TEXTILE FINISHING

Wool| Silk|Synthetic Fibres|Lace

WHY
FINISHING?

THE OBJECTIVES

To provide the market with valuable product, both from an aesthetic and
functional point of view.

To satisfy the technical requirements of the making up industry

Optimisation of the intrinsic properties of the fibrous macro molecules

that constitute the fabric.

Three Functions- the elimination of foreign matter, development of the

finish,the endowment of the finishes fabric with such properties as to
guarantee an optimum behaviour in making up and during wear.

WOOL

Process Breakdown|Introduction|
Operations |Scouring |Milling |Wet
Setting |Carbonising

PRINCIPAL ELEMENTARY OPERATIONS

In order to achieve those previously mentioned objectives, the fabric

undergoes a complex series of operations which vary considerably.

Can be grouped into the two fundamental sub cycles of wet finishing and
dry finishing.

The former lays the foundations for fabric quality and hand: the latter
develops and improves them.

PROCESS BREAKDOWN

Wet Finishing
1. Scouring
2. Milling
3. Wet setting
4. Carbonising

Dry Finishing

1. Shearing
2.Pressing
3.Steaming and Decatising

SCOURING

After mending, scouring is the first fundamental operation to which a

loom state fabric is subjected.

Two essential aims : To eliminate the foreign matter from the

fabric(oil,sizes etc) and to relax internal tensions( due to spinning and
weaving)

Scouring : The cleansing of the wool from the natural and foreign
impurities and that if not removed would prevent the wool from being
worked in the after process of manufacture.

The primary objective of wool scouring is to cleanse the wool of the yolk,
or natural preservative, a greasy matter that covers the outside of the
finer and also, remove such mechanically adhering impurities as dirt,
manure etc.

SCOURING MATERIALS
Soda ash

1. An impure form of carbonate of soda as it contains from 65 to 95 percent of

pure carbonate.

2. The greatest dangers in the use of soda ash as a scouring agent occurs not
from the carbonate of soda but from the impurities found in connection with it.

3.Caustic Soda, an impurity even when used in small quantities. If treated with
wool fibre in hot water, it will dissolve the fibre and leave a milky solution.

4. Test : Dissolve small amount in pure water and then, add an excess of barium
chloride and filter the solution. The filtered solution can be tested with a red
litmus paper turning blue if caustic soda is present.

SCOURING MATERIALS

Carbonate of Soda
It should be tested for any presence of caustic soda in the manner how
soda ash was tested. Carbonate of soda is largely employed for scouring the
courses grades of wool, especially those that are very dirty.

Soda Soaps
Hard Soaps have soda as a base and are quite frequently used for scouring
wool.Soda soaps are made by treating caustic soda with any fatty acid.

Potash Soaps
These soaps are made with potash as a base and are commonly called soft
soaps. It is made by combining caustic soda potash with some fatty acid
and a soluble soap is obtained.

Ammonia
Ammonia is frequently added to carbonate and soap scouring liquors and
aids in the removal of the yolk.

MILLING

Milling is an essential process for woollen material. It is otherwise known

as Felting

The ability to Felt is the characteristic feature of wool.

The felting property is used in the finishing process to alter the

appearance, body, elasticity and the strength of the woollen fabric.

Dierent types of wool vary in their ability to felt and this depends on
length, fineness, scaliness, waviness etc.,

The object of milling is to make the fabric fuller and denser as a result of
which the woven pattern becomes more or less obscure.

Both dyed and undyed fabrics are milled. The milled cloth is suitable for
producing a raised finish.

MILLING
CLASSIFICATIONS:

Milling is classified into two types;

1. Acid milling and

2. Alkaline milling (including soap milling)
Both are carried out in stock or in rotary milling machine.

The three essential requirements for felting to occur are:

1) Moisture,
2) Heat and
3) Pressure

MILLING
ALKALINE MILLING:

This may be carried out with soap and soda ash or with alkali alone.

For best results, the following conditions maybe used.

Sodium Carbonate

67%

pH

9 to 11

Temperature

38 C

This is suitable for unscoured wool of low quality. It is not suitable for fine fabrics.

ADVANTAGES:

Both scouring and milling is carried out in one operation. There is a 30% saving of
cost compared to soap milling.

MILLING
SOAP MILLING:

It is a very widely used method.

For the Process, the following conditions may be used:

Soap solution

8 10% strength

2.5 gallons is sucient for 100kg of cloth. (1 gallon = 4.546 litres)

Temperature

40 C

After milling, the material is given a short and warm wash to remove all traces of soap.

ADVANTAGE:
Softer cloths are milled with less risk of damage. No previous scouring is necessary.

