Pre-treatment → Napping → Finishing The napping machine process typically consists of three stages:
Pre-treatment stage: Fabrics need to undergo cleaning, drying, and setting treatments to remove surface impurities and stabilize dimensions. For example, cotton fabrics need to be dried at 120-140℃ for 3-5 minutes to reduce the moisture content to below 8% and avoid affecting the napping effect due to moisture.
Brushing Stage: The fabric passes through abrasive rollers at a speed of 10-30 meters per minute, while the rollers rotate at 500-1500 revolutions per minute. Parameters need to be adjusted according to the fabric material: for synthetic fibers (such as polyester), the abrasive pressure needs to be reduced (e.g., 0.5-1.0 MPa) to prevent melting, while for natural fibers (such as cotton and linen), the pressure can be appropriately increased (e.g., 1.5-2.5 MPa) to increase the pile density.
Finishing Stage: The brushed fabric needs to undergo brushing, shearing, and softening treatments to remove excess pile and improve the hand feel. For example, a rotating brush roller removes surface lint, a shearing machine controls the pile length to within the range of 0.2-0.5 mm, and finally, a softener impregnation makes the fabric feel more fluffy.
