Last year BRÜCKNER supplied a POWER-SHRINK line for knitwear finishing to the German textile company Dolinschek in Burladingen, in the South of Germany. In this article authored by Thomas Wiederer, Sales Manager Brückner Textile Technologies, the benefits of Sanforizing with BRÜCKNER POWER-SHRINK machine with a successful modification for a minimum residual shrinkage are highlighted for the interest of our readers.

According to the author, in the beginning, compressive shrinking ranges or sanforizing ranges were known rather for the finishing of woven fabrics and particularly in the field of denim finishing. Later, sanforizing lines were used in combination with felt calenders or felt belt compactors for the finishing of knitted fabric, too. The new BRÜCKNER POWER-SHRINK sanforizing line offers many possibilities to sanforize even highly sensitive knitwear to achieve a smoother touch, very low residual shrinkage values and to meet in the end the highest demands on quality.

For the customer Dolinschek, the challenge was among other things to connect the line regarding drives and safety technology to an already existing felt calender. For this purpose all motors of the fabric drives have been replaced and the safety technology has been adapted to the latest requirements. Behind the rubber belt unit the fabric is led via guide and scroll rollers into the felt calender. Subsequently the fabric is transported with low tension via a relaxation belt to the winding unit. In case of a working width of 2,00 m the line is operated depending on the type of fabric with a speed of up to 30 m/min. The fabric weights are between 50 and 300 g/m².

With this line Dolinschek finishes mainly sensitive knitted fabrics made of cotton, viscose, polyamide and polyester for underwear and outerwear. For the improvement of brightness and touch the fabric is sanforized with a BRÜCKNER POWER-SHRINK after that it passes a calender. The residual shrinkage values before sanforizing are between 8% and 12% and after sanforizing they are - even for knitted fabric - between 5% and 0%. With mere cotton articles it is really possible to reach residual shrinkage values of 0%, articles with 3 - 4% elastane can reach residual shrinkage values between 0 and 3%. In case of viscose articles the residual shrinkage is normally between 2 and 4%.

The fact that BRÜCKNER develops, designs and manufactures all lines exclusively in Germany was also for the company owner, Theo Dolinschek, a very important criterion for his decision to buy BRÜCKNER. The modification had to take place in very short time to keep the interruption of the production process as short as possible. Dolinschek was founded in 1980 as textile cutting and wholesale company. At that time they supplied mainly to customers in the field of night, casual and children's wear. After a reorganization of the company in 1997 they took over a dyehouse which was extended continuously in the following years. This allowed Dolinschek to extend also their range of articles considerably in the following years. In 2001 a move into the premises of a former textile factory in Burladingen came up and this is where the company is domiciled today with finishing, dyeing, warehouse, laboratory and administration. In these premises Dolinschek produces with three BRÜCKNER stenters, one sanforizing range, one relaxation dryer, one continuous washing machine and several dyeing machines made by Thies and with lines made by the company subsidiary TMG (Textile Machines Germany). Today Dolinschek has about 100 employees and supplies to customers all over Europe and some even all around the globe.