Natural and regenerated fibres

Besides the high performance fibres used in the OS layer, flame-retardant-treated natural and regenerated fibres such as wool and cellu-losic fibres might also be used to make the thermal insulation liner. Some commercially available TL materials for firefighters clothing are shown in Table 3.8. 

For synthetic and regenerated fibres, the fibre production (primary spinning) is mainly made by melt spinning (polyester, nylon etc.), dry spinning (elastane etc.) or wet spinning (viscose, lyocell etc.). Lenzing AG has produced carbon footprints of viscose and lyocell fibres and compared these with other fibres (Shen and Patel, 2008 Shen et al., 2010 Terinte et al., 2014 Van der Velden et al., 2014). The production of natural fibres via agriculture or forestry has been studied elsewhere (e.g. Sandin et al., 2013). 

Cotton and Other Cellulosic Fibres. The dominant natural cellulosic fibre is cotton, the other natural cellulosic fibres, or bast fibres, include flax, linen, jute and ramie. The so-called regenerated fibres, which include viscose, modal fibres and lyoceU (Tencel), are made by various chemical treatments of cellulosic substrates. The dyeing and printing of cellulosic fibres and materials is carried out using, in decreasing order of scale and importance, reactive, direct and vat dyes. ... 

As a result of these investigations it is generally agreed that naturally-occurring cellulosic fibres contain of the order of 60 to 70 per cent of molecules orientated in crystalline structure. The regenerated celluloses contain 30 to 40 per cent, Terylene 50 per cent, and nylon between 50 and 60 per cent. 

Huff NT, Jones FR. The structure and properties of glass fibres. In Eichhom SJ, et al., editors. Handbook of textile fibre structure. Natural, regenerated, inorganic and specialist fibres, vol. 2. Cambridge Woodhead 2009. pp. 307—52. 9. 

The second and third types of fibres, regenerated and synflietic, are commonly grouped as man-made fibres. Hence, this chapter focuses on a comparative look at these natural and man-made textiles with an LCA lens. The detailed aspects of production processes, pertinent environmental impacts, etc. have already been reviewed and presented by the author in a previous book (Muthu, 2014). 

Most of the techniques employed in fibre analysis are nondestructive tests to determine whether the fibre is natural (obtained from animal, plant, or mineral) or synthetic (wholly manufactured from chemicals or regenerated from natural fibres) and the fibre type (e.g., determining if the fibre is wool, cotton, nylon, polyester, etc.). Whether any chemical treatments have been carried out (such as bleaching or the use of delustrants) is noted and the colour is also determined. Many of the techniques commonly used in these analyses include low- and high-power microscopes, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) microscopy, polarising Ught microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, and microspectrophotometry (MSP). 

Ganster, J. and Fink, H.-P. (2009) The structure of man-made ceUulosisc fibres, in Handbook of Textile Fibre Structure, Volume 2 Natural, Regenerated, Inorganic, and Specialist Fibres (eds S.J. Eichhom, J.W.S. Hearle, M. Jaffe and T. Kikutani), CRC Press, Cambridge and Woodhead PubUshers, Boca Raton, FL, pp. 379-411, ISBN 9781439820728. 

Fibres added to the bituminous mixtures are natural, synthetic or regenerated fibres, such as cellulose, mineral (asbestos), metallic (iron) (Gottschall and Hollnsteiner 1985) and carbon, fibreglass or polymer fibres. 

Ganster J, Fink H-P (2009) The structure of man-made cellulosic fibres. In Eichhom S, Hearle JWS, Jaffe M, Kikutani T (eds) Handbook of textile fibre structure, vol 2, Natural, regenerated, inorganic, and specialist fibres. CRC, Boca Raton, FL... 

Moisture is introduced by the use of steam. Steam at different pressures has different moisture contents the higher the steam pressure, the lower the moisture in the steam. The presence of moisture is required to aid in fibre swelling and thus shape stabilisation. Different fibres require different amounts of moisture. For example, natural fibres such as cotton and wool and regenerated cellulose fibres such as bamboo viscose and viscose rayon require the presence of moisture in the steam, and therefore steaming tables are usually preferred. On the other hand, synthetic fibres require heat to promote swelling and therefore relaxation of the structore. Excessive moisture may cause fabric shrinkage and colour bleeding. 

The use of protective barrier products is not limited to the operating theatre and is found throughout the healthcare institutions. The range of fibre types is large and goes from natural fibres, (eg. cotton) to regenerated fibres (e.g. viscose) to synthetic fibres (e.g. polyester, polypropylene and polyethylene). The manufactured products are mostly woven, nonwoven or knitted. 

Needle-punching has been used to produce blankets for over 50 years and was one of the earliest applications of the process. High-quality synthetic and natural fibres are still used, but the process is usually employed to produce economical products from regenerated fibres that are often used as emergency or disposable blankets (Ahmed, 2007, p. 225). In the production of needle-punched blankets, modifications to the needle-punch process have been made to improve their properties. The Fibrewoven process, developed by the Chatham Manufacturing Company in the 1950s, now... 

---