The physical and chemical nature of the wool fibre can be changed in many ways; some of them yield commercially proven benefits in terms of performance or aesthetics.

Fibre structure

Before looking at the various treatments for modifying the wool fibre it is worthwhile to consider the chemical and physical structure of the wool fibre.

In simple terms the fibre comprises a tough water-repellent scaly outer-layer called the cuticle and a water vapour -absorbent but resilient core known as the cortex. The fibre is made of a protein known as keratin but the cuticle and the cortex are chemically different. Fibre treatments can be split into several types, oxidation, reduction, plasma, additive and physical.