What is wool? Describe about wool fibre processing.

What is wool?

Wool is the textile fiber that is obtained from sheep and other animals, including cashmere and mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, hide and fur clothing from bison, angora from rabbits, and other types of wool from came-lids. Wool contains a small percentage of lipids as well as proteins. In this case, it is chemically dominant textile cotton from cellulose which is relatively different. Raw wool has many impurities such as vegetable matter, sand, dirt, and yolk which is a mixture of suint (sweat), grease, urine stains, and dung locks.

Wool fiber

History of wool

The wool trade was a deadly business, developing as a generator of capital. In the thirteenth century, the wool trade became the economic engine of lower countries and central Italy. Towards the end of the fourteenth century, Italy became dominant, although in the 16th-century Italian production became silk. Both industries, based on the export of English raw wool, only became competitive in Castile's 15th-century sheepwalk and were a significant source of income for the English Crown, which in 1275 imposed an export tax on wool called the Great custom.

The importance of wool in the English economy is reflected in the fact that from the 14th century onwards, the Presiding Officer of the House of Lords sat on the woolsack, a chair full of wool. The English textile trade flourished during the 15th century when wool exports plummeted. For centuries, various British laws regulated the wool trade or even required the use of wool in cemeteries. The technology of wash wool was first demonstrated to produce wool that has been specially treated so that it can be machine washed and dried. This wool is produced using an acid bath that removes scales from the fiber, or coating the fibers with a polymer that prevents the scales from sticking to each other and causing compression. This process results in a fiber that is made of synthetic materials that Retain longevity and durability while retaining the size.

Woolens: It is a type of yarn made from carded wool. The woolen yarn is very soft, lightly stretched, and full of air. It is thus a good insulator and makes a good knitting yarn. Woolen yarn is in contrast to worsted yarn in which the fibers are combed to lie parallel rather than carded, producing a hard and strong yarn. It is a general term describing various fabrics woven from woolen yarn that is spun from the shorter wool fibers. These shorter fibers are not combed to lie flat as in the worsted yarn. It is the shorter fibers that lie in several different directions and stand up from the surface and give the fabric a ‘fuzzy’ or ‘hairy’ touch. This results in soft surface textures and finishes to the fabric.

Worsteds: Worsted is a high-quality wool yarn, the fabric made from this type of yarn is called worsted fabric. The name worsted derives from worstead. The village Norfolk together with North Walsham and Aylsham formed a manufacturing center for yarn and cloth in the 12th century when pasture enclosure and liming rendered the East Very rich Anglian soil for old agricultural sheep breeds. At the same time, many weavers from Flanders moved to Norfolk. Although both are made from sheep's wool, "worsted" yarns/fabrics are different from wool. The former is considered stronger, finer, smoother, and tougher than the latter. Worsted was made from the long-staple pasture wool from sheep breeds such as Tees-waters, Old Leicester Longwool, and Romney Marsh. Pasture wool was not carded; instead, it was washed, gilled and combed, oiled, and finally spun. When woven worsteds were scoured but not fulled. Worsted wool fabric is typically used in the making of tailored garments such as suits, as opposed to woolen wool which is used for knitted items such as sweaters. It is a general term for fabrics woven from worsted yarns that contain longer fibers spun from combed wool. Worsted wool refers to tightly woven, smooth, finished fabric in various towels and other strong weaves. Worsted fabrics are often more expensive than wool spun products due to the longer raw material to the yarn processing route used. Worsted fabric is generally stronger and wears better than a woolen-spun the fabric of equivalent weave construction and fabric weight. Worsted fabrics are preferred for trousers and suiting’s where a smooth finish is required.

Worsted Yarn

Physical Properties of wool

1. The color of wool fiber may be white, brown, or black.

2. Standard elongation is 25-35% in dry and 30-50% in wet conditions.

3. The tensile strength of wool is 1-1.7 in dry and 0.8-1.6 in wet conditions.

4. Moisture regain (MR %) - 16.0 and Moisture content (MC%)-13.8

5. Elastic recovery is good. Each fiber is somewhat elastic which allows it to stretch by 25 to 30 percent before breaking.

