Improving fiber I.D.: AATCC releases “Textile Fiber Supplement”

Every day, textile technologists, crime labs and customs agents are faced with identifying fibers from a variety of sources. With more than 30 generic classes of fibers and thousands of trade names, positive and definitive identification can be daunting. AATCC’s “Textile Fiber Supplement” provides new tools and reference data for fiber identification, as a companion document to AATCC Test Methods 20 (“Fiber Identification: Qualitative”) and 20A (“Fiber Identification: Quantitative”). These methods are recognized around the world and are valued for their longitudinal and cross-sectional reference images of more than 60 fiber types.

The supplement adds color, polarized, first-order red plate micrographs, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) curves, and other resources to aid in identifying both common and novelty fibers. Information on refractory fibers such as meta-aramids, para-aramids, PBI and melamine is included, as well as guidance for analyzing the structure of metallic fibers.

SOURCE: AATCC