What Is Textile Fiber? || Classifications Of Textile Fiber

In textile arena; textile fiber is the raw materials to produce various types of textile finished products. A fiber that can be spun into yarn or processed into textile such as a woven fabric, knit fabric, lace, felt, non-woven etc by means of an appropriate interlacing method is called as textile fiber.

A textile fiber should have at least 5 mm length then it will be spin able and it must be supple, flexible and strong enough. Other properties like elasticity, fineness, uniformity, durability, luster, and crimp should have a textile fiber more or less.

Classification of Textile Fiber: There are various types of fiber are found in the market but all have not same characteristics. The characteristics of the fiber differ depending on the source from where it is produced. Generally textile fibers are classified into main two types they are-Natural fiber And Synthetic fiber or manmade fiber or artificial fiber. Now I like to present the classification of textile fiber as below.

Natural Fiber: Natural fiber is that which is produced naturally. The source of origin could be vegetable, animal and mineral origin.

• Vegetable Origin:

1. Bast Fibers (Jute, Flax, Ramie)


2. Leaf Fibers (Sisal, manila)


3. Seed and Fruits Fibers (cotton, coir)

• Animal Origin:

1. Wool and Hair Fiber


2. Silk and other Filaments

• Mineral Origin: Asbestos

Synthetic Fibers/Manmade Fibers/Artificial Fibers: Synthetic fibers are produced by the polymerization of various monomers. It is made by the man for this reason, it is so called.

• Natural Polymer Based:

1. Cellulosic


2. Cellulose Ester


3. Protein


4. Miscellaneous

• Synthetic Polymer Based:

1. Polyamides


2. Polyester


3. Polyvinyl Derivatives ( PVA, PTFE, Polyvinylidene dinitrite, Polystyrene etc)


4. Polyolefines


5. Polyurethanes (Elastomer)


6. Miscellaneous

Above textile fibers are processed by different methods. All textile fibers contain their own characteristics. We can identify the fiber type by different testing procedure. Also we should know the physical and chemical properties of different fibers.

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