6. Wool has several qualities such as crimped and elastic.

7. The cross-sectional view is oval to roughly circular.

8. It has to scale and crimp.

Chemical Properties of Wool

1. Hot concentrated Sulphuric acid attack and decompose the wool.

2. Strong alkali effect on wool but weak is not.

3. Wool fiber may be dyed by the basic dye, direct dye, and mainly acid dye.

4. Wool fiber doesn’t affect by organic solvent.

5. Wool fiber affected by insects.

6. Wool is attacked by oxidizing agents or bleaches such as H₂O₂, NaOCl, and Calcium hypochlorite.

7. Wool keratin decomposes under the action of sunlight.

8. Wool becomes weak and losses its softness when heated at the temperature of boiling water.

Chemical composition of wool

Keratin -33%

Grease -28%

Impurities -26%

Suint -12%

Mineral -1%

Chemical Composition of Keratin-

Carbon – 50%

Nitrogen – 25%

Hydrogen – 12%

Oxygen – 10%

Sulfur – 3%

Types of wool-

There are many types of wool found all over the world. Such as below-

1. Merino Wool

Merino wool is one of the world’s familiar types of wool. A majority of merino sheep are bred in Australia and merino sheep wool is used to make all sorts of different kinds of garments and industrial materials. This type of wool can have a diameter below 20 microns which makes it one of the best types of wool products in existence. Even after originally raising merino sheep in Spain, this European country rarely produced merino wool. Since merino wool is relatively sticky before being processed. It is necessary to remove lanolin from this type of textile before it can be spun into yarn.

2. Mohair Wool

Mohair the wool comes from angora goats which have incredibly thick, wavy wool. While it’s possible to gather mohair wool without hurting angora goats. The widespread misuse of these wool-bearing animals has been the subject of controversy for generations in the mohair industry.

While other types of wool leaves may not be very mature, Angora goat's wavy hair naturally leads to high-cream woolen textiles. During the 1970s and 1980s, mohair was very much in vogue and trendy urbanites wore mohair sweaters and put mohair carpeting in their homes until the rampant animal abuses in the mohair industry came to light.

3. Cashmere Wool

It is one of the most expensive and luxurious types of wool. The name cashmere comes from the Indian region of Kashmir, the region where cashmere's wool-supplying cattle goats originated. With a diameter of hair as short as 18 microns, cashmere is as soft and delicate as merino wool. The high price of cashmere wool, however, comes from the fact that cashmere goats can only produce around 150 to 200 grams of wool per year, which makes this type of wool a highly desired commodity.

4. Alpaca Wool

People of South America have been breeding alpacas for their wool for thousands of years. Younger alpacas can yield hairs as small as 15 microns but alpaca wool roughens as it ages, which makes the hair fibers of older alpacas unusable for apparel purposes. There are several different species of alpacas that breeders use for wool and Suri, and alpaca wool is one of the most valuable varieties of this natural textile. While some manufacturers use pure alpaca wool to make garments, most manufacturers blend this type of wool with less expensive wool varieties to take advantage of the attractive qualities of alpaca fibers at no unreasonable cost.

5. Camel Wool

It is incredibly insulative but also less durable than other types of wool. Since camel hair is relatively rough, it is not suitable for any clothing that directly touches the skin.

6. Qiviut Wool

The qiviut wool is a type of musk ox native to Alaska. While the fibers produced by this animal is very rough and they are eight times more insulative than sheep wool which makes qiviut wool ideal for gloves, hats, and other types of cold weather gear.

7. Virgin Wool

Virgin wool is also known as lamb’s wool. It is wool which is made from a lamb’s first shearing. This term may also indicate that the reverse has not been reused.

8. Angora Wool

The Angora wool comes from a special breed of rabbit that produces incredibly fine and soft hair. This type of wool is very expensive and the rabbits that produce it is not commonly kept inhumane conditions.

Wool Fibre Processing

1. Wool Shearing

Sheep cutting is the process by which sheep's wool is slaughtered. The person who removes the fleece is called sheer. Usually, every adult sheep is pruned once a year. Annual sharing mostly takes place in a shearing shed, a facility created for processing hundreds of times and more than 3,000 sheep per day. Sheep are worn all season depending on the climate, management requirements, and the availability of wool clashes and shearers. The warmer months are usually shit before the lamb in the warmer months, but the welfare of the lamb is considered rather than the winter cold. However, in highland areas, pre-lamb encourages infantry to take refuge in the middle of mountain ranges so that newborn sheep do not come into full contact with the material. Cut sheep tolerate icebergs but young sheep suffer especially in cold, humid weather. In this event, they spend several nights until the weather clears. Some sheep can usually be cut with a stat comb which is commonly known as a cover comb which gives more protection to the animal over the winter months. Running sheep is considered a sport with competition around the world. This is often done between spring and summer.