DISADVANTAGE:

It is a slightly a costlier process.

MILLING
ACID MILLING:

Sulphuric acid is the best milling agent.

Sulphuric acid
pH
Temperature

0.2 0.5%

2
-

45 C

But the 0.2 0.5 % sulphuric acid is diluted with 2 lbs of dark oil Vitriol for
every 100 Ibs of cloth. After milling, the fabric should be washed
thoroughly.

MILLING

ADVANTAGE:

This method is used for even very stronger fabrics. Always employed for
coloured woven goods due to less bleeding of color. This method is useful
to mill cross breed wool which is dicult to mill with soap solution.

DISADVANTAGE:

It is suitable only for Animal fibres since it destroys the cellulosic fibres.
It produces unwanted harshness. Before milling, it should be thoroughly
scoured to remove any races of soap, as the soap precipitates the acid.
Normally Rotary Milling machine is preferred for milling processes.

WET SETTING

Wet setting is the first setting treatment which is deliberately imparted to a

restrained fabric with the aim of stabilising its dimensions and above all, its
surface configuration.

Like all stress relaxation treatments, wet setting has a favourable eect on the
fabric handle.

Classified into two types : Discontinuous wet setting and continuous wet
setting.

Discontinuous Wet Setting

CRABBING
1.The fabric is wound on a beam placed in water along with wetting agent
at the required temperature ( 65 deg. C to Boiling Point ).
2. The winding operation and treatment for 30-60 mins takes place under
an adjustable pressure which is imparted by top load roller.

WET SETTING
3. The beam on which the fabric is wound usually rotates slowly in order to
maximise the eort.
4. At the outlet modern wet setting machines are generally equipped with an
exit section where the thermal shock is usually brought about by passing the
fabric through a cold water bath.
5.Yorkshire crab - consists of number of section in series for setting in the
two winding directions, possibly wet decatising and cooling.
POTTING
1.Relatively higher temperatures.
2.Longer duration
3.The fabric roll is placed vertically in a bowl of appropriate size, wound in a
special wrapper and allowed to cool without unrolling.

WET SETTING

BEAMING
1. Mild setting treatment ( 40-60 deg.C)
2. Used for scouring or smoothing the preparing fabric.

WET DECATISING
1. Steam is made to pass through the fabric roll which is wound on a
perforated beam
2.Can be done in water or using a pre-wetted fabric
3.Then, treated in a dry decatising machine at atmospheric pressure.

WET SETTING
Continuous Wet Setting
1. Konticrab by Hemmer

In this machine, the fabric is impregnated with water to the required

moisture content and then it moves around a marge heated drum against
which it is pressed by a rubber belt, In this way, steam is produced ( above
100 deg C). The pressure exerted by the belt also helps to squeeze the fabric
and prevents steam from escaping.

At the outlet, it also has rapid cooling section. these are indispensable as it
is impossible to cool the fabric on the processing drum.

CARBONISING

Carbonising is done to remove the cellulosic impurities from wool by

treatment with acid or acid producing salts.

Carbonising may be carried out in loose wool or on piece goods after

scouring. However, it is common practice to carbonise worsted piece
goods as well as woollens.

The process begins by immersing the wool in a solution of sulfuric acid

(H2SO4) that reacts with the cellulose impurities in the wool.

CARBONISING

The conventional technique of wool carbonising has the following basic steps:

1.Scouring of the raw wool with non-ionic detergent.

2.Rinsing.
3.Immersion in a long bowl containing 5-7% (w/v) sulphuric acid, 1-2 g/L
detergent at 20-30 deg C.
4.Double squeezing and/or continuous centrifuging prior to drying.
5.Drying at 60-80 deg C to a low regain.
6.Baking at 95-120 deg C to carbonise the VM.
7.Pass through heavy fluted rollers to crush the embrittled VM.
8.Convey to a rotating shaker/de-duster to remove the charred VM dust.
9.Pass through a neutralising bowl usually containing sodium carbonate.
10.Rinsing with a small addition of detergent.
11.Bleaching wool with hydrogen peroxide at approximately pH 5 with formic
acid.
12.Final drying.

DRY FINISHING

Shearing

Pressing

Steaming and decatising

SHEARING

The purpose of shearing is to cut the pile on the fabric surface.

In this way it improves the fabric appearance, as well as its behavior during
wear(by reducing the surface abrasion eects and the pilling tendency.)

There are two techniques for cutting the pile:

Shearing- Mechanical cutting operation
Singeing- The pile is burnt with an open frame

Before shearing all impurities must be removed from the fabric, this process
is termed as burling executed with the help of a burling iron.

