Wool Fabric

Soft, strong and very durable wool fabric provide warmth and attractive appearance. It is the fabric which keeps the wearer dry while sweating and cool when it is hot. Wicking away perspiration from the body, wool fabric does not wrinkle easily and is resistant to dirt wear and tear. It is also having the quality of not burning when put over the flame, it only smolder. Felt made of wool fabric is used as covers for piano hammers. It is also used in absorbing odors and noise in machinery and stereo speakers. Wool fabric is being used for clothing for over twelve thousand years does not only come from sheep only, whereas widely used kashmiri sweaters are made from goats. Wool fabric is equipped with different characteristics like warm, resists to wrinkle, wear and tear, it is light weight and durable which also absorbs moisture. Have been largely used in blankets and carpets, today almost every wardrobe contains garment made of woolen fabric.

Processing
[edit]Shearing

Fine Merino shearing Lismore, Victoria

Main article: Sheep shearing Sheep shearing is the process by which the woollen fleece of a sheep is cut off. After shearing, the wool is separated into four main categories: fleece (which makes up the vast bulk), [8] broken, bellies, and locks. The quality of fleeces is determined by a technique known as wool classing, whereby a qualified person called a wool classer groups wools of similar gradings together to maximize the return for the farmer or sheep owner. In Australia and New Zealand, before being auctioned all Merino fleece wool is objectively measured for micron, yield (including the amount of vegetable matter), staple length, staple strength, and sometimes color and comfort factor. [edit]Scouring Wool straight off a sheep, known as "greasy wool" or "wool in the grease", contains a high level of valuable lanolin, as well as dirt, dead skin, sweat residue, pesticide, and vegetable matter. Before the wool can be used for commercial purposes, it must be scoured, a process of cleaning the greasy
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wool. Scouring may be as simple as a bath in warm water, or as complicated as an industrial process [10] using detergent and alkali, and specialized equipment. Sheep arrive with their houses on their back. This is due to wool characteristics that also serve to make it the most unique, completely natural and multipurpose fiber available.

Sheep wool has the capability to keep the body at at even temperature because it does not trap heat. It insulates versus trapping heat. This means that in hot weather it keeps the animal (or you) cool and in cold weather it keeps them (or you) warm. Wool clothing does not cling to the skin like rayons or nylons and even cottons do. This allows for air circulation next to your skin and is part of the insulation properties and comfort of wearing wool. Readily absorbs water and can also release it. Again it does not trap. For sheep this prevents moisture from being held at the skin. It prevents the clammy, cold feeling you may experience when wearing some types of synthetic clothing and sweating. Because of this feature it also dries out slowly. Naturally fire resistant meaning it does not readily burn. This feature is what makes wool attractive as an insulating material in homes. Strands of wool are crimped (imagine your hair crimped with a crimping iron - wool does that naturally). Due to having crimp wool has the ability to stretch and then return to it's natural length. This elasticity is a very promising feature that we can not achieve with any other synthetic material. It is what makes the fiber strong and durable. Felting is the nature of most animal fur that allows it to entangle and form mats of fabric. The fibers (strands) can interlock with each other due to ridges on the individual fibers. Sheep wool is highly regarded for its ability to felt and form fabrics that are near impossible to tear. Felting is the wool characteristic that causes your wool sweater to shrink each time you wash it in warm or hot soapy water and subject it to to rough treatment (ie the washing machine).

Sheep wool is very strong and durable partly due to it's felting feature. The fibers are strong and will hold together through much twisting and turning, much like a lock of hair. This feature is what creates such long lasting garments. The fibers readily accept dye colors. The natural off-white raw color is highly preferred due to its ability to take on color with ease. The product can be easily dyed with natural flower dyes. In contrast synthetic fibers are not dyed easily and will require harsher chemical dyes to change their color.

Characteristics of Wool Fabric

Dirt Resistant

Wool's microscopic scales hold dirt near the surface of the fabric, making it easy to remove.

Flame-Retardant

Wool fibers are high in moisture and resist burning. Unlike petroleum-based synthetics, which melt onto the skin when heated, wool turns to ash.

Resilient and Sturdy

Wool fabrics return to their original size and shape when washed. The fiber resists pilling and breaking so garments last a long time. Wool doesn't wrinkle, and it repels odor. Untreated wool felts when agitated in hot, soapy water.

