Knitted cotton fabric features loosely interwoven fibers and strong elasticity. During the mercerization process in concentrated alkali, the fabric is prone to inward shrinkage, narrowing of the width, and wrinkling due to the influence of alkali penetration and temperature. The stretching structure of ordinary shuttle weaving mercerizing machines has excessive tension and insufficient width expansion accuracy, which cannot adapt to the flexible characteristics of knitted fabrics, easily causing issues such as damage to the fabric's elasticity and dimensional deviations. Knitted-specific mercerizing machines optimize the structure according to the characteristics of knitted fabrics, precisely controlling the width and tension during the mercerization process.
The equipment is equipped with a dedicated spreading mechanism, which can smoothly unfold and flatten the circular knitted fabric, ensuring that the fabric enters the mercerizing process in a flat state. After the fabric is immersed in concentrated alkali solution, the intelligent bi-directional spreading mechanism opens the fabric uniformly and synchronously, locking the processing width according to preset process parameters to offset the tendency of the fabric to shrink when exposed to alkali. Throughout the alkali reaction process, the equipment maintains a constant and gentle tension, ensuring that the alkali solution fully penetrates the fibers to complete fiber modification, while avoiding excessive stretching that could damage the elastic structure of the knitted fabric.
After the alkali reaction is completed, the fabric enters a multi-stage gradient water washing area, where the residual alkali on the fabric surface is gradually diluted and neutralized, slowly releasing the tension of the fabric and avoiding rebound deformation caused by rapid pressure release. The equipment can be adapted to various fabrics such as thin underwear knitted fabric, thick sweater knitted fabric, and ribbed fabric, and can flexibly adjust the expansion range, alkali concentration, and processing speed. After mercerization treatment, the knitted fabric has a soft and delicate luster, more uniform dye adsorption, effectively controlled washing shrinkage rate, and better elasticity and dimensional stability, which are more suitable for the production requirements of finished clothing.