“Fiber” or “textile fiber”

A unit of matter which is capable of being spun into a yarn or made into a fabric by bonding or by interlacing in a variety of methods including

Weaving, knitting, braiding, felting, twisting, or webbing, and which is the basic structural element of textile products.

·       It is a smallest textile component which is microscopic hair like bstance that may be man made or natural.

·       They have length at least hundred times to that of their diameter or width

Classification of Fibres

 Natural Fibers

 Vegetable Fibres

 Animal Fibres

 Mineral fibers

 Man Made fibers

 Regenerated fibres

 Synthetic fibres

 Inorganic fibres

Classification of fibers can be done by:

·       Type (Natural and manufactured)

·       Length (Short staple, long staple, continuous filament)

·       Size (Ultra fine, fine, regular, course)

NATURAL FIBRE

·       Any hair like raw material directly obtainable from an animal, vegetable or mineral source that can be convertible after spinning into yarns and then into fabric.

·       Under them there are various categories:

·        (1) plant

·       (2) animal

·       (3) minerals

Vegetable fibers

They can be further on classified as:

(a) Fibre occurring on the seed (raw cotton, java cotton)

(b) Phloem fiber (flax, ramie, hemp, jute)

(c) Tendon fibre from stem or leaves (Manila hemp, sisal

Hemp etc)

(d) Fibre occurring around the trunk (hemp palm)

(e) Fibre of fruit/ nut shells (coconut fibre – Coir) cotton and linen are the most important among them.

Vegetable fibres

 Bast fibres

 Low Lignin content – Linen or Flax (raw and bleached) and Ramie

 High Lignin content – Jute, Hemp