Natural Insulator

Wool absorbs and releases moisture, insulating the wearer from cold and heat. It wicks sweat from the body, not allowing bacteria to grow. Wool can absorb up to 30 percent of its weight in water before it feels wet to the wearer.

Water-Resistant

When lanolin is left in the wool, the fabric repels water.

Color and Chemical Reactions

Wool takes dyes well, giving stable, long-lasting colors. Wool fabric is susceptible to strong alkali soaps and detergents.

Production of Wool: The processing of wool involves four major steps. First comes shearing, followed by sorting and grading, making yarn and lastly, making fabric. In most parts of the world, sheep are sheared once a year, in early spring or early summer. The best wool comes from the shoulders and sides of the sheep. This is followed by grading and sorting, where workers remove any stained, damaged or inferior wool from each fleece and sort the rest of the wool according to the quality of the fibers. Wool fibers are judged not only on the basis of their strength but also by their fineness (diameter), length, crimp (waviness) and colour. The wool is then scoured with detergents to remove the yolkand such impurities as sand and dust. After the wool dries, it is carded. The carding process involves passing the wool through rollers that have thin wire teeth. The teeth untangle the fibers and arrange them into a flat sheet called

a web. The web is then formed into narrow ropes known as silvers. After carding, the processes used in making yarn vary slightly, depending on the length of the fibers. Carding length fibers are used to make woolen yarn. Combing length fibers and French combing length fibers are made into worsted yarn. Woolen yarn, which feels soft, has a fuzzy surface and is heavier than worsted. While worsted wool is lighter and highly twisted, it is also smoother, and is not as bulky, thus making it easier to carry or transport about. Making worsted wool requires a greater number of processes, during which the fibers are arranged parallel to each other. The smoother the hardsurface worsted yarns, the smoother the wool it produces, meaning, less fuzziness. Fine worsted wool can be used in the making of athletics attire, because it is not as hot as polyester, and the weave of the fabric allows wool to absorb perspiration, allowing the body to "breathe". Wool manufacturers knit or weave yarn into a variety of fabrics. Wool may also be dyed at various stages of the manufacturing process and undergo finishing processes to give them the desired look and feel. The finishing of fabrics made of woolen yarn begins withfulling. This process involves wetting the fabric thoroughly with water and then passing it through the rollers. Fulling makes the fibers interlock and mat together. It shrinks the material and gives it additional strength and thickness. Worsteds go through a process called crabbing in which the fabric passes through boiling water and then cold water. This procedure strengthens the fabric. Properties of the wool: 1)It is hard wearing and absorbs moisture. 2)It does not burn over a flame but smoulders instead. 3)It is lightweight and versatile. 4)Wool does not wrinkle easily. 5)It is resistant to dirt and wear and tear.

WASTE Two types of defects are primary causes of waste: tenderness and breaks. TENDERNESS refers to wool fibers that are weak throughout the lock. Wool fibers which are all weak in one specific region of a lock are referred to as a

BREAK. Breaks result from stress such as sickness, lambing difficulties, or severe storms. A sound fleece is free of breaks or tender wool. You test for these conditions by pulling the lock from each end. (If you pull hard enough, you can break any sound fleece) If the wool fibers separate easily, leaving ragged ends, they are most likely tender. If a distinct separation occurs, the fleece has a break. THE LENGTH OF A FLEECE WITH A BREAK IS DETERMINED BY ESTIMATING THE LENGTH OF THE LONGEST PORTION LEFT. Environmental conditions can cause waste. The most common is weathered tips. Check the tips to see if they are tender. Another factor causing waste is second cuts. This is usually not very important in wool judging, but is a serious problem to producers. It is caused by a shearer cutting the wool fibers two or more times. These bits of wool, second cuts, or noils must be carded out or they make slubs in the finished yarn.

Wool manufacture begins with shearing the sheep. After grading and sorting, the fleece is scoured in a series of alkaline baths containing water, soap, and soda ash or a similar alkali. This process removes sand, dirt, grease, and dried sweat from the fleece.

Next, the fleece is cardedpassed through a series of metal teeth that straighten and blend the threads into slivers. Carding also removes residual dirt and other matter left in the fibers. value is normally not as high as woolens. Worsted fabrics also tend to be more expensive than woolens.

The Manufacturing Process

The major steps necessary to process wool from the sheep to the fabric are: shearing, cleaning and scouring, grading and sorting, carding, spinning, weaving, and finishing.