As a preparation process for shearing, a treatment on a brushing steaming

machine is often performed. This serves to remove any remaining impurities
on the fabric, dampens the fabric, and causes relaxation in the fabric.

SHEARING
Shearing Machine
A shearing machine consists of the following components1.Bed
It holds the fabric in position. There are two configurations, namely triangular
and hollow ones. In the former one, conditions are ideal for a thorough shearing.
2.A fixed blade
3.A series of helicoidal blades
4.BrushesThere are generally three kinds of brushes:
The rear one simply cleans the back of the fabric.The second one lifts the pile in
a regular and orderly manner to prepare it to the action of the blade.
The third one lays the pile down again after cutting.

PRESSING
The aim of pressing is to give the fabric a smoother and brighter surface, with
some degree of permanence, this is done by subjecting the fabric to a strong
compression against a polished and heated surface.
There are three types of pressing machinery

Paper Press

Rotary Press

Contipress

PRESSING
Paper Press
It operates batch wise and requires very long times, and has therefore now almost totally fallen into
disuse. Now a days, it is typically reserved for very high priced articles, which are hand made.
In paper pressing, up to 20-30 pieces of fabric are folded, and a glazed cardboard is inserted in each fold.
From time to time, an electrically heated cardboard is inserted between two normal ones at a temperature
between 40-80 degree centigrade. A typical pressing cycle can last for 24 hours.
Rotary Press
To continuously press wool fabrics, special mould presses with a bed, are in use. Fabric goes on at a
moderate speed (10-20m/min), between a rotating cylinder and a fixed hollow bed. Both of them are
heated (120-130 degree centigrade) and pressed against each other with a strong hydraulic force (up to
20000 kg w).
A modern rotary press is equipped at the inlet with a humidifying zone and at the outlet with a cooling
and conditioning zone, it helps the fabric to regain the moisture and thus improves dimensional stability.
Contipress
It consists of treating the fabric with steam first and then causing it to be accompanied by a belt, which
strongly presses it (up to 6 kg w/cm^2) against a heated cylinder. Temperatures of about 135 degree
centigrade can be achieved.

STEAMING AND DECATISING

At the end of the finishing cycle, the fabric is subjected to treatments with
steam, whose purpose is to give it the desired had, and to stabilise as far as
possible its hand and dimensions.
There are two types of such treatments Steaming Where the fabric is unrestrained and can therefore relax and
change its dimension.

Decasting Where the fabric is under tension.

STEAMING AND DECATISING

Steaming
The fabric is passed through an atmosphere or mist of hot steam rising from an open
through.
Decatising
This finishing process is another shrinking process which gives the fabric stability. It
is done by winding the fabric under tension on a perforated cylinder through which
steam is passed.
Factors influencing the decatising process1.Basic physical variables- Time, temperature, fabric, moisture content
2.Mechanical pressure
3.The size of the cylinder
4.Other operational conditions- The type of wrapper, the direction of the steam
flow, the final thermal shock

SILK

Desired attributes |Finishes |Calendaring |Decatising |

Stentering | Tamponing |Breaking |Steaming and shrinking |
Mineral weighing | Sandwich | Stain repellant finishes |Anti
static finish |Crease recovery Finish |Anti microbial Finish |
UV Protection | Chemical finishes

DESIRED ATTRIBUTES

Crease Resistance

Antistatic Eect

Water and Oil Repellency

Flame Retardancy

Dimensional Stability

Wash and Wear properties

Bulky and handle

Finishing of silk therefore involves a whole range of operations carried

out as per the needs.

FINISHES

Mechanical
1. Calendaring
2. Decatising
3. Stentering
4. Tamponing
5. Breaking
6. Steaming or shrinking

Chemical
1.Weighting
2.Sandwash
3.Stain repellant/ release finishing
4.Anti- static finishing
5.Crease recovery finishing
6.Anti-microbial finishing
7.UV protection

CALENDARING

technique used to influence the handle and appearance of the fabric

In most cases silk is only calendared in the cold stage, which produces
a soft handle

With hot calendaring higher lustre is obtained, but it has to be

determined in each case in order to prevent negative influence.

One of the machinery used is Palmer or Felt Calendar.

It is mainly used for taeta like wovens with a smooth character and
for serge articles (e.g. pongee, twill)

DECATISING

Decatising mainly imparts dimensional stability to the textile fabrics

Also creases are removed and the fabric is smoothened.

Here the principle involved is controlled relaxation of strains stored in a

fabric

Fabric along with a felt are rolled in open width onto a perforated cylinder
and subjected to super heated steam. Here it is important that the wool felt
used should not be so hard that the silk fabric is not pressed flat.

