The main raw material of the textile industry is fiber. In the textile industry, fiber refers to the small fraction of yarn or fibers used in making fabric. Yarn is needed to make clothes. The fibers used as material for making this yarn are called textile fibers. Not all fibers are textile fibers because textile fibers need to have some special properties. For example, they must be flexible, their length must be greater than their width, and they must be strong and elastic.
Fiber is generally of two types:
1. Natural fiber
2. Synthetic fibers
Natural Fibers: Fibers that are obtained directly from nature are called natural fibers. For example, cotton, silk, and flax. Fiber already exists in nature in fibrous form.
Synthetic fibers: Fibers that are chemically made by humans in a lab are called synthetic fibers or manmade fibers.
Natural fibers are divided into three categories based on the difference in source:
1. Animal fiber
2. .Mineral fiber
3. Vegetable fiber
Synthetic fibers are again of two types:
1. Synthetic polymer or non-cellulosic
2. 0Regenerated polymer or cellulosic
There are three types of vegetable fiber
1. Leaf fiber
2. Bast fiber
3. Silk fiber
Animal fiber is of two types:
Wool: A fiber derived from the hair of woolly animals, the main source being sheep.
Silk: Silk is obtained from silk cocoons, the fiber obtained from insects.