The main source of chemical fiber is oil, so some people joke that "this is an era of wearing oil", then what is the past life of chemical fiber?

Acrylic fiber

In 1894, the French chemist C. Melaeu first produced polyacrylonitrile. Since melt spinning could not be carried out, many American and German companies began to search for polyacrylonitrile solvents in the 1940s.

In 1934, H.R. ein of German I.G.Farbenindustrie company used concentrated aqueous solutions of quaternary amine salt and inorganic salts such as NaSCN and ZnCl2 as solvents to carry out the wet spinning test of polyacrylonitrile.

In 1942, H. ein and R.C. Houtz of DuPont Company in the United States respectively identified dimethylformamide as a solvent for polyacrylonitrile. DuPont established a pilot plant in Wagnesboro in 1944, and in 1950 chose the dry spinning route to industrialize the polyacrylonitrile fiber "Orlon".

Vinlon

Polyvinyl alcohol was synthesized in Germany in 1927.

In 1931, W.O.Hermann and W. Heheel began wet spinning experiments for polyvinyl alcohol. However, because this fiber is easily dissolved in water, it has little practical value.

In 1939, Ichiro Sakurada of Japan made a fiber with good heat resistance to water by studying the formalification and heat treatment of polyvinyl alcohol fiber. The fiber was put into industrial production by Japan in 1950. 

polyurethane

The German Bayer company began to develop polyurethane elastic fibers in the 1930s.

In 1941, polyurethane elastomers were synthesized by diisocyanate polymerization. In 1949, polyurethane elastic fiber was prepared by reaction spinning.

In 1959, the United States Du Pont company realized the industrialization of polyurethane elastic fiber "Lycra" through the dry spinning route.

Acrylic fiber

In 1954, Zieglerf used a low pressure polymerization method to make high-density polyethylene that could be spun. G.atta changed the catalyst composition to make isotactic polypropylene.

In 1957, Zieglerf-Natta catalyst was widely used in propylene polymerization. In 1960, the Italian company Montefibre industrialised polypropylene fibre. 

During this period, the artificial fibers developed were three acetate fibers (1954), and the synthetic fibers developed were polyethylene, polystyrene, polyvinylidene chloride, polytetrafluoroethylene, etc., but the output was not large. Large-scale industrial production is mainly polyester, polyamide, polyacrylonitrile and polypropylene fibers. In recent years, polyurethane elastic fiber has developed rapidly, and the global production capacity reached 451,700 tons in 2005.

From the 1940s to the 1950s, it can be called the stage of synthetic fiber innovation and start, and the rapid growth of artificial fibers. It is characterized by the emergence of many synthetic fiber varieties, especially polyamide, polyester and polyacrylonitrile, the three most important synthetic fibers in the 1950s have been put into production. At the same time, man-made fibers (mainly viscose fibers) from the variety development to large-scale change, the rapid surge in production, to 1950 output has reached 1.612 million tons, accounting for 94.4% of the total production of chemical fibers.

From the 1960s to the mid-1970s, it can be called the stage where artificial fibers tend to mature and synthetic fibers grow rapidly. The production of man-made fibers, while still increasing, has leveled off since the mid-1960s (the average annual growth rate declined from 4.93% in 1950-1960 to 2.03% in 1960-1970). Synthetic fibers from the variety development to large-scale change, production soared rapidly, from 702,000 tons in 1960 to 7.436 million tons in 1975, the proportion of total chemical fiber production increased from 20.9% in 1960 to 69.7% in 1975, and in 1968 for the first time more than man-made fibers. Polyester fiber, in particular, has developed very rapidly. At this time, the chemical fiber industry has developed to the stage of high-efficiency production, automation, large-scale production plants continue to put into production to meet the needs of real life, production by leaps and bounds, has become a representative of the high economic value of the industry, it has to marvel at its rapid progress.

From the mid-1970s, the chemical fiber industry in economically developed countries entered a mature stage, and the growth rate began to slow down. However, the developing countries and regions are in the stage of growth. Therefore, since then, the development trend of chemical fibers has two characteristics. On the one hand, the use of chemical fibers continues to expand, especially the proportion of decorative and industrial applications is gradually increasing. As a result, the total production of chemical fibers in the world continued to increase, but the rate of increase slowed significantly, with the average annual growth rate falling from 9.41% in 1960-1970 to 5.36% in 1970-1980, and even a negative growth of man-made fibers. The production of synthetic fibers also experienced a negative growth in 2005 (0.3% lower than in 2004). On the other hand, competition in the chemical fiber market has intensified. In order to expand the use of products and increase the competitiveness of products, fiber manufacturers pay more attention to new product development and strive to seize the initiative in market competition. The development of chemical fibers has entered a stage in which the development focus has shifted from "quantity" to "quality" and from conventional products to new products.