Mohair

Description

The long, silky white hair from the Angora goat, Capra angorensis, that is native to Turkey. Mohair was produced solely in Turkey for thousands of years, only becoming important in European textile manufacture during the 19th century. Angora goats are generally sheared twice a year. Their hair is mainly composed of long (5 - 12 inch) fibers that have flat, barely visible, overlapping scales. This makes the fibers very smooth and shiny. Mohair is strong, resilient, durable, and has good affinity for dyestuffs. The wool also contains 18% short fibers called kemp. These fibers are coarser and do not dye well. Mohair is susceptible to moths, but otherwise very durable. It is used for suits, clothing, draperies, upholstery, carpets, paint brushes, and paint roller covers.

Angora goats Capra angorensis

Synonyms and Related Terms

angora; mukhayyar (Arabic); mockaire; Angoraziege (Deut.); chèvre angora (Fr.); angorageit (Ned.); mohair (Esp.)

Other Properties

The center medulla is invisible in 99% of the fibers. Cross section is circular.

Cortex is striated throughout its length, often contains air-filled pockets

Fiber length = 5 - 8 inch. Scales occur about 5-6 per 100 micrometers of fiber

Elongation = 30% Moisture regain = 13%

Density	1.32

Mohair

Additional Information

° G.Cook, Handbook of Textile Fibres:I. Natural Fibres, 5th edition, Merrow Publishing Co., Durham, England, 1984.

Comparisons

Properties of Natural Fibers

Sources Checked for Data in Record

• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 515

• Hoechst Celanese Corporation, Dictionary of Fiber & Textile Technology (older version called Man-made Fiber and Textile Dictionary, 1965), Hoechst Celanese Corporation, Charlotte NC, 1990

• Rosalie Rosso King, Textile Identification, Conservation, and Preservation, Noyes Publications, Park Ridge, NJ, 1985

• J.Gordon Cook, Handbook of Textile Fibres:I Natural Fibres, Merrow Publishing Co. , Durham, England, 1984

• Edward Reich, Carlton J. Siegler, Consumer Goods: How to Know and Use Them, American Book Company, New York City, 1937

• The Dictionary of Art, Grove's Dictionaries Inc., New York, 1996 Comment: 'Mohair'

• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, at http://www.wikipedia.com Comment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohair (Accessed Nov. 9, 2005)

• Encyclopedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com Comment: "mohair" Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. [Accessed 18 Oct. 2005].

• Richard S. Lewis, Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 10th ed., 1993

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997