Wool Fiber

Wool fiber is a natural animal fiber which is derived from the hair grown on sheep; it is composed
of a protein substance called Keratin which is the major component of wool fiber. Wool is also
composed of hydrogen, nitrogen and carbon, wool is the only natural fiber which also consists of
sulfur in addition. Wool gives a spongy feel and acts as a good insulation material due to the
presence of curls or crimps in its structure which is beneficial to the user.

Features of Wool

• Wool is possibly the oldest fibre known to humans.

• It was one of the first fibres to be spun into yarn and woven into a fabric.

• Wool mostly comes from sheep but also from alpacas, camels, and goats. Australia, Eastern
Europe, New Zealand, and China are major wool producers.

• Wool is a natural proteinic fiber. The protein present in wool is keratin

• Protein fibers are composed of amino acids, containing Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen and Nitrogen.

• The wool fibers have crimps or curls, which create pockets and give the wool a spongy feel and
create insulation for the wearer.

• The eco-credentials of wool are enhanced by its long service life and suitability to be recycled to
new textiles for clothing, resilient upholstery or products that call on its natural resistance to fire
and temperature extremes.

• The highest quality wool comes from the sides, shoulders, and back. The lowest quality comes
from the lower legs.

Woolen Yarn

Woollen yarn is thick and usually created from the shorter fibers of the sheep’s fleece. Woolen
yarn is soft, light, stretchy, and full of air. The fibers in the woolen yarn are held loosely and
subjected to only to only a limited or less twist during spinning. These yarns are woven into thick
bulkier materials are ideal for warm winter jackets, sweaters, skirts, blankets etc. Woollen yarn is
used to make thick, heavyweight woven or knitted garments.
Worsted_Yarn

Worsted is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn. Worsted yarn was

made from the long-staple pasture wool from sheep breeds. The worsted process involves combing

the short hairs out of the fiber. Worsted yarn fabric is typically used in the making of tailored

garments such as suits. It is also used for carpets, clothing, hosiery, gloves and baize.

The differences between woolen and worsted yarn are as follows:

Woolen Yarn Worsted Yarn

Spun from wool fibers of: Spun from wool fibers of:
 Length : longer than 3”
 Length : spun from short fibers of 1-3”  Diameter: fine diameter
 Diameter: medium or coarse
The fibers are washed, scoured, carded,
The fibers are washed, scoured and carded. combed and drawn

Woolen yarns are only carded, less twisted and hence weak Worsted yarns are carded and combed, highly
in strength. twisted and stronger.

Yarn:
Yarn:
 Fine
 Bulky
 Smooth
 Uneven
 Even
 Low to medium slack twist
 Tighter twist
 Tensile strength lower than worsted
 Higher tensile strength

Fabric Appearance: Fabric Appearance:

 Soft  Crisp
 Fuzzy  Smooth
 Heavier weight  Lighter weight

Woolen fabrics are woven with plain weave and Worsted fabrics are woven chiefly with twill
sometimes twill weave. Weaving is not compact and fabric weave and weaving construction is close,
is not durable or strong. compact, and as such more strong fabric.

Woolen can be easily adulterated and napping finish is given Worsted cannot be easily adulterated as it has a
to produce soft surface. hard finish on the surface.
 Characteristics: Characteristics:
 Insulator due to trapped air  Less insulator
 Does not hold a crease well  Holds creases and shape
 Less durable than worsted  More durable than woollens

Less expensive than worsted. Costlier or expensive than woollens.

These fibers are warmer than worsted. It has no luster and is

It wrinkles less than woolen, holds creases and
less durable. The napped surface tends to catch and hold dirt
shape and become shiny with use.
but stains can be easily removed.

Uses:
Uses:
 Sweater
 Suits
 Jacket
 Dresses
 Blankets
 Gabardines
 Carpets
 Crepes
 Tweeds

Classification of Wool Fibres

Classification by Sheep

Merino Wool: Merino sheep originated in Spain yields the best quality wool. These fibers are
strong, fine and elastic fiber which is relatively short, ranging from 1 to 5 inches (25 – 125 mm).

