Difference between man-made and synthetic fibers.

Man-made and synthetic fibers may be used in the manufacture of fabrics. What is the specificity of both?

What are artificial fibers?

It is customary to refer to artificial fibers that are made by processing natural raw materials - complex compounds classified as high molecular weight. As such, cellulose, silk, wool, keratin and other proteins can be used.

Examples of man-made fibers that are widely used in the textile industry are viscose, acetate-based silk. These substances are obtained from cellulose. Which, in fact, is one of the main materials for the production of artificial fabrics.

What are synthetic fibers?

By synthetic, it is customary to refer to fibers that are made using low molecular weight substances, often of inorganic origin. These are compounds of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen. Their processing can be carried out by the method of polymerization or polycondensation.

When it comes to polymers, they are made from products resulting from the processing of oil, gas or coal (for example, benzene, acetylene or ammonia) or formed as by-products of various chemical production.

In the process of processing raw materials, the manufacturer of synthetic fibers can, at its discretion, adjust their chemical composition and thus establish the desired consumer properties of the corresponding materials and their structure.

Comparison

The main difference between artificial and synthetic fibers is that natural substances are used as raw materials for the production of the first. The release of the second involves the use of low molecular weight inorganic substances, which are rarely found in their natural form, as well as the production of compounds that are practically not formed in nature.

It is worth noting that it is customary to separate artificial and synthetic fibers from natural ones when classifying certain goods, since in finished form neither the first nor the second have direct natural analogs that could be used as third...

But artificial fabrics in general are considered to a certain extent more natural than synthetic ones, since, as we noted above, substances found in nature are used as raw materials for their production.

The natural starting material for artificial fabric - for example, cellulose - is, in one way or another, the basis for the formation of the corresponding product. For example, cellulose treated with sodium hydroxide followed by polymerization is converted to rayon.

In turn, the chemical composition of synthetic fabrics can be much more complex. Of the components of the raw materials used for their production, it is sometimes difficult to single out the main one.

Having identified the difference between artificial and synthetic fibers, we reflect the conclusions in a small table.

Table

Man-made fibers Synthetic fibers
Produced on the basis of high molecular weight substances of natural origin - cellulose, keratin, proteins, however, the final products of processing raw materials practically do not correspond in natureProduced on the basis of low molecular weight substances (rarely found in nature in pure form), and the end products of the production of synthetic fibers have practically no correspondences in nature
As a rule, they have an organic basis - cellulose, proteincombining different chemicals in order to impart certain properties to the final product
.