Fibres to Yarn: Fibre, Processing of Wool, Cotton, Uses, Properties

Fibres to Yarn: Apart from food and shelter, clothing is the most basic need of humans. Clothes not only cover our bodies but also protect us from the elements, such as wind, dust, and bug bites. We all dress differently for different occasions: in the summer, we wear cotton garments, and in the winter, we wear woollen clothes. Different clothes are used to make different garments. In the article, Fibres to the yarn you will explore how yarn is prepared from the wool by dealing with the fibre yielding animals, its rearing, and steps involved in wool production.

What are Fibres?

A long, narrow, and flexible thread of a natural or artificial substance, especially one that is used to make textile, is called fibre. Fabrics are made from yarns which are woven or knitted from hair-like strands called fibres. These fibres are spun into a yarn. The yarn is woven or knitted into fabric, which is then used to make finished products such as clothes and bags.

1. Fibres obtained from plants or animals are called natural fibres.  Example: Cotton, jute, Wool, etc.
2. Fibre produced by humans from the chemicals is called synthetic fibres. Example: Nylon, rayon, polyester, etc.

From Where Do We Get wool?

Wool is a natural animal fibre obtained from the fleece (hair) of animals such as sheep, angora rabbits, goats, alpaca and even camels. These animals have a thick coat of hair on their body. Hair traps a lot of air. Air is a bad conductor of heat. So, hair keeps these animals warm. Sheep is the most important wool yielding animal.

Processing of Wool

The process of obtaining fleece (hair) from animals and turning it into wool fibres and fabrics involves different steps.  They are shearing, scouring or washing, sorting and grading, carding, dyeing, drying, spinning, and knitting or weaving. Let us learn about them.

Shearing

The removal of fleece from the body of wool yielding animals with the help of a clipper or pair of scissors, or a shearing machine is known as shearing. The process of shearing doesn’t hurt the animal. Shearing is done mainly in the summer months. The average yield of wool from a healthy sheep is \(4\) to \(5\,{\text{kgs}}\) per year.

Scouring and Grading

The process by which shorn hair is washed to get rid of dirt, dust, and grease is called scouring. Scouring is usually done with the help of machines. Scouring involves washing the shorn wool in hot water and detergent and then drying.

Sorting

After scouring, some wool gets damaged. The process of removal of any damaged and stained wool from the fleece is known as sorting. The process of grouping wool according to its length, colour, texture, and ease of dyeing is known as grading. The price of the wool is determined by the grade of the wool. The fine wool is priced high. Lightweight textiles are made from fine wool.

Carding

The separation of tangled fibres from continuous fibres is called carding. During this process, the wool fibres are passed through a series of metal teeth to straighten the fibres.

Dyeing and Drying

The natural colours of sheep and goat are white, brown, or black, and it needs to be dyed to get wool in different colours. The process of colouring wool is called dyeing. After dyeing the wool, it is dried. Wool is made to pass through machines that squeeze out the excess water. They are then packed into bales for transport to the mills.

Fibre to Yarn Manufacturing Process: Spinning

The fibres after drying are oiled, straightened, combed, washed, twisted, and spun into yarn. The fibres are straightened by keeping them under rollers to stretch them and twisted into yarns. This process is called spinning.

Weaving and Knitting

The larger fibres are spun into yarns and knitted for making sweaters, vests, and socks. For knitting, only one yarn is used. The fabric is knit over needles by making loops.

 The shorter fibres are spun and woven into woollen clothes. In weaving, the fabric is made from two sets of yarn. One set of yarn is arranged lengthwise (warp), and the other is set crosswise (weft). The two, warp and weft, are interlaced. There is a great variety of fabrics made from wool. These are tweed, flannel, shetland, gabardine, crepe, surge and worsted.

How Do You Convert Cotton Fibre to Yarn?

Cotton is obtained from the fruit of the cotton plants. It takes six to eight months for the cotton plant to mature and produce fruits called cotton bolls. On maturing, cotton fibres are removed from the cotton bolls, but these fibres contain seeds. The seeds are separated from them by special machines. The process of separating cotton fibres from seeds is called ginning. The thin strands of cotton fibre are drawn from a mass of cotton boll and twisted to form a yarn. This process is called spinning. The yarn is then woven to form cotton textile or fabric.

Banana Fibre to Yarn

The trunks of the banana plant are soaked in water for softening and easy separation of banana fibres. Fibres are removed from this either by a stripping machine or by hand. These fibres are then knotted into yarn.

Summary

In this article, we discussed the definition of fibre, yarn manufacturing from fibre, wool sources, cotton fibre to yarn, and banana fibre to yarn. There are various procedures involved in the processing of wool to fabric, such as shearing, scouring, sorting and grading, carding, dyeing, drying, spinning, and knitting or weaving.

FAQs

Q.1. How to make yarn from fibre?
Ans: The fibres after drying are oiled, straightened, combed, washed, twisted and spun into yarn. The fibres are straightened by keeping them under rollers to stretch them and twisted into yarns, and this process is called spinning.

Q.2. How to calculate the number of fibres in the yarn cross section?
Ans: The number of fibres in yarn cross section is calculated by the following formula
\({\text{N}} = \frac{{5315}}{{\frac{{{\text{fibre}}\,{\text{denier}}}}{{{\text{Yarn}}\,{\text{count}}\,\left({{\text{Ne}}} \right)}}}}\)
\(9000\) meters of yarn \( = 1\) gram \( = 1\) denier.

Q.3. Why do we spin the fibres in order to make yarn?
Ans: The process of twisting the fibres together into yarn is called spinning. By this process, the fibre becomes stronger and helps in weaving the clothes.

Q.4. How to estimate fibre to yarn conversion cost correctly?
Ans: The correct cost of conversion of fibre to yarn is calculated by calculating the price of raw material, sizing and chemical cost, cost of the weaving process, wastage and shrinkage, dyeing cost. Therefore, we can say Cost of the yarn \( = \) Cost of raw material \( + \) dyeing charges \( + \) finishing charges \( + \) shrinkage \( + \) wastage

Q.5. What are the steps to convert wool fibre into yarn?
Ans: Wool is a natural animal fibre obtained from the fleece (hair) of animals such as sheep, angora rabbits, goats, alpaca, etc. The process of obtaining fleece (hair) from animals and turning it into wool fibres and fabrics involves different steps.  They are shearing, scouring or washing, sorting and grading, carding, dyeing, drying, spinning, and knitting or weaving.

Study About Fibres Here

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