Chardonnet silk

The amazing Chardonnet silk was exhibited at the Paris Exhibition of 1889. Financial backers came calling, and the sUk — named rayon, because rays of fight enhanced its lustrous shine — was being produced commercially by 1891. The first rayons were highly flammable, and the factory workers who made the new material began to refer to it by a less endearing name mother-in-law silk. 

In 1891, Chardonnet s plant had an output of 100 lb of nitrocellulose rayon yarn per day. Fabrics made from this yard were known as Chardonnet, or Besanqon silks and became immediately popular. In 1899, the Chardonnet Silk Mill of Tubize, Belgium, was organized by Chardonnet and the silk firm of Wardle and Davenport, a company that was later called the Tubize Company. In 1900, Chardonnet rayon sold for 3.00/lb. 

In 1920, the Tubize Company built a plant to produce the yarn in the United States. By 1934, however, other types of superior rayon had been developed, so the nitrocellulose plant was sold to a company in Brazil. Several incidents of explosions and fires caused by the incompletely denitrated cellulose resulted in setbacks to the Chardonnet silk process, but, fortunately, the simultaneous development of cuprammonium and viscose solutions for spinning rayon rapidly replaced the more dangerous nitrocellulose fibers. 

Several processes have evolved for the preparation of regenerated cellulose. One, developed as far back as 1884, converts it first to a nitrate ester. The nitrated material is dissolved in a mixture of ethyl alcohol and diethyl ether and extruded into fibers. The fibers are then denitrated by treatment with ammonium hydrogen sulfide at about 40 °C. The product is called Chardonnet silk. It appears that this process is no longer practiced anywhere. 

What is regenerated cellulose Explain what is chardonnet silk, cuprammonium rayon, and viscose rayon, and how they are prepared. 

Sir Joseph Swan, as a result of his quest for carbon fiber for lamp filaments (2), learned how to denitrate nitrocellulose using ammonium sulfide. In 1885 he exhibited the first textiles made from this new artificial silk, but with carbon fiber being his main theme he failed to follow up on the textile possibilities. Meanwhile Coimt Hilaire de Chardonnet (3) was researching the nitrocellulose route and had perfected his first fibers and textiles in time for the Paris Exhibition in 1889. There he got the necessary financial backing for the first Chardonnet silk factory... 

Another use for nitrocellulose was discovered by Hilaire Bernigaud, comte de Chardonnet, who in 1844 deposited at the Academie des Sciences in Paris a sealed recipe for the creation of fibres of the material, after first stripping some of its nitro groups by treatment with acid. The secret was revealed only in 1887, when the count was busy setting up a factory in Besanpon to produce what came to be known as Chardonnet silk. This enjoyed a brief vogue until supplanted by the arrival of rayon. 

The first synthetic fiber was rayon. In 1865, the French silk industry was threatened by an epidemic that killed many silkworms. Louis Pasteur determined the source of the disease, but it was his assistant, Louis Chardonnet, who realized that a substitute for silk would be a desirable commercial item. Chardonnet accidentally discovered the starting material for a synthetic fiber when, while wiping up some spilled nitrocellulose from a table, he noticed long silk-like strands adhering to both the cloth and the table. Chardonnet silk was introduced at the Paris Exposition in 1891. It was called rayon because it was so shiny that it appeared to give off rays of light. The rayon used today does not contain any nitro groups. 

The first form of regenerated cellulose was developed in 1884 by de Chardon-net. Cellulose was nitrated and dissolved in a mixture of ether and ethanol. The solution was extruded through a small orifice and the solvent evaporated to leave a fibre. The fibre (which was too inflammable for direct use) was then passed through aqueous ammonium hydrogen sulphide at about 40°C this treatment resulted in denitration. The product (often called Chardonnet silk) was popular for many years but was gradually displaced by other synthetic fibres. Commercial production of the material ceased in 1949. 

Chardonnet A process for making artificial silk by nitrating cellulose and injecting the nitrate solution into water, thereupon regenerating the cellulose ... 

In the original process the cellulose nitrate itself was used as the fiber (hence its satirical description as mother-in-law silk ). The regenerating agent is ammonium hydrosulfide. The basic process was first demonstrated by J. W. Swan in London in 1885 but commercialized by Count L. M. H. B. de Chardonnet ( Father of the rayon industry ) in France in 1891 and operated there until 1934. The last working factory, that in Brazil, was burnt down in 1949. The other processes for making rayon fibers by regenerating cellulose ( viscose, cupram-monium) gave superior products. See also Rayon. 

J.W. Swan produced threads of cellulose nitrate in 1883 by forcing its solution through a spinning jet. This was called Swan Silk. Carbon filaments for early electric light bulbs were made from Swan Silk. Chardonnet manufactured artificial silk commercially in 1884 from cellulose nitrate. 

Absorption of solvent with sulphuric acid. This is another of the oldest methods for the recovery of solvent. It was first used for the recovery of alcohol and ether in the manufacture of artificial silk by the old Chardonnet process and was then widely applied in the manufacture of powder in Germany and Austria before and during World War I. The air containing alcohol and ether entered the tanks filled with sulphuric acid. The tanks were cooled from outside by spraying with water. 

CHARDONNET, H. (1839-1924). A native of France, he has been called the lather of rayon because of his successful research in producing what was then called artificial silk from nitrocellulose. He was able in extrude fine threads of this semi-synthetic material through a spinnetetle-like nozzle, and Ihe textile product was made on a commercial scale in several European countries. He was awarded Ihe Perkin medal for his work... 

Rayon is made from cellulose. Count Chardonnet made the synthetic fibre from mulberry leaves. Chardonnet was studying the diseases of the silkworms. He was inspired by the silkworm spinning silk to find a way to make artificial silk. He made artificial silk from the cellulose he obtained from mulberry leaves by a complex process. 

The next inventor to make a mark was Louis Marie Hilaire Bernigaud, the Comte de Chardonnet. He was searching for a way to make a synthetic silk (as we describe in the Polymer Milestone below). Hopefully,... 

The chemistry and technology of man-made, fiber-forming polymers date back to 1885 when an artificial silk was patented by Chardonnet in France. Since then, these materials have progressed to become the focus of a major global industry with applications ranging from the everyday world of apparel to biomedical and advanced aerospace engineering concepts. 

Louis-Marie-Hilaire Bernigaud, comte de Chardonnet, born in Besancon, France, is credited with having developed artificial silk, which came to be known as rayon. In the 1860s Chardonnet, originally trained as an engineer, assisted Louis Pasteur in an effort to save the French silk industry from an epidemic affecting silkworms. 

In 1878, while working in a photographic darkroom, Chardonnet accidentally overturned a bottle of nitrocellulose. When he started to clean up the spill, he saw that the nitrocellulose had become viscous due to evaporation. As he wiped it, he noticed long, thin strands of fiber resembling those of silk. 

Chardonnet received his first patent for artificial silk in 1884 and began manufacturing the material in 1891. In 1924 artificial silk came to be known as rayon, see also Cellulose Fibers Pasteur, Louis Polymers, Synthetic. 

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