Grown wool

Whiskers have been produced in a range of fiber sizes and in three forms grown wool, loose fiber, and felted paper. The wool has a fiber diameter of 1-30 p,m and aspect ratios of 500-5000. The wool bulk density is about 0.03 g/cm, which is less than 1% solids. This is a very open structure, suitable for a vapor-deposition coating on the whiskers or direct use as an insulation sheet. Loose fibers are produced by processing the larger diameter fiber to yield lightly interlocked clusters of fibers with aspect ratios of 10-200. In felt or paper, the whiskers are randomly oriented in the plane of the felt and have fiber aspect ratios ranging from 250 to 2500. The felted paper has approximately 97% void volume and a density of 0.06-0.13 g/cm. ... 

Macromolecules are found in nature. Cellulose, wool, starch, and DNA are but a few of the macromolecules that occur naturally. Carbons ability to form these large, complex molecules is necessary to provide the diversity of compounds needed to make up a tree or a human being. But many of the useful macromolecules that we use every day are created in the lab and industrial complex by chemists. Nylon, rayon, polyethylene, and polyvinyl chloride are all synthetic macromolecules. They differ by which repeating units (monomers) are joined together in the polymerization process. Our society has grown to depend on these plastics, these synthetic fabrics. The complexity of carbon compounds is reflected in the complexity of our modern society. 

The chemicals trade has gained in significance due to the increasing complexity of products in the inter-trade sector also. Companies in the chemicals trade, which frequently also have a department manufacturing their own formulations, assume a key role between substance manufacturers and SME users. However, the chemicals trade cannot always be identified as such, e.g. the DIY branch which has grown substantially since the 1980s sells major volumes of consumer-near chemicals (mineral wool, paints, wood preservatives). 

A common theme with natural products is the variability of the fiber with the particular plant or animal and the particular conditions under which they were grown. The proportion of kemp to wool varies from breed to breed as does the number of crimps per inch. Thus, wool from different breeds raised in different parts of the world will have different properties and contributions to the fiber. Generally, the wool and kemp are physically separated. In fact, after shearing, the wool is divided into five groups fleece (which is the largest), pieces, bellies, crutchings, and locks. The last four are packaged and sold separately. The desired part, the fleece, is further classified. 

Domestic woolly sheep are bred for wool and meat in large quantities in Australia, New Zealand, and other agricultural countries. The skins are byproducts, and their conversion into high-quality fur or leather can be regarded as beneficial waste management. Lambskins and sheepskins have grown markedly more popular in recent years for clothing, automotive seat covers, medical, and other applications. Woolly sheepskins account for about half of total fur production and are processed on an industrial basis. 

The proposals by ICI and other chemical companies to invest millions of pounds in the production of a new fibre are already meeting widespread opposition. While nylon andpolyester and the other fibres which have been in use since the dawn of civilisation are manufactured in conventional chemical plants, the new fibre, known as WOOL (Wildlife Origin Oily Ligament) will be grown on the backs of a specially developed breed ofOvis musimon. 

Ad Figure 2.1,2. Zeolite layers can be grown by hydrothermal synthesis onto porous supports (clay, alumina, sintered metal). Especially layers of MFI-type zeolite have been studied [e.g. 5-7]. Such MFI-layers were shown to survive template removal and subsequent thermal cycles up to 350 °C, which is taken as a strong indication for chemical bonding [8] at the support interface. To understand chemical attachment to metals one has to take into consideration that metals - by exposure to air - will be covered with a thin (1-2 nm) oxide film. Sometimes an intermediate mesoporous layer has been applied, e.g. a metakaolin film on clay or on zirconia [5] or metal wool on sintered metal [6]. 

Worldwide production of fibers was c t. 45 10 t/a in 1993, of which ca. 20% was inorganic fibers. Whereas at the turn of the twentieth century the fibers utilized were almost exclusively natural fibers (organic fibers cotton, sheep s wool and silk inorganic fibers asbestos), by 1993 the proportion of synthetic fibers had grown to ca. 50%. This trend appears to parallel the increasing world population and the consumer behavior coupled therewith. 

The field of industrial plasma engineering has grown in recent years. The uses are motivated by plasma s ability to accomplish industrially relevent results more efficiently and cheaply than competing processes. The research program concerning plasma treatment of textile materials was launched at the Polish Textile Institute in 1973 to improve the soil release properties of double jersey fabrics from textunsed polyester yams. The first experiments with wool date back to 1980 to replace the chlorination in fabric preparation for printing. Tliree machines for continuous plasma treatment of wool top have been developed as follows ... 

A 24-h-grown YM slant was used to seed 100 ml of hydrolyzate medium in a 1,000 ml baffled Erlenmeyer flask capped with cotton wool stopper. After 17 h, 2.5 ml of this culture was used to seed a similar flask and medium. Initial cell dry weight concentration was about 0.4 g 1. All cultures were carried out aerobically, in an Infors Unitron (Bottmingen, Switzerland) orbital incubator set at 30 °C and 150 rpm. All cultivation assays were done at least in duplicate, and the mean values are reported. 

Synthetic fibres, followed by cotton, are the most common in apparel production. Although cotton consumption has risen steadily in the past two decades, synthetic consumption has grown much faster and now dominates global fibre production. Cotton accounts for 32.9% of global textile production, synthetic fibres including polyester, acrylic, nylon (polyamide) and polypropylene for 60.1%, wool 2.1%, flax (linen) 1.0% and other ceUulosic 3.9% (Shui and Plastina, 2013). In the apparel context, manufactured fibres can be engineered to mimic natural fibres in handle, function and aesthetic, which makes them attractive for both apparel manufacturers and end consumers. 

The effect of traces of copper on oat-seedlings, grown in a copper-deficient medium, is shown in Fig. 11.4. Plainly, too little copper is bad for growth, and so is too much. Until recognized as such, copper-deficiency was the cause of many a crop failure in the reclaimed areas of Holland and Denmark. Copper-deficiency in farm animals leads to anaemia, demyelination of the spinal cord, and loss of pigmentation. Excess of copper storage in the liver of sheep leads to haemolysis and death. Sheep, fed on a diet deficient in copper, lose the crimp in their wool. Because it is the crimp that makes fine wool saleable, this causes economic loss to farmers (see Fig. 11.2). 

The natural polymers mentioned above are synthesized and grown into fibers by nature. Cotton, wool and silk are some examples. Wood is produced similarly, but not being in a form suitable for use as a textile fiber, it must be chemically modified to produce an appropriate solution, which can then be extruded into a fiber. Rayon and cellulose acetate are examples of this pro-cess.1 Synthetic materials, on the other hand, must be first polymerized into chains, by finking small molecules together end to end, and then extruded into fibers. Chains are built by either a condensation or an addition process. Nylon and polyester are examples of polymers synthesized by condensation, whereas polyethylene, polypropylene, acrylic and polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon ) are some examples of polymers prepared by the addition process. 

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