Mohair Cuticle Cast
This is a cast of the cuticle of mohair from a commercial
mohair wool.
Transmitted Oblique Illumination
Definition/Function:
Mohair is from the Angora goat. Originally from Turkey it is now breed world-wide. It is
classified as a wool but can be
distiguished from sheep wool microscopically.
Significance in the Environment:
Characteristic Features:
Mohair has a refractive index along its length of about 1.56 and perpendicular to its
length of about 1.55.
It has a birefringence of about 0.01 and a positive sign of elongation. The cuticle
pattern is much finer than in sheep hair
and barely overlaps. It is an irregular waved mosaic. The number of scales per 100
micrometers is about 5 compared to the
9 to 11 for sheep hair. Mohair tends to have a very circular cross-section and most of
the fibers have no visible medulla.
When the medulla is present it tends to be unbroken.
Associated Particles:
References:
Von Bergen, Werner, WOOL HANDBOOK: VOLUME ONE, Interscience Publishers, pp. 315-342,
1963
