roving

Roving is the gerund of the verb rove, meaning to wander or move about without a fixed destination. In general usage, roving describes aimless or exploratory movement, and the term is also used in technical contexts to denote a prepared strand of material that will be fed into a subsequent process.

In textile manufacturing, roving refers to an intermediate fiber product created after carding (and sometimes combing). It is a long, continuous strand of fibers that has been drawn out to align and reduce the mass, and it is lightly twisted to hold the fibers together. Roving serves as the feedstock for the spinning stage: it is wound onto a bobbin or flyer and later twisted into yarn on a spinning frame. Roving can be produced from natural fibers such as wool, cotton, and flax, as well as from synthetic fibers. There are carded roving and combed roving, differing in fiber alignment and preparation quality. The specific twist level and linear density are chosen to suit the intended yarn count and spinning method.

Beyond textiles, roving also denotes bundles of continuous filaments used as reinforcement in composite materials. Glass roving and carbon fiber roving consist of many fine filaments gathered into a flexible tow that can be woven into fabric or used to reinforce plastics and other matrices.