ТЕКСТЫ ДЛЯ САМОСТОЯТЕЛЬНОЙ И
ИНДИВИДУАЛЬНОЙ РАБОТЫ
Текст 1. ВОЛОКНА.
(из энциклопедии моды «Encyclopedia of Clothing and
Fashion»)
According to the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), a 8ber
is a unit of matter that has a length of at least 100 times its diameter. If
8bers are to be used in textile products, they must have characteristics of
8neness, strength, cohesiveness, and (exibility appropriate to the projected
end use. Chemically, 8bers are composed of long chains of molecules called
polymers.
Fibers may be found in nature or manufactured. Fibers may be short and
noncontinuous or of inde8nite length, long and continuous. Short 8bers are
called staple8bers, while long, continuous 8bers are called 8lament 8bers. All
natural 8bers except silk are staple 8bers.
Manufactured 8bers and silk can be 8lament 8bers or can be cut into staple
lengths. Humans have used natural 8bers since prehistoric times. Fibers are
often classi8ed according to their chemical structure. Natural 8bers obtained
from plants are generally made of cellulose. Others, generally obtained from
animal hair, are protein. One mineral 8ber, asbestos, is obtained from rock
deposits. Asbestos products are no longer manufactured in the United States
because the 8bers can be carcinogenic if inhaled.
Natural cellulosic 8bers are classi8ed as seed hair 8bers (cotton and kapok)
because they grow on seeds. Bast 8bers are obtained from the stems of
plants (linen from the (ax plant, ramie, jute, hemp, and kenaf). Fibers from
plant leaves and other vegetable sources include agave, coir, henequen, sisal,
yucca, piсa, and sacaton. Many of these 8bers, and others that are even more
rare, have only limited use for industrial products or for local crafts. Cotton,
linen, ramie, and hemp are the cellulosic 8bers most often used in apparel.
Piсa comes from the leaves of the pineapple plant and is used for traditional
costumes in some Asian and Paci8c areas.
Protein 8bers are generally obtained from the hair of animals. Silk, another
protein 8ber, is extruded by the silkworm and obtained from its cocoon.
Widely used animal hair 8bers include sheep’s wool, cashmere, camel hair,
mohair, and alpaca.
Other animal hair 8bers have more limited use. Eskimo women knit qiviut,
the soft, 8ne underhair of the musk ox, into very expensive accessories and
garments, using patterns characteristic of their village. Llama and guanaco,
Andean animals that are similar to alpaca, and huarzio and misti, cross-bred
llamas and alpacas, produce hair harvested for textiles. Attempts to
domesticate the vicuсa, a wild Andean ruminant, have had limited success.
Most of this very soft and costly 8ber comes from animals that have been