Viscose (rayon)
Viscosa (rayón)
- Date
- 1892 · confidence medium
- Place
- Kew, London, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Charles Frederick Cross, Edward John Bevan and Clayton Beadle patented the viscose process in 1892; Hilaire de Chardonnet had earlier patented, in 1884, an artificial silk based on nitrocellulose
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A semi-synthetic regenerated-cellulose fibre, made by dissolving wood pulp in alkali and carbon disulfide. It imitates the texture of silk at low cost and became the first artificial fibre with mass commercial success.
It is often confused with "Chardonnet silk", an earlier (1884) and different, highly flammable nitrocellulose-based process; the viscose process proper is the one patented in 1892.
What it led to
- The 20th-century artificial-fibre textile industry
- Partial replacement of natural silk in garment-making