Discontinuous decatizing machine is the commonly used machine today

butcontinuous decatizing equipment is also found in which felt calendars
might be used.

STENTERING

Main objectives of stentering are:

1.Drying the goods by means of hot air

2.Bringing them to the desired width.
3.Producing the desired feel in finished goods by the suitable application of heat in
conjunction with or without special motions being applied to the cloth.

The goods are stretched upon a stenter in such a way as to straighten out and produce
the necessary width with a minimum of mechanical strain.They are then dried by means
of hot air. In this way, the fixing of the dressing occurs while the cloth has the desired
width and form.Further, by regulation of the temperature and therefore the rate of
drying, combined with a motion known as "swissing" which is given to the cloth, the
nature of the final "feel" and the elasticity can be controlled.

Earlier for silk finishing a stenter operating with hot air was sucient to dry the fabric
but now a days it requires curing frames with temperatures upto 150 C, since various
elastomers and resins are being used.

TAMPONING

Tamponing is a treatment, which leads to improved optical appearance.

Silk is sensitive to the mechanical friction it is subjected to in the various

stages of treatment. Even after taking greatest precautions it is likely that
the silk fabric may develop chafe marks. The attempt is then made to
produce optical improvement on the fabric so that it is acceptable further.

This is achieved by applying extremely fine film of oil evenly on both sides of
the fabric. Thus the chafe marks become less visible. Earlier only faulty
portions of fabric were treated by hand with tamponing cushion. Now a days
machines exist which apply evenly to the fabric a fine film of oil
homogeneously distributed on several rollers

BREAKING

Breaking machine is used to impart a particular soft handle mainly when

calendaring is not sucient.

Types of machines :-

1.Button
Here the piece is passed several times rapidly to and fro over small rollers
studded with brass buttons.
2.Knife
Here the fabric is drawn over the edges of slanted knives. The buttonbreaking machine is older and more recently has been replaced by knife
breakers

STEAMING AND SHRINKING

For this purpose horizontal screen steamers or shrinking machines are

used.

They produce shrinkage and relaxation of the fabric. Crepe like fabrics
often appear too flat. The goods coming from previous treatments are
many times in an insuciently relaxed state. In the screen steamer, the
fabric is laid with steam from below, on which the fabric can relax.

Conventional open horizontal screen steamer

Closed shrinking machine

MINERAL WEIGHTING

Silk is soaked in stannic chloride at room temperature for about 1.5 h, hydro-extracted and
washed in cold water. Washing removes any unfixed stannic chloride and hydrolyzes fixed
stannic chloride into metastannic acid.

Further treatment with dilute disodium phosphate for 1 h at 60 70 C,washed and acidified
to give an insoluble tin phosphate compound.
Process is repeated till there is a required increase in weight.

Insoluble tin silicophosphate is formed by treating silk with dil. Sodium silicate at 70 C for 1
hour .Deposition of metallic salts take place in the amorphous regions of the fiber with little
alteration of fabric appearance.

SANDWASH

Produces a machine washable fabric with soft, velvet like feel.

The process itself in general gives rise to a rough feel but this is
modified using softeners to produce the sand wash feel.

Silk is treated under harsh conditions and when it roughens the

surface fibrils break to create a skin like texture.

STAIN REPELLANT/RELEASE FINISH

Water based fluoro-chemical finish that resists substances that are present
in oil and water based stains.

Teflon textile finish work is applied generally to provide surface protection

for each fibre in the fabric.

Provides superior water/oil repellancy and protection against spills and

stains.

Stain release finishes lowers the critical surface tension of the fabric so that
the fabric doesnt attract soil or stains.

Oil and water bead up and roll o the fabric and spills can be easily blotted
up with a clean cloth.

ANTI- STATIC FINISHING

Silk has a fairly low static charge build up, but it may increase if the silk
is grafted with monomers used to improve certain fibre properties.

Treatment is done with selected vinyl monomers that are water soluble
under acidic conditions to increase the hygroscopic and anti static
properties.

CREASE RECOVERY FINISHING

Suitable resin pre condensates are used to impart crease recovery

properties to silk.

The resins react with each other and/or cross-link with the fibroin
backbone to form water-insoluble products under the action of heat
and catalysts.

This is done to counter act the poor wet resiliency that is characteristic
in silk due to lack of intermolecular chemical cross linkages. (Silk
absorbs water, fibres swell up and the salt linkages between polymers
are broken)

ANTI MICROBIAL FINISHING

Protect the fibre from microbial attack and the owner against transfer
of pathogenic germs.

Also controls the development of odor from perspiration, stains and

dirt.

