rayon, synthetic fibers made from cellulose or textiles woven
from such fibers; more rayon is manufactured than any other
synthetic fiber. The name was adopted (1924), in preference to
"artificial silk," by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce and various
commercial associations. As early as 1665 the English naturalist
Robert Hooke had suggested the possibility of making artificial
silk, but the first artificial textile fiber was produced in
1884 by a French scientist, Hilaire de Chardonnet, and was
manufactured by him in 1889. Unpopular at first because it was
too lustrous and laundered poorly, it has been steadily
improved. Cellulose, originally from cotton linters but now
chiefly from wood pulp, washed, bleached, and pressed into
sheets, is dissolved by chemicals, then forced under pressure
through minute holes in a metal cap (spinneret), emerging as
filaments that unite to form one continuous strand solidified by
passage through a suitable liquid or warm air. The spinning
solution may be forced through a larger ori