In addition to properties such as fineness, length, elasticity and curl, which are not found in any other fiber to the same extent, wool is a valuable weaving material that shows superior clothing physiology such as keeping heat well, absorbing excessive moisture, less wetting and felting ability, and adjusting body-environment relations in the best way.
These superior properties of wool are due to its complex chemical structure and unified biological structure system. Wool, which is the representative of keratin proteins, is formed by the combination of over twenty amino acids in various shapes and forms. Recent studies have shown that wool does not only consist of horny substances called Keratin, but also contains about 20% non-Keratin substances and other large and small substances.
In the strict sense, wool is the trimmed, washed and cleaned form of the fleece shirt covering the sheep.. However, in practice, it is used in a wider sense and the many arrow hairs obtained from the backs of some other animals are also called wool. However, in order for these bristles to be used in textiles, they must be of sufficient length and fineness to allow them to be spun and folded over each other. The best example of these is the wool fibers obtained from sheep, and it has a justified superiority in animal textile materials in terms of both quantity and usage prevalence.
The most important wool producing countries are Turkey, Austria, Russia, China, New Zealand, India, Bangladesh, Argentina, South Africa and the USA. There are many breeds of sheep. Since ancient times, the most fine-wooled sheep have been Spanish Merinos. These are not animals bred for meat, they are sheep with plenty of wool. Merinos were brought to Germany, Austria, England and Russia in the 18th century, where they were hybridized with local sheep breeds. These are called Crossbreds or hybrids. Chevyot wool was obtained by crossbreeding South Scottish sheep. Sheeps whose wool is used in addition to their meat and milk in Turkey are Karaman, Dağlıç, Kıvırcık and Maslak sheep.
Their wool yields vary between 1,5 and 2,5 kg per year, and they are the most sought after curly wool for our weaving industry. For Kıvırcık sheep, importance was given to breeding studies. Turkey's domestic merino fiber production is 2000 tons and this amount meets a small part (about 10%) of domestic consumption.
CLASSIFICATION OF SHEEP FIBER
ACCORDING TO SHEEP BREEDS
- Merino Sheep
- Crossbred Sheep
- Shevyote Sheep
ACCORDING TO SHEEP AGE
- lamb's wool
- Wool of old animals (eg mother sheep)
ACCORDING TO THE METHODS OF OBTAINING WOOL
- Live animal wool (sheared wool)
- Cut animal wool (Leather wool – Tanning wool)
- piece wool
CLASSIFICATION OF WOOL ACCORDING TO SHEEP BREEDS
Merino wool : It is short, very curved and thin. It can be smoothed by crushing for very fine fabrics.
crossbred wool :Longer, less curly and thicker than Merino wool.
Chevyot (Carpet wool): It is the longest and coarsest wool, and it is less crimped and thick.
CLASSIFICATION OF WOOL ACCORDING TO THE AGE OF SHEEP
Lamb's wool : The most valuable wool is one-year-old lamb's wool. The elasticity of lamb's wool sheared for the first time is less than that obtained from the next shearing. Lamb's wool is soft and fine.
wool of old animals : The wool of sheep over eight years old is loose and has very little elasticity. The wool of old and sick animals is worthless. That's why these wools are also called dead wools. To obtain wool, the wool must be cut from the animal's body. This process is called shearing. There are two types of shearing; 1- Full clipping, which is generally done in spring, 2- Half clipping, which is done in spring and fall. During full shearing, wool longer and stronger than half shearing is obtained. The wool obtained during shearing is not clean due to dirt, sweat, feces, plant and feed residues. Contaminations generally constitute 40-50% of the raw weight. This rate is even higher for worse grades.
CLASSIFICATION OF WOOL BY CLEANING DEGREE
Raw, sweaty or dirty wool: It is the unwashed and unprocessed wool obtained during shearing.
Pre-washed wool:For shipment, the wool undergoes a pre-wash.
Washed or factory washed wool: This wool is the type of clean and washed wool that wool washing factories deliver. However, there are still vegetal residues (pitraks) which are then destroyed by the carbonization process.
CLASSIFICATION OF WOOL ACCORDING TO THE METHODS OF OBTAINING
WOOL QUALITY OF THE WOOL :
Fleece in the form of a fleece, which is swam from animals without falling apart, is called shirt. The fleece on all sides of the shirt taken from the sheep is not of the same quality. The fleece on all sides of the shirt taken from the sheep is not of the same quality. The shoulder, side and neck wool of the shirt; The wool of the head, abdomen and legs is the least valuable. In order to obtain equal wool groups during subsequent processes, the wools should be separated and arranged according to their quality.
LIVE ANIMAL WOOL - CRUSHED WOOL
Live animal wool is also called shear wool or woolmark. Shear wool is the most valuable wool obtained from live animals.
