n.
or drafting
In yarn manufacture, process of attenuating a loose assemblage of fibres.
These fibres, called sliver, pass through a series of rollers, which straighten the individual fibres and make them more parallel. Each pair of rollers spins faster than the previous one. Drawing reduces a soft mass of fibres to a firm uniform strand of usable size. For synthetic fibres, drawing is a stretching process applied to fibres in the plastic state, increasing orientation and reducing size. In metalworking, drawing refers to the process of shaping sheet metal into complex, three-dimensional forms with metal dies. See also carding , wire drawing .