What is Singeing?

The verb singe literally means to burn superficially. Technically, singeing refers to the burning-off of:

• Loose fibres not firmly bound into the yarn and/or fabric structure;
• Loose yarns not firmly bound into the fabric structure;
• Protruding fibre ends sticking out of the textile yarns and/or fabrics.

Textiles materials are most commonly singed in woven or knitted fabric form or in yarn form.

Singeing Objectives & advantages

• Singeing of a fabric is done in order to obtain a clean fabric surface which allows the structure of the fabric to be clearly seen.
• Fabrics, which have been singed, soil less easily than un-singed fabrics.
• The risk of pilling, especially with synthetics and their blends, is reduced in case of singed fabrics.
• Singed fabrics allow printing of fine intricate patterns with high clarity and detail.
• The risk of skittery dyeings with singed articles dyed in dark shades is considerably reduced, as randomly protruding fibres are removed in singeing which could cause diffused reflection of light.

Types of singeing machines

There are three main types of singeing machines:

1. Plate singeing machine
2. Rotary-cylinder singeing machine
3. Gas singeing machine

(a) Plate Singeing Machine

In this type of singeing machine, the cloth passes over and in contact with one or two heated curved copper plates. The thickness of the plates ranges from 1 to 2 inches. The heating of the plates is done by a suitable burning arrangement of gas mixed with air. The plates are heated to bright redness and the cloth passes over and in contact with these plates at a speed ranging from 150 to 250 yards per minute.