Cellulose acetate and triacetate fibers

Fig. 11. World production of cellulose acetate and triacetate fibers I, cigarette tow B, textile (74).

Acetate fiber is the generic name of a fiber that is partially acetylated cellulose. They are also known as cellulose acetate and triacetate fibers. They are nontoxic and generally non-allergic, and so are ideal from this aspect as clothing material. 

Cellulose Acetate and Triacetate Fibers. Polymer solutions arc convened into fibers by extrusion. The dry-extrusion process, also called dry spinning, is primarily used lor acelate and triacetate. 

Fine Structure of Cellulose Acetate and Triacetate Fibers.795... 

Cellulose acetate and triacetate fibers have survived in the marketplace because they have certain unusual properties that demonstrate significant advantages over other polymerie materials. Cellulose acetate and triacetate textile fibers are luxurious. Fabrics made from them have an excellent hand, dye to brilliant, attractive shades, and are soft and comfortable. Regarding cellulose acetate and triacetate plastics and films, no other polymers can match the sparkling clarity possessed by these. For cigarette-smoke filtration, cellulose acetate offers a unique balance of properties including smoke removal efficiency and contribution to taste that makes it the standard of the industry. 

Moisture-regain curves for cellulose acetate and triacetate fibers compared with those of kier-boiled cotton are shown in Figure 11.5 [56,57]. The curves for acetate fiber are positioned only slightly below those for cotton and actually mesh for intermediate values of relative humidity. Since moisture regain relates to the comfort factor of fabrics, the curves explain why cellulose acetate, like cotton, possesses this important characteristic. 

Cotton and rayon are dyed readily with dyes that are soluble in the aqueous dye-bath such as the class of direct dyes. The apparent reason for the success of water-soluble dyes with cotton or rayon is that cellulose swells appreciably in the aqueous dye-bath, thereby enhancing diffusion of the large dye molecules into the interior of the fibers. Cellulose exhausts the dye from the bath rapidly, resulting in deep eolor shades for cotton and rayon. For the most part, the classes of soluble dyes are not applicable to the more hydrophobic cellulose acetate and triacetate fibers and fabrics [37,71]. 

Serad, G.A. and Sanders, J..A. (1979) Cellulose acetate and triacetate fibers. In Kirh-Othmer, Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology., M. Grayson (Ed.), Vol. 5, 3rd ed., 89-117, New York Wiley-lnterscience. 

Natural polymers can be made into hbers through dissolution of the polymer in an appropriate solvent and then extmsion of the polymer solution into a coagulation bath. As an example, cellulose can be made into viscose rayon fibers, cuprammonium rayon, cellulose acetate and triacetate fibers, lyocell, and modal fibers depending on the processes used to make the fibers. Other natural polymers such as mbber, chitosan, alginic acid, and protein can also be made into fibers in an appropriate fiber-forming process. 

---