Fusion Press Industry

Many garments are manufactured using an interliner to give stiffness to the product. Perhaps the best examples are the lapels of blouses and shirts. The construction of a typical shirt collar is a layer of cotton, a layer of heat sensitive non woven resin impregnated  interliner,  and a layer of cotton. This sandwich is then subjected to controlled heat and pressure, the interliner melts and fuses to the  two layers of cotton, and after cooling the resultant fabrication has added stiffness.

In industry, the  sandwich is placed on a moving belt and is carried over a heater bank. A second belt  running in the  same  direction  is then  placed on  top  of  the  sandwich, which is  then  carried between a pair of driving rollers acting like a calender.

By controlling the nip pressure and heating cycle, the resin impregnated interliner can be brought to the required plasticised condition that gives the best fusion results. Some resin can escape and to ensure that the belt surface  is  kept  in  precise  condition; non stick, conductive PTFE glass belts are used  universally for this application.

With delicate fashion fabrics a top  quality 0.25 mm (0.010 inch)  thick conductive GORTEF 828.25AS   must be recommended, however, with heavier materials and garments such as waist bands,  suits and overcoats, GORTEF  141.36 AS should be used.

There are many machine manufacturers in Europe. The largest machines, with belts 9.2m x 1.9m are very specialised and tend to be serviced by the OEM. However,  there are many  machines  from  Europe and Japan  that use  smaller  PTFE  glass bets  and  where  end  users are buying directly from  belt  manufacturers.