Utilizing high-speed rotating blades, vanes, tacks, or needle teeth on a striking mechanism to strike or simultaneously pierce the fiber material being fed in, to split and card the fiber layer, destroying the bonding forces between fibers and between fibers and impurities, and achieving the purpose of further loosening fiber lumps and removing impurities. Loosening is typically performed on the basis of pulling apart, and only after loosening can the fiber lumps be broken down into smaller pieces, allowing for the removal of fine impurities while also improving the structure and uniformity of the semi-finished product. According to the method of feeding the fiber material, the loosening action of the flower machine can be divided into two forms: holding strike and free strike.

Fiber raw materials are subjected to the impact of a high-speed beater while being slowly introduced in a gripping manner, which is referred to as gripping impact. If the fiber raw materials are introduced in a free state and impacted by the beater, it is called free impact. Under the action of gripping impact, the fiber layer generates vibration and deformation, which needs to be loosened into many smaller fiber blocks. Due to the greater impulse of the impact force applied by the beater over the entire tuft, the degree of loosening of the fiber blocks is higher. If the feed rate of the fiber raw materials is kept constant per unit time, increasing the speed of the beater can improve the degree of loosening. When the fiber raw materials are subjected to free impact, according to the principles of dynamics, the impulse of the impact force acting on the mass point of the fiber block is equal to the change in momentum during the time interval of the impulse.

Under the action of impact force, the fiber mass deforms, loosens, and acquires a new speed of movement. When the impact force exceeds the inter-fiber bond strength, the fibers are loosened; conversely, when the inter-fiber bond strength is sufficient, the entire fiber mass moves at the speed of the beating mechanism. Therefore, the free impact is relatively gentle, with minimal fiber damage and debris cracking. In spinning production, the type of impact and mechanism used is primarily determined based on the properties of the fiber material and the preparation before beating. Common beating mechanisms include the corner nail drum, comb needle drum, and sawtooth drum, as well as the hedgehog beater, wing beater, comb needle beater, comprehensive beater, and toothed beater.