Woolen Cloth
Wool Fibre
What is Wool?
Wool is a textile fibr obtained from sheep and some other
animals, including cashmere and mohair from goats,
qiviut from muskoxen, angora from rabbits, and other
types of wool from camelids.
Wool fibre is a highly organised structure
Extraction of Wool from Sheep Step by Step
The steps involved in wool production are as follows.
Shearing – The process of removal of the woollen
coat or fleece from the animal is called shearing
Scouring – Wool taken directly from the sheep is
called raw or grease wool.
Sorting and grading – After scouring the damaged
or inferior wool is removed. This process is called
sorting.
Making yarn – Carded wool is twisted into a rope
called silver. The silver is stretched and twisted into a
thin yarn.
Washing and finishing – Woollen yarn is woven or
knitted into the fabric which is then used to make
finished products such as clothes, table cloths and
bags.
Animals Yielding Wool
Wool fibres are obtained from sheep, goat, angora rabbits,
goats, alpaca and even camels.
Sheep – Most sheep have two types of hair from
which the wool is obtained. The outer coarse hair is
known as Kemp. The fine, soft undercoat close to the
skin.
Cashmere goat – The fine soft fibre obtained from
the undercoat of the cashmere goat is called
cashmere.
Yak – Yaks are found in Tibet and Ladakh. Their
coats consist of outer long coat hair and an undercoat
of soft and silky wool.
Camel – Camel fleece consists of a soft, fine
undercoat. Camel wool is considered a healthy
natural product. It has excellent thermal insulation
properties.
Angora rabbit – Soft white fibre called goraw wool
is obtained from the angora rabbit. And that is used to
make [Link] and Quality of Wool
Durability – Wool is a hard fibre that remains that
retains its nice appearance for a long time.
Absorption of moisture – As a fabric wool draws
moisture from the body and absorbs it inside its
fibers.
Resistance to dirt – Wool fibres have an outer layer
of scales that reduce the ability of dirt and dust to
penetrate the fibre.
Resistance to fire – One of the properties of wool is
that it does not burn easily. When subjected to
flames, it will smoulder instead.
Repel nature – Even though wool absorbs moisture
the scales on the outer layer of each fibre repel
liquids.
Insulating nature – These are filled with bubbles of air, which
heat up as the moisture in the centre of the fibre heats up, making wool a
perfect insulator.
Summary
A summary of the conversion of fleece into wool fabrics
is shown below.
The fibres obtained from animals are called animal
fibres, for example, wool.
Wool is obtained from the fleece of animals such as
goats, sheep, yak, alpaca, llama, and lamb.
The wool-yielding animals have a thick coat of hair
which traps a lot of air. Being a poor conductor of
heat, hairs keep these animals warm.
The fine soft hair fibres are used for making wool.
