable of being set into a particular shape with heat. This fibre property allows textiles to be heat-set. If the shape is held while the textile cools down the textile will retain that shape provided that the temperature of heat setting is not approached again.
Trilobal: Refers to the shape of particular synthetic polymer fibres and filament where the cross section shows three rounded surfaces which scatter and reflect additional light, thereby increasing the lustre.
White pigment: The white pigment titanium dioxide is used as a delustrant in manmade fibre manufacture.
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COTTON
Boll: The seedcase and its contents on the cotton plant.
Linters: Whole and broken lint fibres and fuzz fibres, which are removed from the ginned cotton seed by a special ginning process.
Sea Island cotton: Type of cotton with the longest and finest fibres.
LINEN
Retting: Chemical or biological treatment of flax stalks to make easier the separation of the fibre bundles from the woody part of the stem.
Scutching: Operation of separating the flax fibre from the woody part of the flax stem.
Tow: Shorter flax fibres removed by hackling and made into linen yarns.
SILK:
Brin: Single filament of silk rsulting from the degumming of the bave withdrawn from the cocoon.
Dupion: Silk-breeding term meaning double cocoon, used to describe the irregular, raw rough silk reeled from double cocoons.
Fibroin: One of the proteins of which the silk fibre is composed. When the silk is degummed the sericin is removed, leaving the fibroin.
Net Silk/ nett silk: Yarn formed from continuous filament silk. Also used to describe fabric made from net silk.
Pure Silk: Silk in which there is no metallic or other weighing of any kind, except that which is an essential part of dyeing.
Raw Silk: Continuous filament containing no twist, drawn off or reeled from cocoons. The filaments are unbleached, undyed and no degummed.
Scroop: Rustling sound produced when a material with a particular handle is compressed by hand. It is generally associated with silk, but can be produced in certain cellulosic fabrics that have been given suitable finishing treatments.
Sericin: Protein in silke fibre cementing the two fibroin filament (brins) in the bave.
Silk Noil: Very short silk fibre extracted during silk combing that are too short for producing spun silk. These fibres are usually spun into silk-noil yarns.
Throwing: Formation of continuous filament silk yarn by twisting.
Waste Silk: Fibres remaining after reeling and throwing, and silk from damaged and un-reelable cocoons.
Weighing: The addition of metallic salts to silk to increase the mass or weight and to impart a firmer handle.
Wild Silk: Silk fibres from species other than Bombyx mori.
WOOL:
Crossbred: Type of medium fine, medium length wool grown by crossed breeds of sheep.
Fellmongering: The pulling of wool from the skins of dead sheep.
Kemp: Coarse fibres present in varying amounts in wool fleece. Usually white, black or brown and can be used to give decorative effects in some wool fabrics.
Mungo: Fibrous material made in the woolen industry from pulling, or tearing up into fibres, new or old tightly woven or milled cloth or felt in rag form.
Pulled Wool: Wool that has been removed from the skins of dead sheep.
Pulling (rag): The operation of reducing rags and thread waste to a fibrous state.
Pulling (wool): Removal of wool from the skins of dead sheep.
Pure new wool: Term used when all the wool present in the fabric is virgin wool.
Rags: Waste fabric from garment manufacturing and old, used garments. Rags are classified as new or old, depending on whether the material has been used or not.
Recycled wool: Wool rags and manufactured waste, torn up and reprocessed into fibres again, and used for producing shoddy and mungo yarns. Also known as recycled wool, remanufactured wool, reused wool.
Remanufactured wool: See recycled wool.
Reused wool: See recycled wool.
Shetland wool: Descriptive term for wool from the Shetland sheep originating in the Shetland Islands. It is generally qualified by one of the adjectives: pure, genuine, real, which implies that the wool actually originated in the Shetland Islands, rather than being merely wool of similar characteristics.
Shoddy: Fibrous material made in the woolen industry from pulling knitted or loosely woven fabric in rag form that may be new or old.
Skin Wool: Wool removed from the skins of slaughtered sheep. The roots of the fibres are loosened by steeping in lime, or by the bacterial action caused by sweating, or by painting the flesh side with sodium sulphide.
Slipe wool: Skin wool obtained by steeping in lime.
Virgin wool: Fibre from a sheep or lamb that has not previously been used. Alternative term for new wool.
