Fusibles live or die on a press. The adhesive has a window: temperature, pressure, time. Outside it you get carbonised dots, no wet-out, or strike-back. Inside it you still need a peel number after wash or dry-clean. A swatch that “stuck OK” at 10 a.m. is not a quality system.
TrimGem records the fusing window on the quote and expects a peel method on the PO.
The three knobs
Typical preparation language around FZ/T 01085 (hot-melt interlining peel) and garment method FZ/T 80007.1:
- Temperature 140–160 °C (always overridden by the adhesive datasheet).
- Pressure 0.3–0.5 MPa.
- Time 10–15 s.
Too hot: over-melt, strike-back, shine, even scorch. Too cool or too short or too light: unmelted particles, low peel. Silicone on the shell, expired interlining, and uneven pressure read as “weak glue.”
Make combined specimens on the agreed shell (or a standard poplin), grain aligned, e.g. 200 × 70 mm, then cut 25 or 50 mm strips (50 mm is often the referee width). Pre-peel 50 mm to grip. Condition 20 ± 2 °C, 65 ± 4% RH (GB/T 6529) for ≥24 h.
How peel is run
Clamp shell and interlining in a CRE tensile tester, peel at 100 mm/min, effective peel length ≥100 mm. Report:
peel strength P = F / W
P in N/cm, F mean force, W width in cm
Five strips, mean to one decimal. Coefficient of variation ≤15% or retest.
Failure mode is part of the result:
- Adhesive (interfacial): clean split, little residue — the usual recorded peel.
- Cohesive: glue or base tears — high number, may mean the bond is stronger than the base.
- Shell tear: the fabric gave up — lower temperature or a gentler adhesive; you are damaging the cloth.
Related documents: FZ/T 01076 (how to make the combined specimen), FZ/T 01083 (appearance and dimensions after dry-clean), FZ/T 01084 (after wash). FZ/T 01085-2018 is the current peel method many labs mean when they still say “01085.”
Numbers that get written
Product standards such as GB/T 23327 (woven fusibles) are sometimes quoted, on 50 mm width:
- Shirt fusibles: ≥ 3.0 N/cm before wash, ≥ 2.5 N/cm after.
- Outerwear fusibles: ≥ 4.0 N/cm after wash or dry-clean.
These are illustrative floors, not every brand’s spec. Some labs report N/5 cm. Do not compare N/cm to N/5 cm without converting. Initial peel (hot off the press) and peel after 24 h can differ; wash remaining is the number the customer wears.
Peel too low: delamination, bubbling. Peel too high with a stiff adhesive: a board, or a shell that tears when you try to unpick.
What goes wrong in bulk
Uneven press pressure, operators changing dwell, continuous fusing machines that do not match the sample press, shells with water-repellent finishes that starve the melt, elastane shells that shrink differently from the interlining on cooling (bubbles after the fact). Steam-pressing after fuse is a second thermal cycle; double-dot systems are often sold on surviving it.
Spec line
Write press type, temperature, pressure, time, peel method (FZ/T 01085 or agreed), width of strip, minimum N/cm before and after wash/dry-clean, and the shell used. Keep retain fused specimens. If peel fails, read the failure mode before you change mill. Often you change the window, not the article.