Among the different wool fibers, merino wool has the greatest amount of crimp and has maximum
number of scales. These two factors contribute to its superior warmth and spinning qualities.
Merino is used for the best types of wool clothing.

Class – Two Wool: This class of sheep originates from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

The fibers are comparatively strong, fine, and elastic and range from 2 to 8 inches (50 – 200mm)

in length. They have a large number of scales per inch and have good crimp.

Class – Three Wool: This class of sheep originates from United Kingdom. The fibers are coarser
and have fewer scales and less Crimp when compared to earlier varieties of wool fibers and are
about 4 to 18 inches long. They are smoother, and are more lustrous. These wools are less elastic
and resilient. They are of good quality, used for clothing.
Class – Four Wool: This class is a group of mongrel sheep sometimes referred to as half-breeds.
The fibers are about 1 to 16 inches (25 – 400 mm) long, are coarse and hair like, and have relatively
few scales and little crimp. The fibers are smoother and more lustrous. This wool is less desirable,
with the least elasticity and strength. It is used mainly for carpets, rugs, and inexpensive low-grade
clothing.

Classification by Fleece

The classification by fleece is as follows:

Lamb’s Wool: The fleece obtained by shearing the lamb of six to eight months old for the first
time is known as lamb’s wool. It is also referred to as fleece wool, or first clip. As the fiber has
not been cut, it has a natural, tapered end that gives it a softer feel.

Hogget Wool: Hogget wool is the one obtained from sheep about twelve to fourteen months old
that have not been previously shorn. The fiber is fine, soft, resilient, and mature, and has tapered
ends. These are primarily used for warp yarns.

Wether Wool: Wether wool is the one obtained from the sheep olderthan fourteen months. The
shearing is not done for the first time and in fact these fleeces are obtained after the first shearing.
These fleeces contain much soil and dirt.

Pulled Wool: Pulled wool is taken from animals originally slaughtered for meat. The wool is
pulled from the pelt of the slaughtered sheep using various chemicals. The fibers of pulled wool
are of low quality and produce a low-grade cloth.

Dead Wool: This is the wool obtained from the sheep that have died of age or accidentally killed.
This type of wool fiber knownshould not be confused for pulled wool. Dead wool fiber is decidedly
inferior in grade; it is used in low-grade cloth.

Cotty Wool: This type of wool is obtained from the sheep that are exposed to severe weather. As
discussed; the severe weather conditions hamper the qualities of the fleece obtained. The cotty
wool is of a poor grade and is hard and brittle.

Tag locks: The torn, ragged, or discolored parts of a fleece are known as tag locks. These are
usually sold separately as an inferior grade of wool.
Growth and Harvesting of Wool fiber:

Wool is amongst the oldest fibers known to humans and it was one of the first fibers to be spun

into the yarn and then woven into fabric. Wool not only comes from sheep, but also from different

animals such as goats, camels, alpacas etc. The major producers of wool are China, Australia,

Eastern Europe and New Zealand.

Harvesting of the Wool involves following procedure:

The process of removing hair from the sheep is termed as shearing. A sharing specialist can sheer

200 sheep a day. A female sheep can produce 20 pounds of wool where as a male sheep can

produce 15 pounds of wool. The sheared wool is called as the raw wool and the very first step is

cleaning of the wool to get rid of all the impurities, dust and other unwanted materials.

The second step is carding, this involves brushing the wool which makes the wool fibers straight,

in olden days it was carried out by hands, but now due to development of machines. The machine

involves passing of wool through a series of rollers where the carded fibers are gently scraped into

strands called rovings. The roving is spun into yarn that is then woven into cloth.

