Wool and Worsted Yarn

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Wool and Worsted Yarn

Basically, there are two types of yarns, each with its own method of fiber preparation

and spinning techniques. They are: Woolen and Worsted.

Wool YarnWool is the dense, warm , soft, often curly hair forming coat of sheep, also

called a fleece. Wool is readied by washing (lanolin is the by-product), carding, sometimes

combing, then spinning. Wool is warm and lightweight and takes dyes well. Woolens are spun

from carded preparations. Woolen yarns, usually made from shorter fibres, are thick and full

and are used for such items as tweed fabrics and blankets.

Background:-

As with many discoveries of early man, anthropologists believe the use of wool came

out of the challenge to survive. In seeking means of protection andwarmth,humans in the

Neolithic Age wore animal pelts as clothing. By 4000 B.C., Babylonians were wearingclothing of crudely woven fabric. People soon began to develop and maintain herds of wool-

bearing animals. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, wool trade prospered.

Today, wool is a global industry, with Australia, Argentina, the United States, and

New Zealand serving as the major suppliers of raw wool. While the United States is the

largest consumer of wool fabric, Australia is the leading supplier. Australian wool accountsfor approximately one-fourth of the world's production.

Production:-

The annual global output is now estimated at 5.5billionpounds. Though cotton is thenumber one plant used for fabrics and the number one fiber overall, the number one source for

animal fiber is still wool.
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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:-Sheep are sheared once a yearusually in thespringtime.A veteran shearer can

shearup to two hundred sheep per day. The fleece recovered from a sheep canweighbetween 6 and 18 pounds (2.7 and 8.1kilograms); 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 theclipping.

Grading and sorting:-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 thebody. 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:-Wool taken directly from the sheep is called "raw" or "grease wool." It contains

sand, dirt, grease, and driedsweat(called suint);the weight of contaminants accountsfor about 30 to 70 percent of the fleece's total weight. To remove these contaminants,

the wool is scoured in a series ofalkalinebaths containing water, soap, and soda ash

or a similar alkali. The byproducts from this process (such as lanolin)are saved andused 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:-Next, the fibers are passed through a series of metal teeth thatstraightenand blend

them into slivers. Carding also removesresidualdirt 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 calleddrawing.Carded wool to be used for woolen yarn is sent directly for spinning.
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Spinning:-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 forwoolen 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 wrappedaround bobbins, cones, or commercial drums.

Weaving:-Next, the wool yarn is woven into fabric. Wool manufacturers use two basic

weaves: theplain weaveand 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 softsurface (due tonapping)with little or noluster.The napping often conceals flaws in

construction.

Worsted yarns can create fine fabrics withexquisitepatterns using atwill weave.The result is a more tightly woven, smooth fabric. Better constructed, worsteds are

more durable than woolens and therefore more costly.

Finishing:-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.
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Spinning of woolen yarn:-

Woolen yarn is handspun using thelong draw technique, and the yarn is spun from a

rolag and thus ending up with a mix. The first step to spin a true woolen yarn, however, is tocard the fiber into arolag usinghand carders.

The rolag is spun without much stretching of the fibers from the cylindricalconfiguration. This is done by allowing twist into a short section of the rolag, and then pulling

back, without letting the rolag change position in your hands, until the yarn is the desired

thickness. The twist will concentrate in the thinnest part of the roving, thus when the yarn ispulled, the thicker sections with less twist will tend to thin out. Once the yarn is the desired

thickness, enough twist is added to make the yarn strong. Then the yarn is wound onto the

bobbin, and the process starts again.

Quality:-

The quality of wool is determined by the following factors, fiber diameter, crimp,

yield, colour, and staple strength. Fiber diameter is the single most important woolcharacteristic determining quality and price.

