APPARATUS FOR PLIABILIZING KNITTED OR WOVEN MATERIALS

An apparatus for pliabilizing tubular materials including a frame, a ring holder, and a mandrel assembly. The ring holder assembly is mounted to the frame and includes a circumferential ring, and a plurality of pairs of non-mechanically driven, rotatable wheels mounted around the ring and having a recess extending circumferentially around an outer edge. The mandrel assembly includes a mandrel having proximal and distal ends and a maximum outer circumference, and a plurality of non-mechanically driven, rotatable wheels spaced apart about a circumference of the mandrel and mounted thereto so as to extend radially beyond the maximum outer circumference. The wheels of the mandrel assembly are positioned between and so as to mate with respective pairs of the wheels of the ring holder assembly, and the wheels of the mandrel assembly are sized shaped to mate with the recesses of the respective pairs of wheels of the ring holder assembly.