Emil Hubert

Emil Hubert (1887–1945) - inventor of the world's first fully synthetic fiber

Emil Hubert (born December 1, 1887 in Mainz , † April 22, 1945 in Jeßnitz ) was a German chemist .

education

Emil Hubert was born in Mainz as the youngest of seven siblings. His parents were the master glazier Franz Xaver Jacob Hubert and Karolina Auguste Elisabeth, b. Bachmann. The family soon moved to Freiburg / Br . When Emil Hubert was three years old, his father died. He attended grammar school in Freiburg and graduated from high school in 1907. E. Hubert then studied chemistry at the University of Freiburg and received his doctorate in 1911.

Laboratory practice

On March 28, 1911, he was hired as a laboratory chemist at the Bayer factory in Elberfeld , where he worked in various areas until 1929, including in the cellite department.

Development of viscose rayon

On January 1, 1930 E. Hubert moved to the Wolfen film factory (today the Bitterfeld-Wolfen Chemical Park , Area A) and took up residence in Dessau, 25 km away . The chemist, now with industry experience, became head of the “Scientific Artificial Silk Laboratory”. His task was to improve the quality of the viscose rayon that had been produced since 1922 . At the same time, he was involved in the expansion of research into the central research facility of the lead company of Division III of the IG Farben group "Photografica, Kunstseide, Vistra, Fragrances". The Scientific Laboratories I and II were created. In 1931 he became head of the "Scientific Laboratory I" with the aim of finding spinnable substances and developing the spinning technologies.

The first fully synthetic fiber

In 1931, the world's first fully synthetic fiber was spun on a laboratory scale. E. Hubert dissolved polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in cyclohexanone and used 30% acetic acid as a precipitation bath . This process could not be used on an industrial scale because of the unpleasant smell. The solution was the use of post-chlorinated PVC soluble in acetone . In 1934 E. Hubert and his co-workers Herbert Rein and Karl Weissbrod succeeded in spinning a fully synthetic fiber / silk on a test facility and thus ushered in a new era in textile fiber history (DRP743.597, from July 6, 1938). The development of the fiber goes back to the fundamental work of Fritz Klatte , who had already synthesized polyvinyl chloride in 1913 and in the patent (DRP 29.1877 of July 4, 1913) referred to the fact that u. a. "Artificial threads" can be produced.

The development of the fiber / silk was a result of the collaboration with the Griesheim Elektron Bitterfeld plant, which provided a special polyvinyl chloride (PVC) developed by Curt Schönburg. The post-chlorinated PVC was soluble in acetone and thus spinnable in a water bath. With the beginning of the production of the fiber / silk in 1939 on a production plant, the effective advertising slogan of the IG Farben concern “The first fully synthetic spun fiber made from carbon and lime” was justified. With this, the research team led by E. Hubert had proven that a textile fiber can be industrially manufactured from purely inorganic substances. The Leipzig Spring Fair in 1939 was used for the official presentation of the first fully synthetic staple fibers and artificial silk .

Development of the Perlon fiber

With the departure of the head of the Scientific Laboratory II, Heinrich Fink, in 1938, E. Hubert also took over this research facility. This made him a central figure in chemical fiber research at the Wolfen film factory. He was also involved in the development and industrial implementation of the Perlon fiber / silk, which was carried out parallel to the work of Paul Schlack at Aceta GmbH in Berlin, in the Wolfen film factory. Reason for the management of the film factory to induce him in 1943 to move his residence from the unsafe, bomb-prone Dessau to the supposedly safe place of residence Jeßnitz, near Wolfen. It was a fallacy. E. Hubert, his wife Gertrud and another 27 people died on April 22, 1945 as a result of acts of war in Jeßnitz.

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  In 1934 Agfa Filmfabrik Wolfen started manufacturing the world's first synthetic fiber / silk based on polyvinyl chloride.

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  In 1932, a small plant at Agfa Filmfabrik Wolfen started producing Vistra cotton-type fibers. With the establishment of a pulp mill with an attached spinning mill in 1937, the film factory advanced to become the world's largest complex Vistra production facility (pulp production with an attached spinning mill).

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  Title page of a brochure on PeCe fibers / silk, 1942

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  Advertisement by Agfa Filmfabrik Wolfen for anti-rheumatic laundry, 1959

literature

• Herbert Bode: The development of the chemical fiber area of ​​the Wolfen film factory, from the beginning until 1935 , issue 56, publisher: company archive of the VEB Filmfabrik Wolfen, parent company of the VEB Fotochemisches Kombinat.
• Herbert Bode: The development of the chemical fiber area of ​​the Wolfen film factory, 1935–1945 , Issue 59, Ed .: Works archive of the Wolfen film factory, parent company of the VEB Fotochemisches Kombinat.
• Ehrhard Finger: Emil Hubert - inventor of the world's first synthetic fiber , Dessau calendar 2017, Heimatliches Jahrbuch für Dessau-Roßlau and the surrounding area, 61st year, pp. 138–153, publisher: City of Dessau-Roßlau, city archive.
• Collective of authors: chemists from A – Z. A biographical-lexical overview of chemistry and its important representatives in East Germany , published by: Employers' Association Nordostchemie eV and Association of the Chemical Industry eV, Landesverband Nordost, 2003.