CUT ANIMAL WOOL-LEATHER WOOL
Wool obtained from slaughtered healthy animals is called wool (sweaty or dirty wool). It is not as valuable as wool.
TANNING WOOL
This wool is obtained in tanning facilities (tanneries) by using chemical substances after calcination. Its value is low.
DEAD ANIMAL WOOL
Leather wool (formerly called dead animal wool)
PIECE WOOL
Piece wool is a recycled wool. The wool waste and rags (used fabrics and knits) obtained in spinning, weaving and knitting facilities are shredded and turned into fibers by carding machines. During the reuse process, wool fibers are damaged and lose some of their positive properties. Dirt and water droplets can easily get into the fiber. The fiber is less elastic and short fibers wear out easily. The degree of damage depends on the material used and the reuse of combed wool.
Piece wool is classified as:
- Alpaca : It is low quality combed wool obtained from half wool fabrics.
- Golfers: It is a good strain crafted from sweaters, knitted vests and dresses.
- mongoose : Obtained from compressed wool fabrics. As a result of tearing such fabrics, the fibers are very damaged. Therefore, this low-quality part becomes short-fiber and the spheroid surface is damaged.
- prato wool : It is a combed Italian wool produced from tightly compressed rags.
- Shody: It is produced from pure wool waste obtained from spinning mills, sewing mills and knitting factories.
- Tibet : Also called Thybet. It is produced from uncompressed woven waste.
- Marshmallow: It is the best quality of combed wool. It is obtained from pure wool, used very soft knits and scraps of sewn surfaces.
MAINTENANCE FEATURES OF TEXTILE SURFACES
Washing : The washing temperature is maximum 30 degrees Celsius. Hand washing is necessary because wool is easily felted. Neutral or wool washing agents are required. Because strong alkalis damage the wool.
Bleaching : Only possible with reduction method. (Full washing agents are not used)
Drying :Drum dryers are not used. However, it is dried by laying and giving form.
Ironing: It can be ironed at 160 degrees Celsius using only a wet cloth or a steam iron. Ironing should take a short time as wool can easily lose its elasticity.
Forming : Wool can be given a long-term form by means of humidity, temperature and pressure.
QUALITY SIGN OF WOOL
Woolmark: Woolmark guarantees that the product is obtained from pure sheared wool, that is, from healthy live sheep and is used for the first time. acceptable tolerances ; 0,3% unavoidable fiber blend and 5% embellishment effects as needed. Woolmark also guarantees that the product has water and light fastness, tear strength, mothproof treatment and residual wool oil. Combil Woolmark: Mixed woolmark is the quality symbol of blends containing sheared wool.
The shredded wool ratio should be at least 60%. Other added wools are made to increase the general properties of the mixture. For example, increasing friction resistance, improving form retention or cleaning properties.
Cool-Wool (summer wool) :Cool-Wool sign can only be used on clothing textiles used in summer. Fabrics or knitted surfaces should be created with gabardine, poplin, muslin, flat-reverse or flat-flat in the form of flat connections.
QUALITY OF WOOL FIBER
wool fiber quality is expressed with ''s''. Micron (µ) equivalents of ''s'' values are given below;
- S Values Average diameter in microns (µ)
- 80's 18.8 micron
- 70's 19,7 micron
- 64's 20,7 micron
- 60's 23,3 micron
- 58's 24,9 micron
- 56's 26,4 micron
- 50's 30,5 micron
- 48's 32,6 micron
- 46's 34,0 micron
- 44's 36,2 micron
- 40's 38,7 micron
- 36's 39,7 micron
The higher the 's' degree, the finer the fiber.
HISTOLOGICAL STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES OF WOOL FIBERS
If the cross-section of a wool fiber that has completed its development is examined under the microscope, it is seen that it consists of three layers. These layers are the cuticle, cortex, and medulla from the outside to the inside. Each layer is different from each other in terms of chemical and histological structure.
cuticleIt is a thin membrane consisting of platelet-shaped cover cells covering the periphery of the fiber. The scales or cover cells that make up the cuticle can have different shapes and sizes in various fibers, even on a single fiber.
cortex layer It constitutes the main material of wool fibers. Like merino wool, fine fibers are completely filled with this layer. Fibers get all their physical and chemical properties from this layer. At first glance, this layer appears to contain spindle-shaped elongated, more or less twisted and horned cells. The building blocks of these cells are amino acids. Amino acids combine into polypeptide rings to form macromolecules. In fact, when these combine, first protofibrils and microfibrils are formed from them. Finally, microfibrils combine to form macrofibrils.
Marrow on the other hand, it is the part that fills the middle parts of the coarse fibers. Fibers containing medulla are mostly found in the fleeces of primitive sheep (wool oil, sweat substances and skin rashes on the wool) like our domestic sheep. Such fibers are coarse and thick, and they do not hold dye well, since they occupy most of the medulla cortex layer.
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