Textiles

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Textiles are materials made from fibres (tiny threads).


Types of Textiles

There are two main types of textiles: Natural and Synthetic.

Natural textiles: The earliest fibres were made from natural resources; either from plants or animals. An example of plant fibre is cotton, which gets its name from the cotton plant. Examples of animal fibre are wool from sheep and silk produced by silkworms.

Synthetic textiles: These are man-made textiles. Synthetic fibres are made from different types of chemicals. These chemicals have the ability to form big molecules, called polymers. Nylon, polyester and acrylic are all examples of synthetic textiles.


Producing Textiles

Spinning a yarn is a procedure required in order to produce a fabric. At the end of this procedure, a long thread (yarn) will be formed and made into a fabric. The steps to doing so are as follows:

1. Scouring: If the textile is natural, this stage is needed. It involves cleaning the raw material; removing grease, dirt etc from the textile. This is not a necessity for synthetic textiles.
2. Carding: This involves distentagling and/or combing the fibres. If combed well, the yarn will be more fine and smooth.
3. This stage involves drawing the ropes of carded (disentangled) fibres into longer and thinner strands, making it more suitable for spinning. Rotating rollers are used to produce a fine enough strand.
4. Fibres are twisted using a rotating spindle, and this finished yarn woll then be wound up into bobbins.

Once the yarn is spun and finished, it is ready to be made into fabric. This can be done in two ways:

1. Knitting: A series of loops are made out of one long piece of yarn.
2. Weaving: This involves using two yarns, and threading them in and out of each other.

Knitting can be done by using two needles. It is much more simpler than weaving - which is carried out by machines called looms - but it is less strong.


Protecting Fabrics
Fabrics are used in a large number of ways. Like any other materials, fabrics need to be treated with care, otherwise they may get torn, become faded, or even burnt.

Fabrics need to be cleaned, so it would be wise to look at the information attached to the fabrics, if any.

Here are some symbols associated with most fabrics:

http://pavo.all4designs.nl/images/fckfiles/Washing%20symbols2(2).jpg

If not treated well, fabrics can become damaged. Here are some ways to prevent this:

• Fire-proofing. The material can be treated with "flame retardents" to prevent it catching fire easily. Examples of such fabrics include clothes worn by firemen, fabric on furniture, and children's night clothing.
• Moth-proofing. This involves using mothballs to prevent moths from attacking the clothing.
• Water-proofing. Some materials are treated with certain chemicals to prevent water soaking into the material, for example, swimsuits.

Properties of Textiles

All textiles have different properties.

For example, cotton absorbs moisture and is very comfortable on hot days, but it is not very hardwearing. Polyester is much more hardwearing, but doesn't absorb moisture. Therefore, by mixing cotton and polyester together into clothes, advantages of both become present, e.g. shirts made from a mixture of otton and polyester are hardwearing, cool to wear in summertime, and are drip-dry.

However, not all properties of all textiles are as well known as the ones above. These less known textiles need to be tested in order to determine their properties.


Experiment 1: To Determine the insulating properties of textiles

Apparatus:

• 3 metal cans
• 3 thermometers
• Aeroboard (insulator)
• Textiles being tested
• Boiling water

Method:

1. Wrap metal cans with different textiles.
2. Seal each with aeroboard to insulate the parts that the fabrics can't.
3. Carefully, pour equal volumes of boiling water into each can.
4. Place a thermometer in each can (as shown in diagram), and measure the temperature every minute for ten to twenty minutes.
5. Note the temperature drop for each material.

Conclusion: The can in which the temperature drops most has the poorest insulating material around it, and the can in which the temperature drops least indicates the best insulating material around it.


Experiment 2: To determine the resistance to wear of a material

Apparatus:

• File
• Fabric to be tested
• Weight

 Method:

1. Set up apparatus as sown in diagram.
2. Rotate the handle of the file.
3. Record the number of turns on the handle it takes for a hole to appear on the fabric.
4. Repeat with different textiles.

Conclusion: The more turns it takes for the hole to appear, the more hardwearing the material is.