Elastic fiber is an essential material in our lives. Without it, there would be no women’s stockings, no summer swimsuits, no figure-highlighting tights… It can be said that elastic fiber has made an indelible contribution to human beings showing their figures and enjoying the comfort of dressing.
The elastic fiber we often see in the content of clothes is “spandex”.However, if you think that spandex is the only elastic fiber, you are totally wrong. We textile people work tirelessly to develop new fibers and new technologies, striving to contribute more to the clothing industry of mankind… (It seems like again Too far~~ come back quickly)
According to American materialsThe definition given by the ASTM Association: Elastic fiber filaments are stretched repeatedly to at least 2 times their original length at room temperature, and can quickly return to their original length after the tension is released. The following 6 types The fibers can all be called elastic fibers.
Diene elastic fiber is commonly known as rubber yarn or elastic yarn, and its elongation is generally between 100% and 300%. The main chemical component is vulcanized polyisoprene, which has good high temperature resistance and acid resistance. It has chemical and physical properties such as alkali and wear resistance, and is widely used in socks, ribbed cuffs and other knitting industries.
Rubber yarn is an elastic fiber used in the early days. Since it is mainly made into thick yarn, its use in woven fabrics is very limited.
Polyurethane elastic fiber refers to a fiber made of a block copolymer with polyurethane as the main component. In my country, it is called spandex. The original trade name in the United States was Spandex, and later it was renamed Lycra and the European name It is Elastane, Neolon in Japan, and Dorlastan in Germany.
Its elasticity comes from its molecular structure consisting of “soft” and “hard” segments The block copolymer network structure. This fiber has different elasticity and dyeing and finishing processing properties after forming different “segment” network structures with different block copolymers and different spinning processes. p>
Polyetherester elastic fiber is an elastic fiber produced by melt spinning of polyester and polyether copolymer. It was introduced by Teijin Corporation in 1990First time in the yearProduction. Polyetherester elastic fiber not only has high strength, but also has good elasticity. When stretched by 50%, the elasticity of medium-strength elastic fiber is equivalent to that of spandex, and the melting point is also higher. When blended with PET fiber, it can be used at 120℃~130℃, so polyester fiber can also be processed into elastic textiles. In addition, they have excellent light resistance, chlorine bleaching resistance, acid and alkali resistance, etc. are better than ordinary spandex. Due to its good acid and alkali resistance, the fabric composed of it and polyester can also be processed with alkali reduction to improve the drape of the fabric.
This fiber also has cheap raw materials, easy production and The advantage of processing is that it is a promising fiber.
Polyolefin elastic fiber is made from polyolefin thermoplastic elastomer by melt spinning. American Dow Chemical (DOW Chemical in 2002, is the first commercialized polyolefin elastic fiber. It is produced by melt spinning of ethylene-octene copolymer (POE) catalyzed in situ polymerization by a metallocene catalyst. It Good elasticity, 500% breakage It can withstand high temperatures of 220°C, resist chlorine bleaching and strong acid and alkali treatment, and has strong resistance to ultraviolet degradation. Its production process is relatively simple, the raw material price is lower than that of spandex, and it produces almost no pollution during the production process. Easy to recycle
Because polyolefin elastic fibers have a variety of excellent properties, their applications have become increasingly widespread in recent years.
CONTEX (ST100 composite elastic fiber, collectively known as T400 in the marketElastic fiber) is a new two-component composite elastic fiber made from DuPont Sorona as the main raw material and made with ordinary PET through advanced composite spinning technology; it has natural permanent spiral curl and excellent bulk and elasticity , elastic recovery rate, color fastness and particularly soft feel. It can be woven alone or interwoven with cotton, viscose, polyester, nylon, etc. to form a variety of styles.
It not only solves many problems such as traditional spandex yarn is not easy to dye, has excessive elasticity, is complex to weave, is unstable in fabric size, and is prone to aging during use, but it can also be woven directly on air-jet, water-jet, and arrow shaft looms. , unlike spandex, it does not have to be made into covered yarn before being woven on the machine, which reduces the cost of the yarn and improves the quality uniformity of the product.
The above-mentioned elastic fibers are all soft elastic fibers, which undergo large deformation and recovery under low stress. From a thermodynamic perspective, elasticity comes from the degree of freedom (or disorder) of the molecular chain, that is, the entropy value of the system changes, so the crystallinity of the above-mentioned fibers is very low. However, some fibers made under special processing conditions, such as polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE) and other fibers, are not easy to deform under low stress (because They are relativelyHigh modulus), but also has better elasticity under higher stress, especially at lower temperatures, so this type of fiber is called hard elastic fiber.
The deformation and recovery of hard elastic fibers are significantly different from those of elastic fibers. For example, hard elastic PP The fiber is stretched a second time immediately after being stretched and recovered, and its modulus and strength will drop a lot. However, if the stress is removed and left for a period of time, or the temperature is raised to fully relax it, the fiber is stretched a second time. When stretched, its deformation recovery is basically close to the first curve. This is because when the hard elastic fiber stretches and recovers, not only the aforementioned soft elasticity occurs. The stretching and retracting deformation of the long chain segments of fiber crimping molecules is accompanied by some changes in the micropore structure during the stretching process, and their wafer network structure also changes. Only after these structural changes are gradually restored can they be restored. to their original state, so they deform and recover under higher pressure, which are called hard elastic fibers.
At present, hard elastic fibers are not widely used in textiles, but because their elastic characteristics are different from soft elastic fibers, some special textiles can be developed.
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