Fleece is a ball of wool taken from a single animal in a shearing. But not all wool is equal – even

when it comes from the same animal. The highest quality wool comes from the sides, shoulders,

and back. The lowest quality comes from the lower legs.

Grading:

Wool fleeces differ in many measurable characteristics

 Fineness,

 Yield,
  Length,

 Strength,

 Color and

 Vegetable matter contamination.

When fleeces are grouped according to any or all of these characteristics, the process is called

grading. This is determined either by the experienced Graders or by the prospective buyers

themselves who take the samples for the purpose. Graders can do the job simply through visual

inspection.

In the United States wool is graded using three methods:

1. The “American” or “Blood” System: This is an older system where wool is graded depending
upon the amount or percentage of “fine wool” sheep breeding (Merino/Rambouillet blood) there
is in the animal being shorn.
2. The “British “ ,”Bradford”, or “Spinning Count “ System: This is based on the amount of
“Hanks” of yarn that can be spun from 1 pound of scoured (washed) wool. If a Rambouillet grades
64s (fine grade), then 1 pound of clean wool from that sheep will yield over 20 miles of yarn
(64*560 yards of yarn). This system’s grade numbers are always even numbers, with the lowest
being 36s and the highest 120s. With this system the larger number will be a finer wool.
3. The Micron System: Increased emphasis on an exact and highly descripted method of
describing wool; grade has produced a measuring system in which individual fibres are accurately
measured. The unit of measure is the micron, which is one millionth of a meter or 1/25,000 of an
inch. Fineness is expressed as the mean fibre diameter. Eventually, this system will become the
standard for describing wool in the United States.

Wool Fibre Morphology | The Macro Structure of Wool

1) Cuticle: The cuticle is the layer of overlapping epithelial cell’s surrounding the wool fibre.
There are three cuticles.

i. Epi Cuticle: The epicuticle is the outermost layer covers of the wool fibre.
 ii. Exo Cuticle: The overlapping epithelial cell forms the exocuticle.
iii. Endocuticle: The endocuticle is the intermediate connecting layer bonding the epithelial
cell of the cortex of wool fibre.

2) Cortex: The cortex – the internal cells-make up 90% of the fibre. There are two main types of
cortical cells i.e. ortho-cortical and para-cortical. Each has a different chemical composition. In
finer fibres, these two types of cells from in two distinct halves. The cells expand differently when
the absorb moisture, making the fibre bend-this creates the crimp in wool. In coarser fibres, the
para-cortical and ortho-chemical cells from more randomly so there’s less crimp. Fibre crimp
makes wool fell springy and provides insulation by trapping air.
3) Cortical cell: The cortical cells are surrounded and held together by a cell membrane complex,
acting similarly to mortar holding bricks together in a wall. The cell membrane complex
contains proteins and waxy lipids and runs through the whole fibre and allows easy uptake of dye
molecules. The molecules in this region have fairly weak intermolecular bonds, which can break
down when exposed to continued abrasion and strong chemicals.
4) Macro-fibril: Inside the cortical cells, there are long filaments called macro-fibrils. These are
made up bundles of even finer filaments called microfibrils, which are surrounded by a matrix
region.
5) Matrix: The matrix consists of high sulphur proteins. This makes wool absorbent because
sulphur atoms attract water molecules. Wool can absorb up to 30% of its weight in water and can
also absorb and retain large amount dye. This region is also responsible for wool’s fire-resistance
and anti-static properties.
6) Micro-fibril: Within the matrix area, there are embedded smaller units called micro-fibrils.
The micro-fibrils in the matrix are rather like the steel rods embedded in reinforced concrete to
give strength and flexibility. The micro-fibrils contain pairs of twisted molecular chains.
Chemical Composition of Wool Fibre

Chemical Composition of Wool

KERATIN 33%

Saint 28%

Fat 12%

Mineral matter 1%

Different impurities 26%

Elements in wool protein

 CARBON 50%

Hydrogen 12%

Oxygen 10%

Nitrogen 25%

Sulphur 3%

Physical properties of wool

Sl.
Parameters Properties
No.