Grade:-

Wool is also separated into grades based on the measurement of the wool's diameter in

microns and also its style. These grades may vary depending on the breed or purpose of the

wool. For example:


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20.1-23 - Medium Merino 23< - Strong Merino Comeback: 21-26 microns, white, 90180 mm long Fine crossbred: 27-31 microns,Corriedalesetc. Medium crossbred: 3235 microns Downs: 23-34 microns, typically lacks luster and brightness. Examples, Aussiedown,

Dorset Horn, Suffolketc. Coarse crossbred: 36> microns Carpet wools: 35-45 microns

PROPERTIES AND CHARACTERISTICS:-

Crimp:-It is caused by the unique chemical and physical properties of wool. The fiber

tends to bend and turn in to a resilient 3 dimensional structure. It holds in air toinsulate the wearer. This property make wool naturally elastic and resilient causing

rapid wrinkle recovery, durability, bulk, loft, warmth, and resistance to abrasion.

Water Absorbency:-Wool can absorb up to 30% of its weight in moisture without feeling damp or

clammy. This makes wool good for all climates since it aids in the body's cooling

mechanisms to keep moisture away from the skin. Its moisture regain is 16%.

Resistance to Fi re:-Wool contains moisture in every fiber allowing it to resist flame without any

additional chemical treatment. The wool will just char and self extinguish.

Dyeability:-Wool absorbs many dyes deeply, uniformly, and directly without the use of

chemicals. This characteristic allows wool to achieve very beautiful and rich colorswhen dyed.

Durability:-The flexibility of wool makes it very durable. A single wool fiber can be bentback on itself more the 20,000 times without breaking. Compare this to the only 3,000

times of cotton and 2,000 times of silk. Its elasticity makes it very resistant to tearing.

Wool also has an outer film making it resistant to abrasion.

Resilience:-
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Wool fiber can be stretched up to 50% of its length when dry and up to 30% of its

length when wet without breaking It will return to its original length when released.

Flammability:-Wool is popular with interior designers because it is considered naturally flame

retardant. While it will burn if exposed to flame, it burns slowly. When the flame isremoved, the fabric usually quits burning.

Pilling:-Pilling is a surface fault characterised by the formation of little pills of

entangledfibre on the surfaceof the fabric. The formation of pills occurs during wear,

washing and tumble drying by loose fibres protruding from the fabric and becoming

entangled. When rubbed, the loose fibres bundle up intosmall balls, anchored to thefabric by a few unbroken fibres.

Prickle:-Prickle and skin reactions are important comfortfactors related to a fabrics handle

and performance. Prickle results from fibre ends on the fabric surface indenting the

skin sufficiently to activate pain receptors. The handle characteristics of wool fabric is

influenced by the fineness of the fibres in the fabric structure the coarser the fibre thegreaterthe chance of prickle. Fibre length is also likely to influence prickle, since it

will affect the number of fibre ends per unit area of fabric surface.

Shrinkage:-The scaly surface of the wool fibre gives wool products the potential to felt when

milled or agitated in water under harsh washing conditions. The scales on the fibre

surface lock together causing the garment to reduce in size and become thick andfluffy (felted).

Advantage is taken of this to make a wide range of semi-felted apparel fabricssuch as flannels. Partial felting, giving wool yet another advantage in terms of

versatility, texture and comfort can control the porosity of a fabric to cold winds and

rain.

More properties:-

They are 1-14 in (2.54-35.56 cm) or more in length, with diameters of 1/600th-1/3,000th in (0.04-0.008 mm).

Their average chemical compositions are: carbon,50%;hydrogen,7%;oxygen,22-25%;nitrogen,16-17%; and sulphur, 3-4%.

They are extremely flexible and can be bent 20,000 times without breaking.
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They are capable of trapping air and providing insulation. They are thermally stable, and begin to decompose only at 212F (100C). Strength is from 1.0-1.7 g.p.d. Strength decreases ith moisture. Overal tensile strength

of oolen yarn i 17000-29000 sq.inch.

End Uses of wool:-

Wool is used to make sweaters, dresses, coats, suits, jackets, pants and the lining ofboots. It can also be made into blankets and carpets.

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

Wool is an animal protein, and as such it can be used as a soil fertiliser, being a slowrelease source of nitrogen and ready made amino acids.

The two major end uses for wool are apparel products and carpets (both machine madeand hand-knitted).

