Fibres, Animal Textile

Detergency is about the theory and practice of the removal of foreign material from solids by surface-active substances. This definition excludes pure mechanical cleaning. Also a pure chemical cleaning, e.g., by solvation of the foreign material, is not considered. In textiles oily substances usually attach to the fibres (animal fats, fatty acids, hydrocarbons, etc.). Also dust, soot, and other solid particles have to be removed in a washing process. In order to test the effectiveness of a surfactant, textiles are often polluted with standard dirt mixtures and cleaned with a standard washing procedure (launderometer). Often cleanliness is measured on the basis of optical reflectivity of white textiles. 

The history of textiles and fibres spans thousands of years, beginning with the style change from animal skins to the first fabric used to clothe humanity. But during the relatively short period of the past 50 years, the fibre and textile industries have undergone the most revolutionary changes and seen the most remarkable innovations in their history. Chapter One discusses the most important innovations together with the advent of the information industry. In fact, it is the merger of these industries that has led to this book. 

Fibres of Animal Origin.—Textile fibres of animal origin are principally sheeps , goats and camels wool, that of certain Camelidae, ordinary silk and wild silk. Table LIII gives the main microscopic characters used for their recognition. 

The animal fibres absorb more bromoacetone than do the vegetable fibres. The absorption capacity is fairly high and textiles are discoloured. It is found that textiles which are merely air-dried absorb more bromoacetone than those which have been completely freed from all water. ... 

Wool has special features which distinguish it from other hairs but which render it supremely valuable as a textile fibre. These differences are of a physical nature and the basic tissues and chemical structure of all animal hairs, including wool, are similar. Hairs have a somewhat swollen... 

Plastics are semi-synthetic or synthetic materials which can be manipulated to form films, fibres, foams or three-dimensional olgects. Natural polymers from plants, insects and animals are not discussed in this book. Synthetic paints, synthetic textiles and photographic film contain plastics but will not be discussed in this book because their conservation is the focus of specialist publications (Chiantore and Rava, 2005 Learner, 2005 Timar-Balazsy and Eastop, 1998 Lavedrine et al., 2003). Plastics are based on polymers, also known as macromolecules, which are large molecules made by joining together many smaller ones. The chemical and physical properties of liquid polymers are modified with additives and shaped to convert them into solids with dimensionally stable forms. 

The starting point in the textile supply chain is the raw material preparation. Textile fibres are obtained from two main sources natural (cellulose or animal) fibres or synthetic fibres. Natural cellulosic fibres include conventional and organic cottons, rayon, linen, hemp, jute, ramie and sisal. Cotton is used to produce 40% of world textile products (Saicheua et al., 2012). The major environmental concern in cellulosic fibre production, especially for cotton fibre, is the chemical fertilizers and pesticides used during cultivation. The second concern is the high level of water consumption (Dave and Aspegren, 2010 Muthu, 2014). Cotton is one of the most popular natural fibres used in the world. Three percent of the world s cultivated land is used for cotton production and 16% of the world s insecticides are used on this crop alone (Saicheua et al., 2012 Muthu, 2014). Moreover, the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, machinery and electricity causes some human health and environmental problems. Also cotton growing requires 7—29 tonnes of water per kg of raw cotton fibres (KaUiala and Nousiainen, 1999). Other types of cellulosic fibres are hemp and flax, which can be considered to be the most significant sustainable fibres in the non cotton natural fibre sector (Werf, 2004 Muthu, 2014). 

For textiles and clothing produced from natural fibres from animals, the production system and system boundaries must cover all aspects of the animal production system involved in fibre production, and this stage represents the main difference between wool and production of man-made or plant-derived fibres. An example of a system boundary diagram illustrating the various key contributors over the life cycle of an article of clothing from wool is given in Figure 10.2. 

Silk is a proteinous animal fibre — the only natural long filament fibre used in textile manufacture. Silks have been used in textiles for approximately 5000 years (Xia et al., 2009) from a number of species both wild and domesticated. 

Other uses of core kenaf fibre include also soil-less potting mixes, animal bedding, oil absorbents, packing material, organic filler for plastics, drilling mud binder, grass and flower mats, decorative fibres and insulation as well as animal feed and human food [41]. Bast fibre is also blended with cotton and used in textiles [41]. The bast fibre of kenaf can also be mixed with plastic for injection moulding. 

Textile fibres come from many sources, both natural and synthetic. The natural materials come either from vegetable sources cotton, flax (linen), jute, and wood cellulose, or from animals silk, wool, fur, hair. The synthetic materials are produced either from natural resources such as glass, ceramics, carbon, metals or reconstituted cellulose, or they are totally synthetic, being extruded from thermoplastic polymers. 

---