Fiber Science

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Fiber Science

• Plants

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Introduction

• A large part of agriculture is involved with the
  production of fiber to make clothing and other
  items such as rugs, tapestry, and cloth goods.
• Using modern research, development, and
  management, agricultural fibers will continue to
  be a constantly renewed source of fiber.

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I. Fiber production trends

• A. Historically, several plants and animals were
  used to produce natural fibers.
• B. Fibers a long threadlike strand of a
  substance
• C. Much of the cloth produced today is synthetic
  (artificial man-made), and manufactured from
  petroleum (i.e. rayon, nylon, and polyester)

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• 1. Process involves turning petroleum into long
  fibers that are then used to make cloth
• 2. Synthetic cloth is relatively inexpensive
• 3. Synthetic cloth is durable
• 4. Synthetic cloth is more wrinkle resistant
• 5. Synthetic cloth cannot match agricultural
  fiber for comfort

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• D. Today, natural fibers are becoming more
  popular again after declining in popularity when
  synthetic cloths were popular.
• E. Fiber is produced from both plants and
  animals
• 1. Plant fibers cotton, flax, hemp, jute,
  kenaf (4,000. year old new crop), sisal
  (agave plant)
• 2. Animal fibers Wool, mohair, camel hair,
  alpaca hair, angora rabbit, silk (strongest
  of all natural fibers)
• F. Four main types of agricultural fibers in the
  U.S. cotton, wool, silk, and linen

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II. Cotton

• A. Historical perspective
• 1. Likely first used in the Nile Valley in
  Ancient Egypt
• 2. In North America, cotton use pre-dates the
  arrival of the European settlers
• 3. In approximately 1800, cotton production
  made a major impact of agriculture in the U.S.
• 4. The invention of the cotton gin (1793 Eli
  Whitney) allowed for the removal of the cotton
  fibers from the seeds
• 5. More varieties could be grown all across the
  southern portion of the U.S.

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• B. Plant characteristics
• 1. Cotton is a shrub-like perennial that
  requires a long growing season with warm
  temperatures
• 2. Cotton is pollinated by bees and other
  insects, and as well as being self-pollinated
• 3. The fertilized flower forms the seed pod
  (known as a boll) that is shaped like a small
  football
• 4. the cotton fiber forms on the seeds each
  fiber is actually a single long plant cell and
  most measure near 2 in length when dried and
  ready to pick
• 5. Seed cotton is called lint

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• C. Cotton Harvesting
• 1. Cotton is picked with large machines with
  rotating finger-like projections that remove the
  fiber from the bolls
• 2. Cotton pickers replace the manual labor once
  required to pick cotton
• 3. Big loaf-like bales are made a bale weighs
  around 1200 pounds before seeds are removed, and
  around 500 after the seeds are removed

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• D. At the gins
• 1. The seeds are removed
• a. Seeds are a secondary industry
• b. Seeds are pressed to remove the oil
• c. Uses for cottonseed products
• i. Cooking oil
• ii. Cake (leftover seed after oils removed)
  is ground into a meal (cottonseed meal) and used
  as a protein supplement for ruminants (gossypol
  is a substance in the seeds that can kill
  simple-stomached animals)
• 2. The cotton is cleaned of trash and foreign
  material

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• E. At the mill
• 1. At the mill, bales are mixed to ensure
  uniformity
• 2. The fibers are run through a carding machine
  that separates and aligns the fibers
• 3. The fibers are twisted and stretched, and
  spun into thread/yarn and are then ready to be
  made into fabric

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• F. Cotton Production
• 1. Number one state is Texas Produces the
  most used Upland cotton
• 2. Cotton quality distinguished by the staple
  (the length of the fiber)
• 3. Upland cotton fibers can be used for a wide
  range of products including fine clothing as
  well as heavy canvas materials
• 4. AZ grows both Upland and Pima.

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III. Flax

• A. Uses of linen dates back to the Stone Age
  Linen was used to make fishnets
• B. Most countries in the world use linen for
  clothing
• C. Wide range of uses for linen clothing,
  tablecloths, napkins, bedding
• D. Linen comes from fibers produced in a plant
  called flax
• 1. Flax likes to grow Europe and New Zealand

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• E. Plant characteristic
• 1. Plants grow to a height of about 3 feet and
  are then harvested
• 2. Linen comes from the fibers (called bast
  fibers) that make up the phloem of the plant (the
  tubes that transport plant food from the leaves
  to other parts of the plants)

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• F. Plant processing
• 1. The outer layer of woody material must be
  dissolved so the fibers can be removed
• a. One method involves soaking the stems in
  warm water where bacterial action decays the
  materials
• b. More modern method is using chemicals to
  dissolve the outer layer (called retting)

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• c. After the outer layer is removed, the phloem
  fibers are passed through rollers, and the woody
  substances connected to the fibers are broken
• d. the usable fibers are separated out in a
  process called scrutching
• e. Collected fibers are then combed out in much
  the same way as cotton (called carding) and spun
  into yarn
•  

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• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vAAUQNMldp_Yfeature
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