Treatment with compounds like dichlorovinyl salicylamide and a 0.010.25% solution of benzalkonium chloride increases resistance to
mildew etc during periods of long storage(upto 2 years) even at high
relative humidity.

UV PROTECTION

Silk is susceptible to photochemical degradation.

Organic compounds that absorb UV radiation can impart protection

by dissipating the energy as heat.

These are colourless compounds with very strong absorption in the

UV range of 290-360 nm.

CHEMICAL FINISHES

SYNTHETIC
FIBRES

Heat setting | Sti and soft finish |

Hydrophilic finish |Anti static and anti pilling
finish |Non slip and fame retardant finish

HEAT SETTING
Internal tension within the fibre which is generated during manufacturing gets
eliminated ,and the new state is fixed by rapid cooling.
Pre setting has a favourable eect on the dyeing behaviour.
Post setting can be combined with some other operations such as Thermasol
dyeing or optical brightening of polyester.
Post setting as a final finish is useful to achieve high dimensional stability.

STIFF FINISHES AND SOFT FINISHES

Sti finishes:
These may be produced by amino-aldehyde resins.
This provides stiness to the fabric.
Soft finishes:
It is advisable to use Cation-active softeners with Quaternary compounds.
Non ionic softeners are useful for anti static finishes.

HYDROPHILIC FINISHES
It compensate for lower moisture and water absorption capacity, which
becomes uncomfortable in contact with skin.
Certain products, based on modified (oxy-ethylated) polyamides, make the
fabric more pleasant by reducing the cohesion of water so that it spreads
over a larger area and thus evaporates more readily.

ANTI PILLING AND ANTI STATIC FINISH

Anti Pilling Finish

Pilling can be reduced by appropriate yarn structure

Subsequently overcoming by brushing the fabric
Shearing, and then Singeing.

Anti- Static Finish

It prevents dust from clinging to the fabric.Anti-static eective chemicals are

largely chemicallyinertand require Thermasol or heat treatment for fixing
on polyester fabrics.Polyether agents have been found to be useful but should
not aect the dye-equilibrium on fiber, lest they impair the rubbing fastness.

NON-SLIP FINISH AND FLAME RETARDANT FINISHES

Non Slip Finish
It gives the filaments a rougher surface.
Silica geldispersions or silicic acid colloidal solutions are used in
combination with latex polymer oracrylatesdispersions to get more
permanent eect.
Flame Retardant Finish
Helps in reducing flammability

LACE

Introduction | Drying |
Stiening | Finishing

INTRODUCTION

On ease of distortion while finishing , Laces comes in the midway of

woven and knitted structure.

Many laces are produced width wise which is three to four times the
width of woven fabrics.

While the narrow fabric lace are made by placing it side by side joined
together by a linking thread , which is withdrawn on the later stage.

Wider laces are finished on the the old fashioned hand frames,while
narrower laces can be finished on the Stentor which is generally used
in finishing of cotton fabric.

DRYING

After Scouring , bleaching, or dyeing ,The fabric is fixed by impaling it on the

side-rail pins of the Hand-frame. After mounting the laces, it may take in
between 10 to 30 mins for drying.

The pins of the hand frame are comparatively coarser than the normal
stentor.

The length and width of the frame are adjusted according to the experience
or after the preliminary trials.

Generally the frames are arranged in rooms about 150-200 yards in length
and 40-50 yards in width,to accommodate 3 frames in a room

DRYING

After setting up laces in the room,the room is heated. The room is heated
by running hot waters or steam across the pipes ,which is spread across
the floor.

And a gentle current of air is provided by flap fans situated above the
frames. The main aim of the air current is to reduce the temperature and
control the humidity in the room.

STIFFENING

In traditional way stiening is added to laces by treating them with a

mixture of starch and gum. The proportion of starch and gum is varied
according to the nature of stiness required.

For a very sti eect ,the laces were stretched on the frame and the dressing
was applied by slopping on to the fabric and spreading evenly but quickly
with brushes or long wooden rollers to void uneven drying. Excess stiening
was removed by beating the laces with cane while drying.

FINAL FINISHING

After all this processes ,the wide laces are winded on the wooden roller
and passed to the cutting room.

In cutting room, the pieces are trimmed and adorned with edge tapes if
necessary.

Then it is passed through a heated calendar to flatten the material and

increasing the lustre.

Many nets and lace curtains are folded pressed in a hot press as a final
finishing operation.

REFERENCES

Wool scouring : G.F Wood

Textile : fibre to fabric by Corman

The chemistry of textile fibres : Mather and Wardman

Introduction to wool fabric finish Bona. M

Advances in silk science and technology edited by Arindam

Basu