A man-made fibre produced from a polymer built up by man from chemical elements or compounds, in contrast to fibres made by man from naturally occurring fibre-forming polymers.
see fibre, man-made
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Synthetic fibers are organic compounds of high molecular weight and are formed by polymerization. In her book “The Textile Arts” Birrell suggests classifying them by how they are formed. Synthetic fibers formed by condensation reactions include polyamides (nylon) and ployesters (dacron). Synthetic fibers formed by addition reactions include vinyls, acrylic-vinyl, acrylic-nitril, and urethane.
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