Wool

Wool refers to fiber from various animals including sheep, Angora amd Cahsmere goats, camel alpaca, and llama.Wool has a unique chemical structure. Because of this it has unique texture, elasticity, staple and crimp formation. Wool is a natural protein fiber and its made up of protein fibers, and is composed of more than 20 amino acids. These amino acids form protein polymers. Wool is composed of the same protein that makes up the outer protective layer of your skin. Wool also contains small amounts of fat, calcium and sodium. Wollen is a soft, shor-staple and carded wool yarn typically for knitting. Because of wool garments and textiles' high initial cost and the cost of their care, many consumers consider them to be __investments__.

Characteristics
-Wool has the ability to be shaped by heat and moisture, it has good moisture absoprtion without feeling wet, excellent heat retention, water repellency, feltability, and flame-retardancy. Wool's scaling and crimp make it easier to spin the fleece by helping the individual fibers attach to each other, so they stay together. Because of the crimp, wool fabrics have a greater bulk than other textiles, and retain air, which causes the product to retain heat. __Insulation__ also works both ways; Bedouins and Tuaregs use wool clothes to keep heat out. Wool has become more popular in the clothing industry. Wool was one of the earliest fibers to be spun into yarns and woven into farics and it is used in socks, undergarments, and jackets. It is used __next__ to skin in order to wick moisture away in an efficient manner. Wool is also a renewable resource. Sheep are sheared to get the wool fiber and then there coat grows back for use again later. Wool is resistant to static electricity, as the moisture retained within the fabric conducts electricity, so wool garments are much less likely to spark or cling to the body. The use of wool car seat covers or __carpets__ reduces the risk of a shock when a person touches a grounded object. Wool is considered by the medical profession to be hypoallergenic.


 * Aesthetic: varies. Wool does not have any luster.
 * Durability: high, with moderate abrasion resistance, poor tenacity, but great elongation. One fear with wool is that with too much abrasion it could potentially pill or felt.
 * Comfort: high, with great absorbency and thermal retention.
 * Appearance Retention: high. Resiliency and elastic recovery is high but dimensional stability is poor.

**Production Of Wool **
====In 2007, wool was produced by Australia, New Zealand, China and Eastern Europe. The United States ranked tenth with only 0.8% production. Merino sheep produces the most valuable wool. Merino wool is 3 to 5 inches long and very fine. It is used to produce high quality, long wearing products with a soft hand and luster and good drape. Newely removed wool is raw wool or grease wool, which contains between 30 and 70 percent by weight of such impurities as sand, dirt, grease, and dried sweat. Removing these these impurities produces clean or scoured wool. The grease that is removed is purified to lanolin and used in creams, cosmetics, soaps, and ointments. ====

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__**Process**__

[|Sheep shearing] is the process by which the woollen fleece of a sheep is cut off. After shearing, the wool is separated into four main categories: fleece (which makes up the vast bulk), broken, bellies, and locks. [|[8]] The quality of fleeces is determined by a technique known as [|wool classing], whereby a qualified person called a wool classer groups wools of similar gradings together to maximize the return for the farmer or sheep owner. In [|Australia] and [|New Zealand], before being auctioned, all Merino fleece wool is objectively measured for [|micron] , yield (including the amount of vegetable matter), staple length, staple strength, and sometimes colour and comfort factor.
 * Sheering**

Scouring
Wool straight off a sheep, known as "greasy wool" [|[9]] or "wool in the grease", contains a high level of valuable [|lanolin], as well as dirt, dead skin, sweat residue, pesticide, and vegetable matter. Before the wool can be used for commercial purposes, it must be scoured, a process of cleaning the greasy wool. **Scouring** may be as simple as a bath in warm water, or as complicated as an industrial process using [|detergent] and [|alkali], and specialized equipment. [|[10]] In commercial wool, vegetable matter is often removed by chemical [|carbonization]. [|[11]] In less-processed wools, vegetable matter may be removed by hand, and some of the lanolin left intact through use of gentler detergents. This semigrease wool can be worked into yarn and knitted into particularly water-resistant mittens or sweaters, such as those of the [|Aran Island] fishermen. Lanolin removed from wool is widely used in [|cosmetic] products such as hand creams.

Care of Wool
Caring for wool is a very delicate process. Most manufacturers encourage dry cleaning wool garments. Wool becomes extremely weak when wet and therefore must be hand washed and line dried to avoid stretching and shrinking. Using a dryer can cause felting due to agitation of the scales.

=Quality = The quality of wool is determined by its fiber diameter, crimp, yield, colour, and staple strength. Fiber diameter is the single most important wool characteristic determining quality and price. 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:


 * <15.5 - Ultrafine Merino [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c7/Wool_samples_2.JPG/200px-Wool_samples_2.JPG]]
 * 15.6-18.5 - Superfine Merino
 * 18.6-20 - Fine Merino
 * 20.1-23 - Medium Merino
 * 23< - Strong Merino
 * [|Comeback] : 21-26 microns, white, 90–180 mm long
 * Fine crossbred: 27-31 microns, [|Corriedales], etc.
 * Medium crossbred: 32–35 microns
 * Downs: 23-34 microns, typically lacks luster and brightness. Examples, [|Aussiedown], [|Dorset Horn] , [|Suffolk] , etc.
 * Coarse crossbred: 36> microns
 * Carpet wools: 35-45 micron s
 * Any wool finer than 25 microns can be used for garments, while coarser grades are used for outerwear or rugs. The finer the wool, the softer it is, while coarser grades are more durable and less prone to [|pilling].

Uses
Woollen garments in the wool samples area of a wool store, Newcastle, [|New South Wales]. In addition to [|clothing], wool has been used for blankets, horse rugs, saddle cloths, [|carpeting] , [|felt] , [|wool insulation] (also see links) and upholstery. Wool felt covers piano hammers, and it is used to absorb odours and noise in heavy machinery and stereo speakers. Ancient Greeks lined their [|helmets] with felt, and Roman legionnaires used breastplates made of wool felt. Wool has also been traditionally used to cover [|cloth diapers]. Wool fibre exteriors are hydrophobic (repel water) and the interior of the wool fibre is [|hygroscopic] (attracts water); this makes a wool garment able to cover a wet diaper while inhibiting wicking, so outer garments remain dry. Wool felted and treated with [|lanolin] is water resistant, air permeable, and slightly antibacterial, so it resists the buildup of odour. Some modern cloth diapers use felted wool fabric for covers, and there are several modern commercial [|knitting] patterns for wool diaper covers. Initial studies of woollen underwear have found it prevented heat and sweat rashes because it more readily absorbs the moisture than other fibres. [|[35]] Merino wool has been used in baby sleep products such as [|swaddle] baby wrap blankets and [|infant sleeping bags]. Wool is an animal protein, and as such it can be used as a soil fertiliser, being a slow-release source of nitrogen and ready-made amino acids. Researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology school of fashion and textiles have discovered a blend of wool and kevlar, the synthetic fibre widely used in body armour, was lighter, cheaper and worked better in damp conditions than kevlar alone. Kevlar, when used alone, loses about 20% of its effectiveness when wet and therefore required an expensive waterproofing process. Wool increased friction in a vest with 28-30 layers of fabric, to provide the same level of bullet resistance as 36 layers of Kevlar alone. [|[36]