#8 - FIBER BASICS

 Polyester Fiber Yarn Manufacturing Process

Polyester fiber is one of the most popular synthetic fibers. It is used in clothes, upholstery, curtains, ropes, etc. It is known for its strength and durability as well as its resistance to wrinkling and shrinking. It is also known as PET, which is short for Polyethylene terephthalate. It usually comes from crude oil. It is refined into small chemical components, which then go through a chemical reaction called polymerization. This is when they become the polyester polymer. It is a thick liquid that is then cooled and solidified in long ribbons. These ribbons are then chopped up into small, hard chips. The chips are melted and pushed through tiny holes in a device called a spinnerette. It is then cooled and hardened into long filaments and stretched to align the molecules. This helps increase the strength of the filaments. These filaments then go through a process called texturing, which gives the filaments a crimp or wave to make them softer. The filaments can then either be cut to form staple fibers or kept as continuous filament fibers. The fibers are then spun into yarns by twisting multiple filaments together to form a stronger thread. Polyester yarns are very versatile and can be woven or knitted into fabric. They can also be dyed or printed. Polyester is very popular because of how affordable it is, but it has also been shown to be more harmful to the environment. This has caused recycled polyester to become popular. 

Nylon Fiber Manufacturing Process

Nylon is a very popular synthetic fiber. It is also sold as a thermoplastic. Around 4 million tons of nylon are produced each year. It is often used in ropes, clothing, and even as reinforcement for tires. Nylon is created through the combination of two monomers: Adipic acid/hexanedioic acid and hexamethylene diamine. Both of these monomers contain a chain of 6 carbon atoms. These monomers are also found in crude oil. The polymerization process is when the two monomers are linked together to form long chains called nylon. Through this process, nylon salt is first created. It then must go through a process where it is heated to remove all of the water. This then creates nylon. While the substance is being heated, additives and pigments can be added to alter the properties of the polymer. The substance is then pushed through holes to create laces of nylon. The laces are cooled and chopped into short pieces that are around 3-4 millimeters long. These are known as granules. The granules are then packaged and shipped out to other factories to either be melted and molded or melted and pushed through tiny holes to be made into nylon fibers. 

One Step Further:

Since both polyester and nylon are created from crude oil, I wanted to look into how much crude oil we use and how long the world’s supply of it is expected to last. There are around “1.77 trillion barrels of proven crude oil reserves remaining in the world”. This may seem like plenty, but in 2024 alone, the world consumed 37.4 billion barrels of oil. This amount also increases almost every year. Due to this data, the remainder of the oil is expected to last around 47-56 years. This means crude oil has the possibility of running out in my lifetime. I also looked into how recycled products can help lessen our oil consumption. Most of our clothes are created from fossil fuels. Round 342 million barrels of oil are used each year to produce synthetic fibers. By reusing textiles and using plastic waste to produce new fibers, we can lessen the consumption of oil and help oil reserves last longer.

References:

-Polymer Video. (2016, March 9). Polyester yarn manufacturing process [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNdsOraykNI

-Textile Technology. (2012, November 12). Nylon production [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GxeSO7DyaE

-Worldometer. (n.d.). Oil left in the world. Worldometer. https://www.worldometers.info/oil/

-Horvath, K. (2024, February 12). Most of our clothes are made from fossil fuels: Here’s why that’s a problem. PIRG. https://pirg.org/articles/most-of-our-clothes-are-made-from-fossil-fuels-heres-why-thats-a-problem/

Extra Credit Links:

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBDkCttS-8g

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM2tE9fF4EA

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FChEek0NSOI 

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDD_Tl5OY_Y