Natural fibers VS new textile fibers

Advantages of new textile fibers

If you like outdoor sports, then you must be familiar with outdoor items such as Gore-Tex and TNF, but don’t forget the coated composite fabric behind them.

It can protect the wearer from various external factors, such as sunlight, wind, rain, snow, etc. At the same time, it also helps control body heat and expel sweat in a timely manner.

If you are a military fan, I think you will be familiar with Apache helicopters and body armor, but don’t forget the Kevlar fiber behind them.

If you have been to the Water Cube, you will definitely remember its blue membrane structure, but don’t forget the ETFE material behind them.

The above are some new textile materials with mature applications. In fact, new textile materials are not far away from our lives and have always been around us.

Most of the new textile materials are based on synthetic fibers. By changing the structure and surface properties, they have excellent physical properties (strength, fineness, etc.), which are unmatched by natural fibers. In the future, the application proportion of new textile materials in the three fields Gradually increasing, especially in the field of industrial materials.

Traditional natural fibers do not actually have an advantage in the field of industrial materials. They are mainly used in clothing and home textile products. So in the face of new textile materials, do natural fibers have no advantages? In fact, there are advantages. The advantages of natural fiber materials can be summed up in eight words: originate from nature and return to nature. This sentence can be explained from two aspects. First, natural fibers are collected from nature, their sources are more secure than synthetic fibers, and they are easier to decompose. Second, the different properties of natural fibers provide a lot of inspiration for new synthetic fibers.

Natural fibers have stable sources and are easy to decompose. Synthetic fibers emerged with the development of modern industry. They mainly rely on petroleum. For example, common polyester fibers are synthesized using the decomposition products of petroleum.

However, petroleum resources are limited. According to data, the current petroleum is expected to last 50 years. This means that before the petroleum resources are exhausted, if suitable chemical raw materials cannot be found, the development of synthetic fibers will be greatly restricted.

Fibers such as cotton, wool, silk and linen have been used by humans since ancient times. They are mainly from nature, and their output will not decrease in the short term. At the same time, another advantage of natural fibers is that they are easy to decompose, and the fiber decomposition cycle is very short.

Most synthetic fibers have a long decomposition period due to their special molecular groups. Liu Shuaixia and others have shown through research that under the same conditions, the degradability of cotton fiber, viscose fiber, polyester fiber and polypropylene fiber is in the following order: cotton fiber > viscose fiber > polyester fiber > polypropylene fiber, and pointed out that natural fiber materials are environmentally friendly The direction of development of sanitary products.

Synthetic fibers are mostly inspired by natural fibers. At first, synthetic fibers only replaced natural fibers in basic properties such as strength, but rarely had some of the properties of natural fibers. With people’s in-depth research on natural fibers and the development of fiber synthesis technology, many of the excellent properties of natural fibers have also been gradually applied. On to synthetic fibers.

Take wool as an example. Wool’s hygroscopicity, warmth retention, comfort, etc. are all first-rate;

Acrylic is called artificial wool, and many of its physical properties are very similar to wool, but it has a fatal flaw—it generates strong static electricity (because it has particularly poor hygroscopicity). The natural curling properties of wool cannot be achieved by chemical fibers.

We all know that cotton clothes have good hygroscopicity and strong antistatic properties; but they dry slowly and will be very uncomfortable if you sweat too much; and pure cotton clothes also have a big disadvantage, which is…�Easily deformable. But current technology can produce fabrics that are both hygroscopic and quick-drying, and most of the fabrics currently on the market are blended to change the performance of fabrics made from single fibers.

In addition, there are many fabrics such as waterproof, fireproof, anti-static, radiation-proof and so on. Make life safer and more comfortable.

Natural fibers and new textile fibers each have their own advantages. The two complement each other, creating a better living environment and providing us with a comfortable living environment.