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Question: I want to know the difference between Rayon and Viscose and how to classify them by visual check or burning test.

viscose (also known as viscose rayon) is a group of fabrics and yarns produced by extruding cellulose solution through holes in a spinneret, then coagulating the resulting filaments in an acid (the viscose process). There are several different sort of viscose fibres made by modifying this process, eg crimped, hollow, high tenacity (stronger).

So viscose rayon is a particular type of cellulose fibre made using the viscose process, and it's also often called just 'viscose' or just 'rayon', because it's the commonest kind of rayon. Other kinds of rayon are cuprammonium rayon and acetate rayon.

The web site Fibersource - the Manufactured Fiber Industry has loads of information about rayon and the viscose process as well as many other manmade fibres - it's one of the best I've seen.

Viscose rayon and cuprammonium rayon, being cellulose, would burn rapidly, leaving an ashy residue that smells of burnt paper. Some viscose rayons are finished with resin and leave a black skeleton of the original fabric when burnt. Acetate rayon, which is not made by the viscose process, would burn readily, leaving a hard brittle black bead (by the end of the manufacturing process the original cellulose has been turned into a different chemical derivative). Fabrics.net has some info about burning tests.

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