Synthetic fibres

Synthetic fibres originate from non-fibrous products which become textile raw materials thanks to "synthesis" operations, hence their name. In chemistry, by the term synthesis is meant an operation by which, starting from simple substances, more complex substances are obtained. Thus synthetic fibres are the result of the combination of a great many chemical units, which are assembled to form long chains, the polymers, which are then converted into fibres by the spinning operation. The polymer is transformed by orientating the macromolecules in the formation process of the filament, which is the basic element of the following phases: drawing, production of continuous filament yarn or of staple fibre and, if necessary, texturing. By this last process, the filaments composing the continuos yarn are crimped to make the yarn bulkier.

 

 

 

Polymerisation is the basic requisite for fibre chemistry, as shown by the fact that the prefix of several product names is "poly": polyamide, polyester, polyacrilonitrile, etc.

The world production of synthetic fibres has by now surpassed that of cotton; in 1998 it amounted to more than 25 million tons, compared to a little more than 18 million tons of cotton. Growth has been considerable over the last 30 years: suffice it to say that the output was 4,8 million tons in 1970, 10,6 million tons in 1980 and 16,0 million tons in 1990.

It is noteworthy that the synthetic fibre production, which until some years ago was concentrated especially in the United States, Western Europe and Japan, has progressively extended to other countries. Suffice it to say that, whereas in 1990 45% of the production still came from those three areas, in 1998 their market share shrunk to 31 %, and this trend is likely to go on.

As regards Italy, the total synthetic fibre production reached in 1998 abt. 600,000 tons, which is equivalent to about 20% of total EU production and to 2.4% of world production.

The main producing countries of synthetic fibres (1998)