TOKYO — By studying a beautiful South American butterfly, researchers at textiles giant Teijin Ltd. have developed a new fiber that can reflect a radiant color without being dyed.
It works by using nanostructures to affect the way the fiber reflects light. Teijin has named it Morphotex, after the blue morpho butterfly, according to a spokesman.
Researchers discovered the butterfly is covered with a dozen layers of microfine, scale-like powder that creates “structural color” through optical interference.
The layers on the butterfly are arranged like an extraordinarily small forest of cedar trees, creating a network of alternating branches and air layers. On the fiber, that idea is translated into a multilayered thin film.
The Morphotex fiber is a conjugated yarn of nanofine nylon and polyester polymers, designed to form an optical structure akin to the butterfly’s. In developing it, Teijin researchers studied the relationships between wavelength of color, intensity of color, refraction, thickness of layer and number of layers needed.
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The fiber is available in filament or in powder form in four colors: red, blue, green and purple. It can be used in fabrics for apparel applications including suits, formalwear and neckties, the spokesman suggested.
Commercial production will begin in July at the rate of 6,600 pounds a month, and the “price will be higher than that of silk,” the spokesman said. The price of silk yarn can exceed $40 a pound.
The company has no immediate plans to export the product.
The structural color fiber in powder form can be mixed into other materials to make golf club shafts, cosmetics and other products.
The research originally started some years ago as a three-way project of Teijin, Nissan Motor Co. and Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo K.K., a leading precious metals trading and retail company in Asia.
Nissan was probing a principle of structural color on the morpho butterfly as part of its study on biomimetics for possible application to interiors and exteriors of automobiles, while Tanaka took charge of developing metal nozzles needed for the production of the nanofine fiber.