Nonwovens manufacturing
processes
Mehran Khattak
Definition
A sheet, web of natural, man-made fibers or
filaments that have been bonded to each
other by any of several means.
Two staged manufacturing (low cost)
Web formation
Web bonding
(same production facility)
Web formation
WEB FORMATION
WET LAID DRY LAID
CARDING AIR LAID SPUN LAID
fibers layed in parallel, random layed fibers SPUNBOND
crosswise MELTBLOWN
ELECTROSPINNING
Web bonding
WEB BONDING
MECHANICAL THERMAL CHEMICAL
NEEDLE PUNCH CALENDERING IMPREGNATING
SPUN LACED THROUGH AIR FOAM COATING
BONDING
(STITCH BONDED) SPRAYING
SONIC BONDING
(TUFTING) PRINT BONDING
Nonwoven market
Classification % of total
Hygiene 33.1
Building/roofing 12.5
Liquid and gas filtration 6.5
Civil engineering 5.4
Automotive 3.9
Medical/surgical 3.5
Wipes, personal care 8.1
Upholstery/table linen/household 6.8
Garments& Interlinings 2.9
Shoe leather goods 1.9
Coating substrates 2.4
Floor covering 2.3
Others/unidentified 5.3
Nonwoven market
1994-2004 8% growth
2004-2009 10.5 growth
Worldwide Outlook for Nonwovens Production
25 23,3
Billions dollars, millions tons
20
16,4
15 Billions dollars
10 9,1 Millions tons
6,4
4,5
5 2,2
0
1994 2004 2009
Nonwoven market
Western EU 33%
North America 31%
Asia Pacific 25% ( Japan, China,
S.Korea)
Others 11%
Production processes
WEB FORMATION
WET LAID DRY LAID
CARDING AIR LAID SPUN LAID
fibers layed in parallel, random layed fibers SPUNBOND
crosswise MELTBLOWN
ELECTROSPINNING
Wet laid web formation
3 stages of production Fiber dispersion
Dispersion forming
Dewaterig and web
formation
Drying and bonding
Dewatering and
web formation
Wet laid – Applications
Fiber swelling and
dispersion
dust filters, liquid filters,
overlay paper, stencil paper, tea
bag paper, paper for wrapping
susage and cooked meats
Industrial nonwovens
for:waterproof sheeting for
roofs, separators, filters,
reinforcement material for
plastics, backing material, shoe
uppers, decoration, interlinings,
insulation
surgical clothing, bed-linen,
table cloths, household cloths, Web formation
face cloths, nappy, sanitary
articles Water recycling
Air laid and carded web
Air laid and carded web
Advantages and disadvantages of airlaid over
carded web
Isotropic and randomly arranged webs
Voluminious webs
Low mass uniformity
Low level of opening fiber material by
lickerin roller
Possible entangling of fibers in air stream
Wide variety of processable fibers in both
processes
Applications of Airlaid and
carded web
• Interlinings
• shoe linings
• high loft" products for the garment and furniture and insulation
• synthetic leather
• waddings;
• geotextiles,
• filter materials;
• needle blankets; carpets ,wall coverings;
• technical felts insulation felts; mattress felts,
Spunbond
Gear pump
Spinneret
Filament
Stretching Air
nozzle
Web Stretching
pipe
Deflector
Suction
Collector
Melt blown
Meltblown vs Spunbond
Spun bond agianst Meltblown
Stronger
Flexible
Cheaper
More investment
Larger pore size
Applications
Spunbond
Backing, packing, cover stock, roof
sheeting, geo textile, reinforcemnt
Meltblown
Filtration, insulation, hygeine, medical
textile, floppy disks lining, battrey
separators
Web bonding
WEB BONDING
MECHANICAL THERMAL CHEMICAL
NEEDLE PUNCH CALENDERING IMPREGNATING
SPUN LACED THROUGH AIR FOAM COATING
BONDING
(STITCH BONDED) SPRAYING
SONIC BONDING
(TUFTING) PRINT BONDING
Needle punched nonwoven
Uses
Filters, tennis balls, carpets, floor covering,
Geo textile
Automotive
Spunlace
support screen
Water circulation Support screen Drying
(drum or belt) system
Water jets
Winding
Fibrous web
Dewatering
Water purification Water suction zone system
Spunlace properties
very good textile drape (low stiffness) and very soft handle
no chemical or melt binders; it is possible to prepare 100 % natural
fibers, suitable for sanitary products, suitable to recycling
strenght is much higher than after mechanical needling (for the some
area weight); similar to woven textiles
wide range of textile structure (depending especially on the perforated
belt structure) – wide range of textile properties
uniform surface due to more fine interlacing of fibers (compared with
needling)
very high textile production: up to 300 m/min for carded and airlaid
webs and up to 500 m/min for wetlaid and spunbond (meltblown);
textile width up to 6000 mm.
Spunlace applications
Spunlace Applications
1. Hospital use:
surgical gowns and drapes (fig.1),
operational cover sheets, bed
sheets, towels...
Fig. 1
2. Medical use:
wound dressings (fig.2), gauze,
wet tissue, cotton products, pads
(fig.3)
Fig. 2 Fig. 3
3. Sanitary products:
baby wipes (fig.4), facial clean
wipe, face masks, disposable
pants...
Fig. 4
Spunlace applications:
4. Household products:
cleaning wipes (fig.5), protection
fabric for electronics, home
furnishing fabrics: table cloths and Fig. 5
napkins (fig.6), curtains (fig.7) Fig. 6
Fig. 7
5. Industrial textiles:
industrial wipes (fig.8), filtration
(fig.9), roofing, water insulation
(fig.10), protective apparell Fig. 8
(fig.11), liquid absorbents
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Chemical bonding
Adhesive powder
Screen roll
Binder Squeegee
Powder metering
Rotating brush
Web
Mating roll
Web
Powder bonding Chemical bonding
Thermal bonding
Reflector
Hot roll Hot roll
Infrared
heat source
Hot roll
Cold roll Layer 1
Layer 2
Double and one side
calendering
Infra red bonding
Patterned calendaring
Embossed
cylinder
web
Hot smooth
calender
Embossed roll calendering
Applications
Wipes and towels
Medical nonwovens
Roofing products
Apparel interlinings
Filter media
Coating substrates
Automotive trim
Carrier fabrics
Bedding products (high loft)
Furniture applications (high loft)
Apparel
Pillows (high loft)
THANKS
QUESTIONS??????????????
