Protective film-forming and tensile yarn strengthening using high-purity industrial corn starch on continuous textile slasher sizing lines.
In textile mills, corn starch is cooked into a 6-10% sizing liquor to coat warp yarns with a tough, elastic film, reducing yarn hairiness and loom breaks by up to 60%, and is completely removed after weaving using alpha-amylase enzymatic desizing.
Textile warp sizing is the application of protective starch films onto yarn sheets to prevent thread breakages caused by mechanical abrasion during weaving.
Key Facts
Primary Use Cases
In commercial spinning and weaving mills, warp sizing takes place in continuous slasher machines:
Industrial corn starch is charged into high-pressure cooking vats at 6% to 10% solid concentration, blended with auxiliary sizing chemicals including tallow-based lubricating waxes (to reduce loom friction) and synthetic acrylic/PVA co-binders (for polyester-cotton blends). The slurry is cooked under steam pressure at 110°C to 120°C to achieve thorough granule fragmentation and stable fluid viscosity.
Hundreds of warp yarns travel simultaneously through the heated size box (90°C). Heavy pneumatic squeeze rollers (10 to 30 kN pressure) force the starch liquor into the yarn twist while squeezing off excess surface liquor. The wet yarns pass over steam-heated Teflon-coated drying cylinders, evaporating water and curing the starch into a tough, elastic protective sheath.
On air-jet and rapier weaving looms, sized warp yarns exhibit up to 30% higher breaking tenacity and 60% lower abrasion breakage. Once fabric weaving is complete, the starch film is completely digested and removed during wet pre-treatment using bacterial alpha-amylase enzymes, preparing the grey cloth for flawless dyeing and printing.
KIKI'S Industrial Chemicals supplies textile mills with screened, high-whiteness Industrial Corn Starch passing 99.5% through 100 mesh to prevent nozzle and size box fouling.
High-Pressure Size Cooking
Cook 6-10% starch slurry with lubricating waxes and synthetic binders at 115°C to achieve uniform fluid viscosity.
Slasher Immersion & Calibrated Squeezing
Pass warp yarns through size box at 90°C; pneumatically squeeze to achieve 8-12% dry size pickup.
Cylinder Steam Drying & Splitting
Dry across multi-cylinder cans, separate yarns via lease rods, and wind onto the loom weaver's beam.
Enzymatic Desizing Wash
Following weaving, hydrolyse the starch film using alpha-amylase enzymes at 65°C for clean scouring.
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Industrial-grade and food-compatible Native Corn Starch (CAS 9005-25-8) supplied in 25 kg multi-wall bags by KIKI'S…
CAS 9005-25-8 · Industrial Grade · Powder
Suppresses yarn hairiness, reducing friction breaks by up to 60% on high-speed weaving machines.
Significantly lowers sizing chemical cost compared to 100% synthetic PVA sizing recipes.
Digests cleanly with standard amylase enzymes without causing spot staining or dye resists.
COMMERCIAL & TECHNICAL GUIDANCE
Technical and process guidance for textile warp sizing & yarn reinforcement in Kenya and East Africa.
Size pickup is the weight percentage of dry starch and auxiliaries deposited onto the bare yarn, typically targeted between 8% and 12% for cotton fabrics.