What are the raw materials of non-woven fabrics?

Raw Materials and Production Processes of Non-woven Fabrics

The main fibers adopted for non-woven fabric production are Polypropylene (PP) and Polyester (PET). Other commonly used fiber materials include Polyamide (PA), viscose fiber, acrylic fiber, High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE), and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC). Based on practical application demands, non-woven fabrics are classified into two major types: disposable non-woven fabrics and durable non-woven fabrics.

According to different manufacturing technologies, non-woven fabrics can be divided into nine categories as follows:

1. Spunlace Non-woven Fabrics

The spunlace process injects high-pressure fine water flow onto single or multi-layer fiber webs. The water power entangles fibers tightly with one another, which effectively strengthens the fiber web and endows the fabric with stable tensile strength and soft texture.

2. Thermal Bonded Non-woven Fabrics

Fibrous or powdery hot-melt adhesive reinforcing agents are added into the fiber web. The web is then heated to melt the adhesive materials and cooled down for solidification, forming firmly bonded and stable non-woven fabrics.

3. Air-laid Pulp Non-woven Fabrics

Also referred to as dust-free paper or dry-laid non-woven fabrics. Wood pulp fiber boards are loosened into individual fibers via air-laid technology. The dispersed fibers are condensed and deposited on the forming curtain by air circulation, and further reinforced into complete fabrics. This type of material features pure texture and excellent dust-free performance.

4. Wet-laid Non-woven Fabrics

Fiber raw materials are dispersed and separated into single fibers in a water medium. Different types of fibers are evenly mixed to prepare uniform fiber suspension slurry. The slurry is transported to the web-forming equipment, where fibers form a wet fiber web and are finally reinforced into finished fabrics after dehydration and consolidation.

5. Spunbond Non-woven Fabrics

Polymer particles are melted, extruded and stretched into continuous fine filaments. These long filaments are evenly laid to form fiber webs, which are further made into non-woven fabrics through self-bonding, thermal bonding, chemical bonding or mechanical reinforcement treatment. Such products feature high strength and stable structure.

6. Melt-blown Non-woven Fabrics

The standard production process consists of six core procedures: polymer feeding, melt extrusion, ultra-fine fiber formation, fiber cooling, web forming, and final fabric reinforcement. Melt-blown fabrics are characterized by ultra-fine fiber diameter, dense structure and superior filtering performance.

7. Needle-punched Non-woven Fabrics

As a typical type of dry-laid non-woven fabric, needle-punched products are manufactured by repeated piercing of barbed needles. The needles drive loose fibers to interlace and tangle inside the fluffy fiber web, realizing mechanical reinforcement and forming thick, wear-resistant and stable fabrics.

8. Stitch-bonded Non-woven Fabrics

It is another mainstream dry-laid non-woven fabric. The stitch-bonding technology adopts warp knitting loop structures to reinforce various substrates, including fiber webs, yarn layers, plastic sheets, thin metal foils and composite materials, so as to produce high-stability non-woven fabrics.

9. Hydrophilic Non-woven Fabrics

This functional non-woven fabric is specially developed for medical and hygiene material production. It possesses excellent hydrophilicity and soft touch, causing no scratch or irritation to human skin. It is widely used in the production of sanitary napkins, panty liners and other hygiene products that require rapid water absorption.