Abstract

Commercial production of poly(vinyl alcohol) fiber started in 1950, 20 years after the inventors of the resin had tried to form it into fiber. PVA fiber is manufactured by wet spinning methods and a dry spinning method. There are variations of the former method which have been developed to improve the quality of the fiber.

Characteristics of PVA fiber are high strength, low elongation, and high modulus. This fiber is also very hygroscopic, has good dimensional stability under dry heat, and has good chemical resistance to various agents. In particular, PVA fiber exhibits high resistance to alkali.

This fiber has been used for clothing and interior applications, but now it is used for various industrial applications because of its superior mechanical properties of high strength and modulus, resistance to chemicals, high durability against uv rays, etc. The main fields of application are in the rubber industry, agriculture, fishing, nonwovens, paper, plastic reinforcement, cement reinforcement, and others.