Regenerated protein textile fibers

Soy protein was one of a number of proteins that were used to produce reg protein textile fibers in the late 1930s and 1940s. The discovery of regenerated protein fibers from casein is attributed to Todtenhaupt in 1904, but it was Parretti, who in 1935 successfully developed, patented, and produced a textile fiber with wool-like properties from soy protein. In the United States, soy protein textiles and felt materials were explored as replacements for wool, felt, and fur (Hartsuch, 1950 MoncriefF, 1975). In 1939, the Japanese reportedly produced about 450,000 kg (1 million lb) of soy protein fiber (Conner, 1989). The first U.S. patents for soy fibers were granted to T. Kajita and R. Inoue in 1940 (Kajita Inoue, 1940). 

Robert Boyer of H. Ford s Edison Institute was awarded an important patent in 1945 (Boyer et al., 1945) for producing textile fibers from soybean meal for use in automobile upholstery. In addition to soy protein, casein, corn zein, and peanut protein were also used to produce regenerated protein fibers. H. Ford once wore a suit made from soy protein fibers, which was reportedly quite itchy when dry and odiferous when wet. Soy protein fiber technology never attained commercial textile production... 

Textile fibers are normally broken down into two main classes, natural and man-made fibers. All fibers which come from natural sources (animals, plants, etc.) and do not require fiber formation or reformation are classed as natural fibers. Natural fibers include the protein fibers such as wool and silk, the cellulose fibers such as cotton and linen, and the mineral fiber asbestos. Man-made fibers are fibers in which either the basic chemical units have been formed by chemical synthesis followed by fiber formation or the polymers from natural sources have been dissolved and regenerated after passage through a spinneret to form fibers. Those fibers made by chemical synthesis are often called synthetic fibers, while fibers regenerated from natural polymer sources are called regenerated fibers or natural polymer fibers. In other words, all synthetic fibers and regener-... 

Protein-based polymers with good biocompatibility and structural properties, such as silk, have been used as suture and textile materials. Nanocomposite fibers of Bomhyx mori silk and SWNTs were produced by electrospinning process [134]. Regenerated silk... 

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