Polyester Fabric Manufacturing: From Raw Input to Future of Textile

Inspired from the research of Carothers, polyester fabric extent in 1946. Owing to increased demand during world war 2 and the economic crisis, havoc in the fabric . From there polyester has become one of favorite material for fashion world. Household and industrial sector are the main user of this fabric. 

Apart from using it as sole input in production process, polyester fabric manufacturer can also blend it with other fabrics like silk and cotton to lower the cost of production. Further, blending cotton with polyester also helps in improving the durability of dress. People also love cotton polyester fabric due to its low wrinkle property.  

But are you familiar with production process of polyester? What are the steps involved in it? If not, then read on. This write up would let you know about input cast off to produce this fiber and how it produces.  

Raw Material 

Do you know polyester is made from natural fibers rather than synthetic fibers? The major part of input is petroleum which is non- renewable. Its most significant input- ethylene, which plays a major role in polyester fabric derived from the petroleum . The next material which is responsible for producing the final product is polymerization. 

Polyester Fabric Manufacturing 

There are number of production process are available. But the most common process are filament production, staple production, tow production, and fiberfill production. Filament and staple are two of the most common methods of construction. Filament Yarn method is suitable to make long layers of polyester fabric; on the other, staple yarn is best for making fabric soft and smooth.

Producing Filament Yarn 

This production method has five steps which include- Polymerization, Drying, Melt spinning, Drawing the fiber and Winding. 

Polymerization

For polymerization, dimethyl terephthalate and ethylene glycol mixed at high temperature. This resulted in the form of monomer chemical which later integrated with terephthalic at high temperature that produced polyester. 

Drying 

Now, after polymerization ribbons are left to dry. Then these ribbons are cut into small pieces. this step reduce the inconsistency.   

Melt Spinning

The next step is to melt the small piece of ribbons. and then put the melted solution into a container called in order to get fibers. All the fibers resulted from the process combined into a single strand. Producers also used some other solutions to make it easy for dyeing process. 

Getting Fiber 

Now producers stretch the polyester fabric. This step gives them smooth and parallel shape. This also gives strength to the material. This process also makes the fibers soft instead of rigid. Now manufacturer can draw fibers out of this as per their needs. 

Winding

As the yarn is made it is then packed and woven into fabrics.

Manufacturing Staple Fiber

The initial process such as “polymerization” and drying is similar as “filament yarn”. However, in this step the container have more holes in comparison to the “tow”.

Drawing Tow

“Tow” make fabric easy to get cool. After that producers heat the Tow at high temperature to enhance length of material.

Crimping 

For “crimping” process, producers use compression boxes to give a shape to the material. Fabric is fold into the form of accordion. The rate of folding differs from 9 to 15 per inch. It helps in making material strong for further production steps

Setting

To set the folds, manufacturers use heating method. This gives a finishing look to the final fold.  

Cutting 

The next and final step of this process is to cut and blend the polyester fibers with other natural yarn like cotton or rayon. Producers cuts “crimped tow” into small pieces. But length of pieces differs from fabric to fabric which is going to be use in blending. For cotton the standard size is 1.25-1.50 inch and for rayon 2 inch. For heavy weight fiber, size can go up to 6 inch. 

Future of Polyester

Polyester gained popularity in the 1970s as a low-cost material for tailoring and other garments. Polyester and polyester mixes are presently the biggest and most popular man-made materials, and among the most famous synthetic fibers overall.

Since its inception, polyester material has emerged very rapidly and become famous among the fashion industry.  Its durable and easy to care properties made it need an hour for the future. The World War 2 pushed the demand of polyester. Since then, it has been used in bulk for war items like parachutes and other stuff. Even the economic crisis after world war 2 also supported its requirement as polyester was more affordable than other natural fiber. 

Microfiber was invented during the early 90s. This improves the quality of material. And eliminate the issues like harm for environment.  Microfiber fabric enriched polyester looks like silk fabric.  Various famous dress designers used polyester input to create lines of attire. Yet still people considered it harmful due to its anti- environmental features. 

But to address this issue, recyclable PET material is found from soda bottles. Further polyester blended with natural fibers is not that harmful. Also its flexibility made it tofu of fabric world which can take any shape and form. Polyester blended with other fiber could reduce its issues like skin irritation, looks and appearance. Moreover, this material is also very useful for other stuff like ski jackets, parachutes and many more. 

Polyester highly uses for home furnishing material like curtains, sofa cover, table runner, carpets, pillow cover and sheets. Dresses and gowns are most common attire to wear from this fabric. Cushion cover and bed sheets from cotton blended polyester are soft and give a sense of comfort.  

Be siding all this, polyester has multiple uses which make it demanding and the future of the textile industry. It is becoming more and more demanding which indicates its immense growth in future too with some sustainable features. 

Clothing manufacturing is evolving quickly and so does the taste and preference of consumers. Now people want durable products rather than luxury and elegance. Textile industry, especially polyester fabric manufacturing, is evolving as per the needs of consumers to make this cloth as the next alternative for the fashion world.  

If you also belong to the fashion world and are looking for polyester fabric online, you can visit Fabriclore and explore our new collection of materials exclusively polyester cloth.