This report examines the market for mercerising, dyeing, bleaching, washing, and fabric drying machinery, based on a survey of 11 machinery manufacturers by the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF).

Mercerisation is used to increase a fabric's affinity for dye. Bleaching is used primarily on cotton or cotton blend fabric and yarns to improve a fabric's whiteness although it can also be used on wool, linen or acrylic. Before bleaching, woven fabric is singed, desized and then scoured. Knitted fabric is normally singed and scoured.

Dyeing can be carried out at almost every stage of the finishing pipeline
using continuous processes or batch processes at pressure or in open vessels. The choice of method depends partly on the nature of the textile, the type of dyestuff and the end use. Discontinuous dyeing is undertaken on jig, winch, pressure beam or jet-type dyeing machines. Jigs and winches operate at atmospheric pressure whereas pressure beams and jet type machines are used to dye materials at higher temperatures and pressures.

Continuous fabric drying can be carried out using cylinders and stenters. Drying cylinders are steam heated drums over which the fabric passes. However, they tend to pull the fabric and effectively reduce its width. For final drying, stentering frames allow the fabric to be stretched to the required width and dried at the same time. Stenters can also be used for fixing dyes and chemical finishes, and for chain mercerising. Discontinuous fabric drying can be carried out using hot flue machines and relaxation drying machines. In hot flue machines, fabric is dried in open width form by circulating hot air. Relaxation drying machines are used to relax stresses and strains in fabrics
especially weft knitted fabrics
and to shrink the fabric in length.

In 2005, 37 mercerising machines were delivered to the world's mills. Of this total, 36 were for treating woven fabrics and one was for knitted fabrics. Deliveries of machines for continuous bleaching, dyeing and washing numbered 192, of which the majority were for woven fabrics. 40 of the 192 machines were bleaching machines and 104 dyeing machines, of which 102 were for use in the manufacture of woven fabrics. Global sales of discontinuous bleaching, dyeing and washing machines stood at 56. All were for woven fabrics. The number of cylinder drying machinery shipments stood at 37 and stentering machines 166 of which 94 were for woven fabrics. In the case of discontinuous machinery, 15 hot flue machines and 35 relaxation drying machines were shipped to the world's mills in 2005. Of the 35 relaxation drying machines, 32 were for knitted fabrics.

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