1 Length 60mm – 100mm sometimes it goes 250mm

2 Diameter 20µm to 40 µm

3 Strength 1.0 – 1.7 gm/den

4 Elongation 25% – 35% under standard condition.

5 Resiliency Excellent

Hygroscopic
Higher than other fibres.
6 (Moisture capacity 14 –
18%)
 7 Hand Feel Soft

8 Specific Gravity 1.32 and so fabrics fees lighter than cellulose.

9 Dissolvability Wool dissolved in alkali solution

10 Abrasion resistance Good

11 Dimensional Stability Bad

12 Color White to light cream in color.

Chemical properties of wool

Effect of acids:

Concentrated acids damage it since they hydrolyze the salt linkages and hydrogen bonds. Dilute
acids do not affect it.

Effect of alkali:

It easily dissolves in alkaline solutions. Alkalis hydrolyze the disulphide bonds; hydrogen bonds
and salt linkages of wool and cause the polymers to separate from each other, which is looked as
dissolution of the fibres.
Effect of bleach:

Chlorine bleach is ordinary harmful to the wool. KMnO4, Na2O2 are utilized for bleaching.
Effect of sunlight and weather:

Effect of sunlight’s ultra-violate radiation tends to yellow white or dull colored fabrics. The ultra-
violate cause the peptide and disulphide bonds to sever. This leads to polymer degradation products
on the surface of the fibre.

Colorfastness:

Like cotton wool is easy to dye, chrome and mordant dyes are utilized to dye this.
Wool Fibre Identification

Physical test

1. Burn Test

The flame is steady but more difficult to keep burning. The smell of burning wool is like burning
of hair.

Chemical test

Wool fibre dissolves in concentrated

 Sodium hydro – oxide

 Sodium hypo – chloride
 Slowly dissiolves in Nitric acid 70%.

Microscopic View

Wool fibre is irregular and roughly cylindrical, tapered at the end, and multi-cellular in structure.
Under the microscope, a cross-section shows three fundamental layers – the epidermis, the
cortex, and the medulla.

Uses & Application of Wool Fibre

Wool is extensively used in textile applications where comfort and aesthetics are important.
Some uses and application of wool fibre are given below –

 Wool fibre used for clothing, blankets, insulation and upholstery.

  It is used in men’s and women’s apparel, outer wear and cold weather clothing, suits,
blankets, felts and carpeting.
 It is often used in blends with cellulosic and man-made fibres.
 It is also used for absorb noise of heavy machinery and stereo speakers.
 As an animal protein wool, can be used as a soil fertilizers, being a slow release source of
nitrogen.

Difference between Silk & Wool Fibre

SUBJECT SILK WOOL

It has carbon, hydrogen, oxygen It has hydrogen, carbon, Sulphur

Composition and nitrogen. It is attacked by and nitrogen. It is harmed by moths
carpet beetles. and beetles

It has extended poly peptide chains It has folded poly – peptide chains
Elasticity
and is less elastic and resilient. and more elastic and resilient.

It is very crystalline and is less It has more amorphous areas and

Strength
absorbent. more absorbent.

Dimensional It has four parts in its fibre structure

It is a solid fibre.
Stability and therefore shrinks and felts.

White wool fibre has crimp which

It is smooth. White silk is
Texture is molecular. Therefore, wool is
smoother and more lustrous.
warmer and more resilient.

It is usually a filament and is

Length It is staple fibre and is fuzzy.
smooth.

Since it has a very crystalline

Hydroscopic
polymer system, it is less It is more absorbent.
nature
absorbent than wool.
Thermal
It is more sensitive to heat. It is less sensitive to heat.
properties

It is degraded more than wool

because of absence of disulphide
Effect of
bonds, perspiration which is acidic It is degraded less than silk.
acids
will cause breakdown of silk
polymer.