Animal fibers are natural fibers that consist largely of certain proteins. Examples include silk, hair/fur (including wool) and feathers. The animal fibers used most commonly both in the manufacturing world as well as by the hand spinners are wool from domestic sheep and silk. Also very popular are alpaca fiber and mohair from Angora goats. Unusual fibers such as Angora wool from rabbits and Chiengora from dogs also exist, but are rarely used for mass production.
Not all animal fibers have the same properties, and even within a species the fiber is not consistent. Merino is a very soft, fine wool, while Cotswold is coarser, and yet both Merino and Cotswold are types of sheep. This comparison can be continued on the microscopic level, comparing the diameter and structure of the fiber. With animal fibers, and natural fibers in general, the individual fibers look different, whereas all synthetic fibers look the same. This provides an easy way to differentiate between natural and synthetic fibers under a microscope.
Silk is a "natural" protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from cocoons made by the larvae of the silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity. Rearing of silks is called sericulture. Degummed fibers from B. mori are 5-10 μm in diameter. The shimmering appearance for which silk is prized comes from the fibers' triangular prism-like cross-sectional structure which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at different angles.
The length of the silk fiber depends on how it has been prepared. Since the cocoon is made of one strand, if the cocoon is unwound carefully the fibers can be very long.
Spider silk is the strongest natural fiber known. The strongest dragline silk is five times stronger than steel and three times tougher than Kevlar. It is also highly elastic, the silk of the ogre-faced spider can be stretched six times its original length without damage. As of 2005, there is no synthetic material in production that can match spider silk, but it is actively being sought by the U.
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Fiber art (fibre art in British spelling) refers to fine art whose material consists of natural or synthetic fiber and other components, such as fabric or yarn. It focuses on the materials and on the manual labor on the part of the artist as part of the works' significance, and prioritizes aesthetic value over utility. The term fiber art came into use by curators and arts historians to describe the work of the artist-craftsman following World War II. Those years saw a sharp increase in the design and production of "art fabric.
Alpaca fleece is the natural fiber harvested from an alpaca. There are two different types of alpaca fleece. The most common fleece type comes from a Huacaya. Huacaya fiber grows and looks similar to sheep wool in that the animal looks "fluffy". The second type of alpaca is Suri and makes up less than 10% of the South American alpaca population. Suri fiber is more similar to natural silk and hangs off the body in locks that have a dreadlock appearance.
Felt is a textile that is produced by matting, condensing, and pressing fibers together. Felt can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic or acrylonitrile or wood pulp–based rayon. Blended fibers are also common. Natural fibre felt has special properties that allow it to be used for a wide variety of purposes. "It is fire-retardant and self-extinguishing; it dampens vibration and absorbs sound; and it can hold large amounts of fluid without feeling wet.
From the spider’s perspective, silk is not only a building material but also a safety net, a weapon and a sensory organ to detect the presence of prey on its web. For scientists, dragline silk - directly extracted from spiders - is a tough, biodegradable a ...
The brushing of hair requires a complex understanding of the interaction between soft hair fibers and the soft brushing device. It is also reliant on having both visual and tactile information. Guided by a recently developed model of soft tangled fiber bun ...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.2021
Optical fibers have reshaped the technological landscape, from optical networks and high-speed data communication to in situ imaging and non-invasive surgery methods. The revolution allowed by these fibers has been made possible by its fabrication method, ...