Page 28 - Handbook of Properties of Textile and Technical Fibres

Introduction to the science of fibers 9

1.4 Typical fiber properties

Not everyone is familiar with the physical properties of common materials and
although the international (SI) units used in this book are acknowledged to be those
of the scientific community worldwide, there are regions in the world where other units
are often used. In addition, the textile community, as indicated above, has its own
units. For these reasons Table 1.1 gives examples of typical SI values, sometimes
slightly rounded to make comparisons easier, of several bulk materials, such as steel,
which although used as wire is usually used in bulk form, together with some values
for fibers. Steel is a good yardstick as it is widely used and known. It quickly becomes
apparent that steel is much heavier than the materials that are the subject of this book.
These figures are given so that comparison can be made with everyday bulk materials

Table 1.1 Comparison of some fibers with traditional engineering
metals
Young’s Specific
Material Specific gravity modulus (GPa) modulus (GPa)

Steel 7.9 200 25.3
Titanium 4.5 116 25.7
Aluminium 2.7 76 28
Glass 2.5 72 27.6
Oak wood 0.6e0.9 11 12e18
Concrete 2.4 30 12.5
Carbon fibers (ex PAN) 1.8 230 128
(Toray, 2017)
Carbon fibers (ex pitch) 2.2 935 425
(Mitsubishi Rayon, 2017)
Dyneema (DSM 0.96 117 122
Dyneema, 2017)
Kevlar 49 1.45 135 93
(DuPont, 2017)
Flax 1.53 65 43
Polyester (PET) 1.38 15 10.8
Spider silk 1.4 12 8.5
Cotton 1.54 8 5.2
Nylon 1.2 <5 4
Wool 1.3 2 1.5