Wool has also been traditionally used to cover cloth diapers.Worsted Yarn

Worted is Firm-textured, compactly twisted woolen yarn made from long-

staple fibers. Worsted is the name of a yarn, the cloth made from this yarn, and a yarn weight

category. This type of wool is made of long-staple fibers that have been combed to removeunwanted short fibers and make them lie parallel. The fibers are then tightly twisted and

woven tightly as well which inhibits creasing. It is popular for suits and trousers.

History:-

Prior to the introduction of automatic machinery there was little difficulty in attaining

a straight fibre, as long wool was always used, and the sliver was made up by hand, usingcombs. However, with the introduction of Richard Arkwright's water frame in 1771, and the


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later introduction of cap and mule spinning machines, the need for perfectly prepared slivers

became apparent, and many manufactories used one or more preparatory "gill-boxes"

(combing machines) before the worsting process, to ensure straightness of fiber and distributethe lubricant evenly.

Preparation:-

The essential feature of a worsted yarn is straightness of fiber, in that the fibers lie

parallel to each other. Traditionally, long, finestaplewool wasspun to create worsted yarn,

but other longfibers are also used today.

Worsted preparation refers to the way the fiber is prepared before spinning, using

gilling machines which force the fiber staples to lie parallel to each other. They are then

combed to remove the short fibers. The long fibers are combined in subsequent gillingmachines to again make the fibers parallel. This produces overlapping untwisted strands

calledslivers.Worsted spinning refers to using a worsted technique, which produces a smooth

yarn where the fibers lie parallel.

Roving andwool top are often used to spin worsted yarn. Top and roving are ropelike

in appearance, in that they can be thick and long. While some mills put a slight twist in theravings they make, it is not enough twist to be a yarn. The fibers in top and ravings all lie

parallel to one another along the length, which makes top ideal for spinning worsted yarns.

Worsted-spunyarns, used to create worsted fabric, are spun fromwool fibers that have

beencombed,to ensure that the woolen fibers all run the same direction, butt-end (end that

was cut in shearing the sheep) to tip, and remain parallel. Ashort draw is used in spinningworsted fibers (as opposed to along draw).

In short draw spinning, spun from combed roving, sliver or wool top, the spinnerskeep their hands very close to each other. The fibers are held fanned out in one hand while the

other hand pulls a small number from the mass. The twist is kept between the second hand

and the wheelthere is never any twist between the two hands.
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Spinning of worsted yarn:-

Worsted is spun from a combed fiber preparation. Combing removes the short fibers

from the locks, leaving a preparation, which has fibers of very similar staple lengths, and it

prepares the fibers by aligning them so that they are strictly parallel to each other. The

spinning method is either short backwards or short forward draw. The yarn is firm, strong and

smooth with low loft, low elasticity, and it is not fuzzy. Worsted yarns are spun from long

stapled fibers - over 4", though some authors say over 3". The yarns are sometimes called

"summer weight wools" because worsteds are cooler to wear than woolens.

Features:-

Length of the sheared fiber is called the staple length. Different breeds of sheepproduce different staple lengths, but they average between 2 inches for fine wools and12 inches for long coarser wools.

Manufacturers usually use long fiber wool because it wears better.

They can spin it with a lot of twist. Fabric made from worsted wool, including hand knit sweaters, will feel warm and dryagainstyour skin even when wet

Worsted is too hygroscopic and can absorb up to 30 percent of its weight in moisture. Worsted wool is also naturally flame retardant, which makes it a good choice for baby

and firemen's blankets alike.

It is resilient and quickly returns to its natural shape
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Worsted is lightweight and has a coarse texture. Worsted yarns are spun from long stapled fibers - over 4", though some authors say

over 3".

Uses:-

The weaveis usually twillor plain. Twilled fabrics such as whipcord, gabardineandsergeare often made from worsted yarn.

Worsted fabric made from wool has a natural recovery, meaning that it is resilient andquickly returns to its natural shape, but non-glossy worsted will shine with use orabrasion.

Worsteds differ from woollens, in that the natural crimp of the wool fibre is removedin the process of spinning the yarn. In Tropical Worsteds this use of tightly-spun

straightened wool combined with a looser weave permits the free flow of air through

the fabric.

Worsted is also used for carpets, garments, hosiery, gloves.

Wool and Worsted Yarn

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