What is rayon made of?

Naturally occurring cellulose based on wood or cotton is used to produce rayon fibers. Because these raw materials are so cheap, the end product is also one of the cheapest materials. A special chemical process turns the cellulose into a viscous liquid and then spun into threads. Does that sound familiar? No wonder: One of the subspecies of rayon is the well-known viscose.

What is Rayon: Origin and Origin

In the 1860s, there was a crisis in European silk production because silkworms were suffering from a disease. The Frenchman Hilaire de Chardonnet was looking for a solution to this problem. This interest developed into a search for a way to produce silk artificially. In 1885, Chardonnet registered the patent for the production of cellulose-based artificial silk.

For the next 40 years, the material was known in English-speaking countries as "artificial silk". At the beginning of the 20th century, a committee set up by the American Department of Commerce was commissioned to find a catchier name to make the fiber more palatable to the masses. In 1924, this committee decided on the name "rayon". This is a made-up word made up of the word "ray" and the suffix "cotton".

For the German market, the spelling was changed to "Reyon". However, this name did not fully prevail in Germany: here the material is known as viscose. However, the name "Rayon" is still used on clothing, accessories and home textiles of American or international origin.

How is rayon made?

Cellulose is needed to produce rayon. This is obtained either from woods such as beech, spruce, eucalyptus, pine and bamboo, annual fiber plants or the short fibers of the cotton flower, which cannot be used to produce cotton.

cellulose

By adding certain chemicals, a so-called spinning solution is created from the cellulose. To do this, the raw material is subjected to various processes, the result of which is a viscous liquid. This liquid is then pressed through special nozzles into a spinning bath, where the fiber solidifies. Depending on the desired thickness of the fiber, the nozzles have a diameter of 25 to 250 micrometers. The fibers created in this way are also known as continuous fibers, as they can have any desired length.

The rayon fibers are then spun into threads. Depending on the properties the material is supposed to have, the threads can be treated to make them fireproof, particularly stable or water-repellent.