Definition's & Terms (1)

Textile:-

The word Textile comes from the Latin word, Textile, and the French word Texere which mean pertaining to weaving of the woven fabrics, woven or capable of being woven; formed by weaving; that may be woven; a woven fabric. Hence, the textiles are the materials that can be converted into yarns and fabrics of any nature or character. Technically they must be of spinnable. The word Textile when used as a noun means anything woven or suitable for weaving. Now as already seen it is applied to any fabric or product manufactured from fabrics, filament or yarns, natural or artificial – by means of interlacing, inter-looping, felting or stitching the fiber web, for example, thread ropes, knitted fabrics, nets, felts, etc.

Hence this is a very comprehensive term that includes all clothing, carpets, curtains, tapes, upholstery, etc. The word Textile when used as an adjective, means manufacture of raw materials, processing machinery, buildings, personnel used in the organization connected with the technology of their manufacture, which includes the following: Textile Mill, Textile Institute, Textile Engineer, Textile Research, Textile Printing, Textile Designer, Textile Technologist, etc.

Fiber:-

In a broad sense the word fiber is used for various types of matter – natural or manmade, forming basic elements of textile fabrics and other textile structures. It is defined as one of the delicate, hair-like portion of the tissues of a plant or animal. Fiber is defined by Fabric Link Textile Dictionary as The basic entity, either natural or manufactured, which is twisted into yarns, and then used in the production of a fabric. The physical interpretation of the word fiber is a unit of matter characterized by having a length of at least hundred times its diameter.

Textile fiber:-

The term Textile fibers as those fibers which can be spun into a yarn or made into a fabric by interlacing, or inter-looping in a variety of machines including weaving, knitting, braiding, felting, bonding, etc.

Staple:-

Staple is the fibers of limited length. To make a continuous length of yarn, staple fibers have to be twisted together. Staple fibers can range from about 1 cm to many centimeters in length. But in no case they ever become long enough to be classified as fi lament. So the two terms are quite distinct except for the fact that manmade fi laments can be converted into staple fibers by deliberately cutting them into short lengths. This is a very common way of processing manmade fibers, but the reverse process is never carried out.

Filament:-

Filament is the a fiber of continuous length, that is to say, it is long enough to be used in a fabric without increasing its length by adding other fibers to it. An example of natural filament fiber is silk; the cocoon of a silkworm can contain about 360–1200 m (depending on the quality and type of cocoon) of continuous twin fi laments. Manmade filaments produced by spinning machines can be many kilometers long. There may be one or many fi laments in the yarn (see below) and accordingly they are called mono-filament or multi-filament. The basic difference between a fiber and a fi lament is that of the length (see Fig. 1.1)

Yarn:-

Yarn may be defined as a linear assemblage of fibers formed into a continuous strand, by a process called spinning. Yarn is a continuous strand composed of either natural or manmade fibers or filaments and is used in weaving and knitting to produce cloth.

Yarn is an assemblage of fibers twisted or laid together to form continuous strand suitable for use in weaving, knitting, etc. Yarn can consist of staple fibers, filaments or combination of the two.

Thread:-

A thread is three or more yarns tightly twisted, singed, dyed and finished to fit into the eye of the needle, or to be hand-knotted, crocheted or tatted. The very extreme type of thread reaches into the area of cords and eventually ropes of all types.

Reference:-

Introduction to Textile Fibres - H.V.S.Murthy