2. Wool Grading

In England the wool is said to be ‘hog wool’, slightly pointed from the main wood weather wool or subsequent clippings, softer and distinct from the more wavy wool or curls. Lamb wool is more expensive than sheep wool and can be used for purposes that are not suitable for subsequent clippings. Gold wool or cut from living creatures are marketed as (1) ‘unwashed’ or ‘in Greece,’ i.e. as a lamb’s thorn in the side; (2) ‘washed’, i.e. washing the sheep in cold water which removes some of the yolks and dirt; And (3) ‘scoured’ or clean ready for production. ‘Tub washed’ involves breaking a sheep or washing it more or less with hands or equipment; ‘Un-merchandise’ is applied to the part held wool on the backs of sheep but not washed thoroughly. Most of the wool produced in the United States, and especially west of the Mississippi River, are still marketed as ‘unwashed’, which is generally preferred by fur-buyers. ‘Skirted’ is a term applied to certain flocks imported into the United States from which the head, abdomen, and breech have been removed to avoid the full effect of the tariff. ‘Pulled wool’ also called ‘skin wool’ usually comes from the shaking of an inferior grade of sheep that have been slaughtered or died due to disease or exposure. Vomiting is loosened by applying a thin lime paste to the back of the skin or rubbing wet skin into piles. There are mainly three classes of wool based on the chief: (a) the kind of carding or garment wool or merino which is desirable for the abominable qualities; (B) the length of the staples is required in the higher parts of the wood and the rigid qualities are not used for non-felting spools; And (c) miscellaneous, sometimes called carpet or blanket wool used for long, strong, thick wool, carpets, blankets, and thick clothing. Clothing fur is generally classified as Picklock XX, XX, X, Picklock extremely fine fibers. The mass of high-grade clothing is made of XX and X grade.

3. Wool Sorting

Wool selection is the process of separating different items or quality. There is a difference in the quality of the wool and especially in picking a requirement from different parts of the sheep. During the spreading of the wool, each lamb sticks together as a mat and is tied separately. At the time of sorting, different parts of the fleece sheep are torn by hand, representing different qualities. The idea of ​​the position of the various qualities of wool is given by a diagram with a Leicester sheepskin taken from the Bauman structure of the wool fiber. The same relative positions are good in all types of silt. Wool is the best and even found on the shoulder of growth "A". In some people, this quality extends farther towards ‘E’ and tail ‘B’ and ‘F’ than others, and the quality of wool in ‘B’ is not very low, but rather short and thick. These two features will be graded as picklock and wool business as the main or choice when the fur from the part indicated by 'C' is often fine but smaller than 'A' or 'B' and suitable for holding more irregular or colored hair. Once released, it is graded as 'C'. The ‘D’ and ‘E’ shades on each side of them form the top of the neck and shoulders as the fiber is not as deep or close as ‘A’ or ‘C’. The upper part of the waist ‘F’ is similar to the ‘B’ in which it is shaded and is often used for various purposes especially as a quality for cutting ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘E’ and ‘F’. Behind the F, in the flanks, the wool is long and thick, most commonly found in the part marked "G". The ‘H’ and ‘I’ are the thickest part of the sheep that grow in large locks with long thick wool. This is often referred to as ‘violation’ wool and can only be used for spinning a very small amount of coarse yarn. Beyond the apex of ‘I,’ there is often a low quality called low or cow-tail that is thick and hairy and can only be used for very small numbers. The difference in fibrous quality from the same wool is so great that a lot can be chosen depending on the character of the sheep and the purposes for which the wool will be used. The names applied for the different qualities of the wool vary in different regions and even between different manufacturers, and this lack of uniform naming causes little confusion.

4. Wool Scouring

Wool which we get from a sheep known as sticky wool or wool in Greece. It contains high levels of valuable lanolin as well as sheepskin and sweat residue and usually contains pesticides and vegetable substances from the animal environment. Before the wool could be used for commercial purposes. The process must be scrubbed to clean the sticky materials from the wool. Using detergents and alkalis in simple or specialized equipment such as bathing in fountain hot water can be as complex as the industrial process. In wool shaking, water alone cannot remove lubricants and dirt because water molecules cannot enter the adhesive layer to separate them from the fiber surface. The greasy film needs to be transferred from the fiber to the machine to remove the impurities in the fiber like a greased film with dirt. To do this the alcohol must first soak the fibers. The presence of a surfactant in the detergent enables the water to coat non-wettable surfaces. Moisture reduces the interstitial tension between the grease and the water so that the grease stays away from the droplets and floats away. Dirt removal is harder than wool grease and adequate mechanical action by Harrow is essential for better dirt removal. Squeeze rollers also play a key role in removing dirt. It is important to remove as much dirt as possible during scouring to avoid problems with subsequent processing. For example, dirty touches of yarn can cause light stiffness and inferior color. Most of the dirt and impurities are removed in the first bowl, the rest is removed in the next container. After the last (washed) ball, almost all impurities were removed except about 0.1 - 0.4% of wool grease in New Zealand or 0.0 - 0.6% in Australia. In special cases, potash pits were made to produce potash used to make soft soaps for locally produced white wool.

