Introduction
Fabrics like cotton, silk are made of yarns and yarns are made of fibers.
Types of Fibers:
Natural Fibers: Cotton, jute [plant], silk [cocoon of silkworm], wool [sheep, goats, rabbits, yak, camels hair] are made of fibers of plants and animals.
Cotton:
Cotton is a polymer of cellulose, which is made up of large number of glucose units.
Wool:
Angora wool is obtained from angora goats of J&K. Wool of Kashmiri goat is used to make pashmina shawls. Llama and alpaca of South America also yield wool.
Silk:
Sericulture – Rearing of silkworms to obtain silk.
Properties of Natural fibers:
- Cotton: Obtained from fruits [bolls] of the plant. Grown in black soil and warm places.
- Jute:
- Obtained from stem.
- Harvested during flowering stage.
- Grown during rainy season.
- Stem are immersed in water and they rot. Then fibers are separated.
- Flax: A natural fiber from plants.
Artificial Fibers: Synthetic fibers burn easily and stick to the body of person. Synthetic fibers are all made from petrochemicals.
Rayon:
Rayon is artificial silk it’s made by chemical treatment of wood pulp.
Nylon:
Nylon is a fully synthetic fiber made up of coal, water and air. A string of nylon is stronger than string of steel so it’s used in making parachutes and ropes.
Polyester:
Polyester is used for wrinkle free clothes.
Terelyne:
Terelyne is polyester. PET is polyester used for making bottles, utensils, wires etc
Acrylic:
Acrylic is artificial wool.
Plastics
Plastics are Polymers. Some bend on heating and are called thermoplastics [PVC, Polythene]. Some molded ones don’t change their shape called thermosetting plastics. [Bakelite, melamine]
Teflon is used in non-stick cookware. Melamine is used on coats of firemen so it makes them flame resistant.
Rubber
Rubber – is manufactured from rubber latex which is a colloidal dispersion of rubber in water. It’s a linear polymer of isoprene called cis 1, 4 isoprenes. Since natural rubber is brittle at low temperatures and soft at high temperatures it is treated with Sulfur in a process called Vulcanization.
SHEEP BREEDS |
Lohi – Raj, Punjab |
Rampur bushair – UP, HP |
Nali- Raj, Punjab, Haryana |
Bakharwal – J&K |
Marwadi, pathanwadi – Gujarat |
Table 1: Sheep breeds of India
Note: Anthrax is a blood disease common among wool sorters.