Woolgrowers, brokers and the debate over the sale of the Australian wool clip, 1920-1925

Prior to the First World War, the selling of the Australian wool clip rested firmly in the hands of the large woolbroking firms. An agreement between the British and Australian governments during the war saw many of the wool-selling functions of broking firms taken over by the Central Wool Committee. At the conclusion of hostilities, brokers moved to regain their role in the market. However, market conditions had changed. On an international level, traditional trading relationships had broken down, leaving commodity markets unstable and prices unpredictable. On a local level, woolgrowers had benefited from the wartime orderly marketing scheme and the high price guaranteed by the British government for their wool clip. As a result, they had begun to demand a greater role in the selling arrangements of their clip. This paper investigates the debates over the sale of the wool clip in the 1920s and how woolbrokers and growers eventually arrived at an understanding as to the manner in which the market should operate.

Characterization of conductive polyprrole coated wool yarns

Wool yarns were coated with conducting polypyrrole by chemical synthesis methods. Polymerization of pyrrole was carried out in the presence of wool yarn at various concentrations of the monomer and dopant anion. The changes in tensile, moisture absorption, and electrical properties of the yarn upon coating with conductive polypyrrole are presented. Coating the wool yarns with conductive polypyrrole resulted in higher tenacity, higher breaking strain, and lower initial modulus. The changes in tensile properties are attributed to the changes in surface morphology due to the coating and reinforcing effect of conductive polypyrrole. The thickness of the coating increased with the concentration of p-toluene sulfonic acid, which in turn caused a reduction in the moisture regain of the wool yarn. Reducing the synthesis temperature and replacing p-toluenesulfonic acid by anthraquinone sulfonic acid resulted in a large reduction in the resistance of the yarn.

Resistance to compression behavior of alpaca and wool

This study compares the resistance to compression behavior of wool and alpaca fibers. It shows that alpaca fibers have a much lower resistance to compression than wool, and there is little correlation between the resistance to compression and the curvature for alpaca fibers. Yet for wool fibers, the correlation between resistance to compression and curvature is very strong and positive. The differences in fiber curvature and scale profiles of alpaca and wool, together with the test method for resistance to compression, may explain their different resistances to compression.

Frictional and tensile properties of conducting polymer coated wool and alpaca fibers

Wool and alpaca fibers were coated with polypyrrole by vapor-phase polymerisation method. The changes in frictional and tensile properties of the single fibers upon coating with the conductive polymer are presented. Coating a thin layer of polypyrrole on the alpaca and wool fibers results in a significant reduction in the fiber coefficient of friction, as the conducting polymer layer smooths the protruding edges of the fiber scales. It also reduces the directional friction effect of the fibers. Depending on the type of fiber, the coating may slightly enhance the tensile properties of the coated fibers.

Measuring the influence of fibre-to-fabric properties on the pilling of wool fabrics

This study ranks the contribution of various fibre, yarn and fabric attributes to the pilling of wool knitwear. On the basis of an artificial neural network modelling, a combination of sensitivity analysis, forwards/backwards search and genetic algorithms was used to identify the importance of various fibre/yarn/fabric input parameters. The three different techniques show broad similarities in their assessment of which input parameters are important or are not important in affecting fabric pilling. The ranking shows that fabric cover factor has the most effect on pilling, followed by yarn count and thin places, fibre length, yarn twist, etc. It is further illustrated that the directional trend of the predicted pilling outputs for a selection of inputs was in line with the expected behaviour. To verify the findings of input feature selection, input factors deemed to have a small effect on the predicted pilling output, such as fibre length and diameter variations and curvature, were removed and the subsequent performance statistically compared to the original multi-layer perceptron. Differences between the outputs predicted by the original and pruned models are found not to be statistically significant at the 5% significance level. Results from this study may help manufacturers and knitwear designers in choosing the most appropriate materials and structures to reduce the pilling propensity of wool knitwear.

Predicting the pilling tendency of wool knits

This work investigates the application of artificial neural network modeling (ANN) to model the relationships between fiber, yarn, and fabric properties and the pilling propensity of single jersey and rib pure wool knitted fabrics based on the ICI Pilling Box method. Validation of the model on an independent validation data set suggests that the accurate prediction of pilling propensity is possible with the best performing model achieving a correlation with the subjectively rated pilling grades of approximately 85%. Importantly, it is also illustrated that a larger training set can lead to a marked improvement in the accuracy of predictions.

The hairiness of worsted wool and cashmere yarns and the impact of fiber curvature on hairiness

In this study, a range of carefully selected wool and cashmere yarns as well as their blends were used to examine the effects of fiber curvature and blend ratio on yarn hairiness. The results indicate that yarns spun from wool fibers with a higher curvature have lower yarn hairiness than yarns spun from similar wool of a lower curvature. For blend yarns made from wool and cashmere of similar diameter, yarn hairiness increases with the increase in the cashmere content in the yarn. This is probably due to the presence of increased proportion of the shorter cashmere fibers in the surface regions of the yarn, leading to increased yarn hairiness. A modified hairiness composition model is used to explain these results and the likely origin of leading and trailing hairs. This model highlights the importance of yarn surface composition on yarn hairiness.