Shearing

1 Sheep are sheared once a yearusually in the springtime. A veteran shearer can shear up to two hundred sheep per day. The fleece recovered from a sheep can weigh between 6 and 18 pounds (2.7 and 8.1 kilograms); as much as possible, the fleece is kept in one piece. While most sheep are still sheared by hand, new technologies have been developed that use computers and sensitive, robot-controlled arms to do the clipping.

Grading and sorting

2 Grading is the breaking up of the fleece based on overall quality. In sorting, the wool is broken up into sections of different quality fibers, from different parts of the body. The best quality of wool comes from the shoulders and sides of the sheep and is used for clothing; the lesser quality comes from the lower legs and is used to make rugs. In wool grading, high quality does not always mean high durability.

Cleaning and scouring

3 Wool taken directly from the sheep is called "raw" or "grease wool." It contains sand, dirt, grease, and dried sweat (called suint); the weight of contaminants accounts for about 30 to 70 percent of the

After being carded, the wool fibers are spun into yarn. Spinning for woolen yarns is typically done on a mule spinning machine, while worsted yarns can be spun on any number of spinning machines. After the yarn is spun, it is wrapped around bobbins, cones, or commercial drums. fleece's total weight. To remove these contaminants, the wool is scoured in a series of alkaline baths containing water, soap, and soda ash or a similar alkali. The byproducts from this process (such as lanolin) are saved and used in a variety of household products. Rollers in the scouring machines squeeze excess water from the fleece, but the fleece is not allowed to dry completely. Following this process, the wool is often treated with oil to give it increased manageability.

Carding

4 Next, the fibers are passed through a series of metal teeth that straighten and blend them into slivers. Carding also removes residual dirt and other matter left in the fibers. Carded wool intended for worsted yarn is put through gilling and combing, two procedures that remove short fibers and place the longer fibers parallel to each other. From there, the sleeker slivers are compacted and thinned through a process called drawing. Carded wool to be used for woolen yarn is sent directly for spinning.

Spinning

5 Thread is formed by spinning the fibers together to form one strand of yarn; the strand is spun with two, three, or four other strands. Since the fibers cling and stick to one another, it is fairly easy to join, extend, and spin wool into yarn. Spinning for woolen

yarns is typically done on a mule spinning machine, while worsted yarns can be spun on any number of spinning machines. After the yarn is spun, it is wrapped around bobbins, cones, or commercial drums.

Weaving

6 Next, the wool yarn is woven into fabric. Wool manufacturers use two basic weaves: the plain weave and the twill. Woolen yarns are made into fabric using a plain weave (rarely a twill), which produces a fabric of a somewhat looser weave and a soft surface (due to napping) with little or no luster. The napping often conceals flaws in construction.

Worsted yarns can create fine fabrics with exquisite patterns using a twill weave. The result is a more tightly woven, smooth fabric. Better constructed, worsteds are more durable than woolens and therefore more costly.

Finishing

7 After weaving, both worsteds and woolens undergo a series of finishing procedures including: fulling (immersing the fabric in water to make the fibers interlock); crabbing (permanently setting the interlock); decating (shrink-proofing); and, occasionally, dyeing. Although wool fibers can be dyed before the carding process, dyeing can also be done after the wool has been woven into fabric.

Byproducts
The use of waste is very important to the wool industry. Attention to this aspect of the business has a direct impact on profits. These wastes are grouped into four classes:

The spun wool yarn is woven into fabric using two basic weaves: the plain weave and the twill weave. Woolen yarns are made into fabric using a plain weave (rarely a twill), which produces a fabric of a somewhat looser weave and a soft surface (due to napping) with little or no luster. The napping often conceals flaws in construction. Worsted yarns can create fine fabrics with exquisite patterns using a twill weave. The result is a more tightly woven, smooth fabric. Better constructed, worsteds are more durable than woolens and therefore more costly.

Noils. These are the short fibers that are separated from the long wool in the combing process. Because of their excellent condition, they are equal in quality to virgin wool. They constitute one of the major sources of waste in the industry and are reused in highquality products.

Soft waste. This is also high-quality material that falls out during the spinning and carding stages of production. This material is usually reintroduced into the process from which it came.

Hard waste. These wastes are generated by spinning, twisting, winding, and warping. This material requires much re-processing and is therefore considered to be of lesser value.

Finishing waste. This category includes a wide variety of clippings, short ends, sample runs, and defects. Since this material is so varied, it requires a great deal of sorting and cleaning to retrieve that which is usable. Consequently, this material is the lowest grade of waste.