Fibre to Fabric

Along with food and shelter, clothing is also a basic need of our lives. Clothes protect us from external factors like heat, clod, and rain. We usually wear clothes based on climates, occasions, and also according to the present fashion trends. All these clothes are prepared from the Fibres.

What are Fibres?

Fibres are thin, long, flexible and hair or thread-like structures. The fibres are usually obtained from two main sources- Plants and Animals. These fibres called the Natural Fibres. Cotton, wool, silk are examples of Natural Fibres.

Also, read Fibres

Apart from the natural Fibres, there are Synthetic Fibres which are artificially synthesized by humans with the help of machines and technologies in the textile industries. These fibres are also called as the manmade fibres. Rayon Nylon and polyesters are examples of Synthetic Fibres.

Types of Natural Fibres

The natural fibres are of two types:

  • Plant Fibres
  • Animal Fibres

Also, read Plant Fibres

Plant Fibres are obtained from plant sources such as cotton, jute, coconut fibre, etc.

Animal Fibres are obtained from animals for eg., wool from sheep and silk from the silkworm.

What are Fabrics?

Fabrics are defined as the clothing material, which is made by weaving or knitting threads and is obtained from the yarn. They are made from tiny thread-like fibres. These fibres are twisted to make a yarn.

The characteristics of a fabric depend upon the type of fibre used and the treatment applied to them. Cotton voile, rayon, linen, satin, and denim are different types of fabrics.

Processing of a Fibre into Fabric

The complete process of making or producing Fabrics from fibres includes:

Extraction of fibres either from the plant or animal source.

A group of filament or staple fibres extracted are twisted together to form a yarn.

 These yarn are twisted tightly and allowed to rotate on the different types of by the rollers, weaved and knitted by passing a different number of yarns together to produce Fabrics.

Finally, the fabrics are produced. These fabrics are treated with chemicals in the textile industries to make different types of clothing materials like cotton fabrics, woollen fabrics, silk fabrics, polyester fabrics etc. Later these fabrics are processed for bleaching to give a smooth, shiny look, colour dying to add colours to the fabric materials and screen printings to design the fabrics.

 Process of Making Cotton Fabric

Cotton is picked up from the fields. The seeds are separated by combing. This process is known as ginning.

Ginned cotton is compressed to form bales. These bales are sent to the spinning mills.

The cotton bales are loosened and cleaned. This process is known as carding.

The cotton fibres are then converted into rope-like loose strands. The strands are twisted to make yarns. This process is known as the spinning of cotton yarns.

The yarns are then used to make fabrics by weaving and knitting.

Important Questions on Fibre to Fabrics.

  • What is fibre?

Fibre is defined as a natural material, available as a raw in the form of the tiny, thread-like strands, which are converted into the yarn.

  • How many different types of fabrics are there?

Fibres are classified into two types:

  1. Natural Fibres – They are natural fibres, which are obtained from both plants and animals. Examples of Natural Fibre are silk, wool and cotton.
  2. Synthetic Fibres — They are man-made fibres, which are produced artificially within the industries. They are also called as artificial or man-made Fibers. Example of Synthetic Fibres is Nylon, Rayon, etc.
  • How is cotton fibre is obtained?

Cotton fibres are natural fibres, obtained from the seed coat of the cotton plant.

  • What are the examples of natural fibre?

Cotton and Jute are examples of natural fibre.

  • What are the examples of synthetic fibre?

Nylon and  Polyester are examples of synthetic fibre.

This was a brief introduction to the Fibre to Fabrics. Stay tuned with BYJU’S to learn more in detail about the Fibres, Fabrics and other related topics @ BYJU’S Biology

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