The Grooviest of Fabrics

Podcast

The Grooviest of Fabrics

Transcript

The Grooviest of Fabrics. I'm Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Today's question comes from the Internet. David Strauss of Washington, DC wanted to know just what polyester is. We spoke to textile scientist Peter Schwartz of Cornell University.

Schwartz:
"Polyester itself does not exist anywhere in nature. There's no little polyesters running around the rain forest or anything like that."

Scientists developed polyester because natural fibers like silk, wool and cotton, can vary from fiber to fiber. So chemists wanted to create a fiber that was exactly the same from batch to batch. They mixed together short chemicals called monomers that could link together. Then they pushed the mixture through what looks like a shower head - forming long smooth fibers of polyester. But, because these fibers are so smooth, early polyester fabric looked too perfect, and fake. And the styles of the late sixties didn't help.

Schwartz:
"The first uses of polyester in the United States were for things like leisure suits. And the fiber was used, in what's called a flat yarn form,so it had a plasticky feel."

Nowadays, Dr. Schwartz says that polyester fibers are kinked to give the material a more natural feel. And some even have a trendy new name - microfibers.

If you've got a groovy science question, call us at 1-800-WHY-ISIT. If we use it on the show you'll get a free Science Update mug.

For the American Association for the Advancement of Science, I’m Bob Hirshon.

Making Sense of the Research

Now that you've heard what the textile scientist had to say, try to answer the following questions:

1. Why was polyester created?
2. How is polyester manufactured?
3. What was one of the first uses of polyester?
4. What are some other uses of polyester?

Going Further

For more information on synthetic fibers go to: Whole Cloth: Discovering Science and Technology through American History, from the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention/Innovation from the Smithsonian Institution.