Foreword
This Complete Textile Glossary is intended to be a convenient reference for textile terminology. Although it covers all types of textile terms broadly, its special emphasis is on manufactured fibers – what they are, how they are made, and how they are used.
The first two editions of this dictionary were published under the title Man-Made Fiber and Textile Dictionary by the former Celanese Corporation to provide a source for employees. A third edition of the dictionary, with expanded listings and illustrations, was offered in response to numerous requests from customers and others in the textile industry for an up-to-date glossary of terms encountered in the manufactured fiber and textile trades.
The fourth edition, known as the Dictionary of Fiber and Textile Technology, was produced by Hoechst Celanese Corporation, and included updated coverage of then-recent developments in fiber and textile technology.
This current edition has been further updated and expanded to cover recent developments in fiberforming polymers, new commercially manufactured fibers, textile equipment advances, and new applications for textile materials such as geotextiles and advanced composites. New diagrams have been added to illustrate these developments. We have attempted to convey as much basic information as is possible without making the book cumbersome.
As in previous editions, generic terms such as dyeing and knitting are handled comprehensively with specific terms presented under one heading. The more widely used manufactured fibers are listed by their Federal Trade Commission generic names and definitions, in most cases followed by a brief description of their manufacture, characteristics, and applications. In the Appendix are abbreviations, equivalent weights and measures, and various conversion tables and formulas needed by the textile technologist.
We hope that this dictionary will help to familiarize you with the language of textiles. Only through you, can we determine its value, and we invite your comments.
A
ABNORMAL CRIMP: A relative term for crimp that is either too low or too high in frequency and/or amplitude or that has been put into the fiber with improper angular characteristics.
ABRADED YARN: A filament yarn in which filaments have been cut or broken to create hairiness (fibrillation) to simulate the surface character of spun yarns. Abraded yarns are usually plied or twisted with other yarns before use.
ABRASION MARK: An area where a fabric has been damaged by friction.
ABRASION RESISTANCE: The ability of a fiber or fabric to withstand surface wear and rubbing.
ABSORBANCE: The ability of a substance to transform radiant energy into a different form, usually with a resulting rise in temperature. Mathematically, absorbance is the negative logarithm to the base 10 of transmittance.
ABSORBENCY: The ability of one material to take up another material.
ABSORPTION: The process of gases or liquids being taken up into the pores of a fiber, yarn, or fabric. (Also see ADSORPTION.)
ACCELERANT: A chemical used to speed up chemical or other processes. For example, accelerants are used in dyeing triacetate and polyester fabrics.
ACETATE FIBER: A manufactured fiber in which the fiber-forming substance is cellulose acetate (FTC definition). Acetate is manufactured by treating purified cellulose refined from cotton linters and/or wood pulp with acetic anhydride in the presence of a catalyst. The resultant product, cellulose acetate flake, is precipitated, purified, dried, and dissolved in acetone to prepare the spinning solution. After filtration, the highly viscous solution is extruded through spinnerets into a column of warm air in which the acetone is evaporated, leaving solid continuous filaments of cellulose acetate. The evaporated acetone is recovered using a solvent recovery system to prepare additional spinning solution. The cellulose acetate fibers are intermingled and wound onto a bobbin or shippable metier cheese package, ready for use without further chemical processing. In the manufacture of staple fiber, the filaments from numerous spinnerets are combined into tow form, crimped, cut to the required length, and packaged in bales. CHARACTERISTICS: Acetate fabrics are in appearance fast-drying, wrinkle and shrinkage resistant, crisp or soft in hand depending upon the end use.
END USES: The end uses of acetate include lingerie, dresses, blouses, robes, other apparel, linings, draperies, bedspreads, upholstery, carpets, umbrellas, formed fabrics, and cigarette filters.