Synthesis, polymerization and wool coating studies of 3-iso-butylpyrrole and 3-iso-pentylpyrrole

In a four-step method starting from pyrrole, the synthesis of 3-iso-butylpyrrole and 3-iso-pentylpyrrole, was achieved in 45 and 44% yields, respectively. Polymerization studies of these branched alkyl pyrroles are described and the results compared with those obtained for the unbranched structural isomers n-butyl and n-pentylpyrrole. A series of conductive textiles were produced by the chemical polymerization of the iso-alkylpyrroles using both solution and vapour polymerization techniques. Fabrics coated with poly-iso-alkylpyrrole formed using the solution polymerization method had a lower surface resistance than those formed using the vapour polymerization method. These conductivity results were in direct contrast to those previously obtained for 3-n-alkylpyrroles on fabrics. A remarkable crystal-like growth on the surface of the textile fabric was observed when solution polymerization of 3-iso-pentylpyrrole was employed—reinforcing the notion that subtle changes in monomer structure can drastically affect bulk polymer properties.

Determination of cashmere and wool fibre scale frequency by analysing diameter profiles with fast fourier transform

This paper describes a potentially faster and cheaper method of determining fibre scale frequencies. The method uses the single fibre analyser (SIFAN) to  determine the along the fibre diameter profile. This information is then analysed by the Fast Fourier Transform technique using computer software. The paper shows the close association between the mean scale frequencies determined by this method and the traditional approach using SEM.

Cashmere and wool cortical cells

This paper proposes that instead of the expensive and difficult task of examining the morphology of fibre cuticle scales that an alternative approach of examining the internal morphology of cortical cells may be faster and cheaper. Preliminary data were presented and further work is required.

Farm-level efficiency and productivity measurement using panel data: wool production in south-west Victoria

In this article we explore some issues surrounding the use of farm-level efficiency and productivity estimates for benchmarking studies. Using an eight-year balanced panel of Victorian wool producers we analyse annual variation between estimates of farm-level technical efficiency derived using Data Envelopment Analysis and Malmquist estimates of Total Factor Productivity. We find that farms change their relative rank in terms of efficiency across years. Also, unlike aggregate studies of Total Factor Productivity, we find at best erratic and modest growth, a worrying result for this industry. However, caution is needed when interpreting these results, and for that matter, benchmarking analysis as currently practised when using frontier estimation techniques like Data Envelopment Analysis.

Improvement of adhesion of conductive polypyrrole coating on wool and polyester fabrics using atmospheric plasma treatment

In this paper wool and polyester fabrics were pretreated with atmospheric plasma glow discharge (APGD) to improve the ability of the substrate to bond with anthraquinone-2-sulfonic acid doped conducting polypyrrole coating. A range of APGD gas mixtures and treatment times were investigated. APGD treated fabrics were tested for surface contact angle, wettability and surface energy change. Effect of the plasma treatment on the binding strength was analyzed by studying abrasion resistance, surface resistivity and reflectance. Investigations showed that treated fabrics exhibited better hydrophilicity and increased surface energy. Surface treatment by an APGD gas mixture of 95% helium/5% nitrogen yielded the best results with respect to coating uniformity, abrasion resistance and conductivity.

Conductive wool yarns by continuous vapour phase polymerization of pyrrole

Conducting polypyrrole (PPy) coated wool yarns were prepared by a continuous vapour polymerization technique, using a speed of 1 m/min with different iron(III) chloride (FeCl₃) as the oxidant at different concentrations. The resistivities, tensile properties, longitudinal and cross-sectional views of PPy-coated wool yarns were investigated. Optimum specific electrical resistances of 2.96 Ω g/cm² at 80 g/L FeCl₃ and 1.69 Ω g/cm² at 70 g/L FeCl₃ were obtained for 500 and 400 twist per meter (TPM) yarns, respectively. PPy-coated wool yarns exhibited higher elongation than uncoated yarns. Longitudinal and cross-sectional views of the yarns indicate that PPy coating penetrated deep into the yarn cross-section and a uniform coating was obtained on the surface of the yarn surface.

Characterization of superfine wool powder/poly(propylene) blend film

Superfine wool powder was blended and extruded with poly(propylene) (PP) to produce blend pellets, and the extruded pellets were hot-pressed into a blend film. SEM photographs show that the powder could be uniformly incorporated with PP after extrusion. FT-IR spectra shows that no substantial changes occurred in the chemical structure of both PP and wool powder in the blend film. X-Ray diffraction analysis indicates that crystallinity of the blend film was much higher than that of the wool powder and little lower than that of PP. TG-tested results indicate that the thermal stability of the blend film declined with an increase in the powder content. Endothermic peaks of the wool powder in the blend film become more obvious as the powder content increases. Mechanical properties decline greatly with an increase in the wool powder content in the blend film.