5. Wool Carbonizing

Carbonization is a process by which vegetable matter is removed from raw wool. In other words, carbonization is the conversion of organic matter, such as plants and dead animals, into carbon through destructive distillation. The process will be continued in a container with strong acids such as HCL or H₂SO₄. Here it stays for some time like twelve hours and it shakes a few times. If the acid is too strong, the vegetable substance is easily removed from the wool. At the end of twelve hours, the wool acid is taken out of the pot and left to soak for drying. Temperatures around 160o or 170o Fahrenheit are not as hot as they used to be to damage woolen fibers, but the acid is hot enough to eat or burn vegetable matter. Once dried, the vegetable substances will be seen to reduce a gloss and come out easily in the form of dust with the shaking of the wool. Even large buds, straws, seeds, etc. can be removed in this way. However, the risk of using acid and heat is such that the process is usually only used for the disposal of fine particles that aging and other machines cannot get. The chemical carbonizing process was used in the wool manufacturing industry around 1880.

6. Wool Carding

It is a mechanical process that unravels, cleans, and intermixes the fibers to produce an uninterrupted web or sliver suitable for subsequent processing. This is achieved by passing fibers between differential moving surfaces covered with card cloth. It breaks the disorganized clamps of locks and fibers and then aligns the individual fibers to be parallel to each other. In making wool fibers for spinning, carding is the step after teasing. Here the fibers go through a series of metal teeth that straighten them into the sleeves. It removes dirt and other residues that remain in the fibers. Garbage is laid through the gilling and combing of cardboard wool intended for yarn, two methods that remove shorter fibers and place longer fibers parallel to each other. From there the smooth slivers are compacted and thinned through a process called drawing. The carded wool used for wool yarn is sent directly for spinning.

7. Wool Spinning

Spinning is the process of twisting where the fiber is pulled, bent, and wound on a bobbin. The thread is made by twisting the fibers together to form a single strand of yarn. The strand is cut with two, three, or four other strands. Since the fibers cling and stick to each other. The yarn is fairly easy to join with wool, stretch, and spin. In a spinning mule, the rowing is pulled by bobbins and fed continuously through rollers driven at different speeds, thinning the rowing at a continuous rate. As the vehicle pulled out, the yarn was twisted with a spinning bobbin, and the car was turned over to a police officer as soon as it returned. Mule spinning rings produce finer yarn than spinning. Spinning with a mule machine is an intermediate process as a frame progression and return. Spinning for woolen yarn is usually done on mule spinning machines while worse yarn can be cut on any spinning machine. After cutting the yarn it is wrapped around a bobbin, cone, or commercial drum.

8. Fabric manufacturing

Fabric manufacturing is a process based on the conversion of fiber into yarn, yarn into fabric. It refers to any textile material made through weaving, knitting, flame retardation, and scotch guard treatment, etc. The wool manufacturer uses two basic weaves: plain wave and towel. Wool yarns are fabricated using a simple loom (rarely any dual) fabric, which creates a slightly loose loom fabric and a soft surface (due to napping) with little or no glitter. Napping often hides construction errors. Worsted yarn can be made into fine fabrics with fine patterns using a towel weave. The result is a more tightly woven, smooth fabric. The better built, the worse the wool is more durable and therefore more expensive.

Uses of Wool

1. Wool has been used for blankets, horse rugs, saddle cloths, carpeting, insulation, and upholstery.

2. It has also been traditionally used to cover cloth diapers.

3. Merino wool has been used in baby sleep products such as swaddle baby wrap blankets and infant sleeping bags.

4. It can be used as a soil fertilizer, being a slow-release source of nitrogen.

5. It used for increasing friction in a vest with 28–30 layers of fabric, to provide the same level of bullet resistance as 36 layers of Kevlar alone.