Modelling and simulation of wool steaming for the efficient management of decatizing processes

Finishing is one of the fundamental steps of textile production and still, nowadays it largely depends on empirical knowledge. Aim of finishing processes is to impart the required functional properties to the fabric and, in particular, decatizing is the process that lends the fabrics dimensional stability, enhances the luster and improves the so-called ‘fabric hand’, corresponding to the sense of touching a textile. In this paper, we consider wool fabrics and, by exploiting the available process physical knowledge, we derive a model that can predict certain fabric characteristics, such as its temperature and moisture content, correlated with the fabric dimensional stability. We also design a simulation environment according to the model and we use it to easily generate synthetic data, obtaining information about the steaming process under different conditions. By analyzing the data, we can obtain knowledge about how to maximize the fabric decatizing process efficiency.