Viscose
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Viscose is a viscous organic liquid[1] used to make rayon and cellophane. Viscose is becoming synonymous with rayon, a soft material commonly used in shirt, coats, jackets, and other outer wear.
[edit] Manufacture
Cellulose from wood or cotton fibres is treated with sodium hydroxide, then mixed with carbon disulfide to form cellulose xanthate, which is dissolved in more sodium hydroxide. The resulting viscose is extruded into an acid bath, either through a slit to make cellophane, or through a spinneret to make rayon. The acid converts the viscose back into cellulose.
[edit] Pollution
Viscose currently is becoming less common because of the polluting effects of carbon disulfide and other by-products of the process, forcing some factories to close.
[edit] History
French scientist and industrialist Hilaire de Chardonnet (1838-1924)— who invented the first artificial textile fiber, artificial silk—created viscose in Échirolles in 1891. Three British scientists, Charles Frederick Cross, Edward John Bevan, and Clayton Beadle patented the process in 1902.
Viscose was first used to coat fabrics, a purpose for which it is quite suitable. However, when Cross and his partners tried to make solid objects like umbrella handles, they were much too brittle.
Further development led to viscose being spun into thread for embroidery and trimmings. Eventually, after Samuel Courtauld & Co. took over in 1904, Viscose manufacture became big business. By the twenties and thirties it had almost completely replaced traditional cotton and wool for women's stockings and underwear. Similar changes occurred in the US and in Europe. Viscose was also used for linings and furnishing fabrics, towels, table-cloths, high tenacity yarn for tires, sponges, and absorbent cloths.
Charles Cross tried making viscose film in the 1890s, but it was companies in Switzerland and France that succeeded. By 1913 C.T.A. established La Cellophane SA. Ten years later, DuPont Cellophane Co. began operating in the United States, and in 1935 British Cellophane Ltd began in Bridgwater, Somerset. The Bridgwater plant closed in 2005.
[edit] Products made from viscose
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Answers.com Dictionary at http://www.answers.com/viscose?nafid=3 (n. A thick, golden-brown viscous solution of cellulose xanthate, used in the manufacture of rayon and cellophane.)
