Non woven fabric/nonwoven fabric, as a non-traditional textile material, is an indispensable and important material in modern society due to its unique properties and wide range of applications. It mainly uses physical or chemical methods to bond and interweave fibers together, forming a fabric with certain strength and softness. There are various production technologies for non-woven fabrics, and different production processes give non-woven fabrics different characteristics to meet various application needs.
In many industries such as daily life, industry, and construction, non-woven fabrics can be seen playing their role:
1. In the field of healthcare: masks, surgical gowns, protective clothing, medical dressings, sanitary napkins, etc.
2. Filter materials: air filters, liquid filters, oil-water separators, etc.
3. Geotechnical materials: drainage network, anti-seepage membrane, geotextile, etc.
4. Clothing accessories: clothing lining, lining, shoulder pads, etc.
5. Household items: bedding, tablecloths, curtains, etc.
6. Automotive interior: car seats, ceilings, carpets, etc.
7. Others: packaging materials, battery separators, electronic product insulation materials, etc.
The main production processes of non-woven fabrics include the following:
1. Meltblown method: Meltblown method is a method of melting thermoplastic fiber materials, spraying them out at high speed to form fine filaments, and then bonding them together to form non-woven fabrics during the cooling process.
-Process flow: polymer feeding → melt extrusion → fiber formation → fiber cooling → web formation → reinforcement into fabric.
-Features: Fine fibers, good filtration performance.
-Application: Efficient filtering materials, such as masks and medical filtering materials.
2. Spunbond method: Spunbond method is the process of melting thermoplastic fiber materials, forming continuous fibers through high-speed stretching, and then cooling and bonding them in air to form non-woven fabric.
-Process flow: polymer extrusion → stretching to form filaments → laying into a mesh → bonding (self bonding, thermal bonding, chemical bonding, or mechanical reinforcement). If a round roller is used to apply pressure, regular hot pressing points (pockmarks) are often seen on the compressed fabric surface.
-Features: Good mechanical properties and excellent breathability.
-Applications: medical supplies, disposable clothing, household items, etc.
There are significant differences in the microstructure between non-woven fabrics produced by spunbond (left) and meltblown methods at the same scale. In the spunbond method, the fibers and fiber gaps are larger than those produced by meltblown method. This is also why meltblown non-woven fabrics with smaller fiber gaps are selected for the non-woven fabrics inside masks.
Post time: Sep-19-2024