1) Nonwovens production has grown rapidly since World War 2. There are three main stages: web forming, web bonding, and fabric finishing. 2) Web forming methods include dry laying, wet laying, and polymer laying. Web bonding includes mechanical (needling, stitching), thermal (calendaring, through-air), and chemical (dispersion, saturation) methods. 3) Turkey has over 150 nonwoven companies and is a leading producer of big bags, with production concentrated in Istanbul, Bursa, Gaziantep and other cities. Key end-use sectors include automotive, packaging, hygiene and medical supplies.

1. FACULTY OF NATURAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING
Subject: Nonwovens
Summer Semester 2016/17
Author:
Magdalena Georgievska
Mentor:
Prof. Dr. Dunja Sajn

2. 1. Introduction
•19th century- needed use of industrial fiber wastes and old textiles.
•Huge rise of production after Second World War
•Nowadays the production grows rapidly and nonwovens can be widely
used, new technologies rise, and the need for inexpensive and more
specialized nonwoven materials.
1.1. Definition and classification
Fig.1. Schematic view of woven, knitted and nonwoven bonded fabric surfaces

3. IDNA, nonwovens are “a sheet, web, or batt of natural and/or man- made
fibers or filaments (excluding paper), that have not been converted into
yarns and are bonded to each other by any of several means.”
-More than 50% of fibrous content - fibers (excluding digested vegetable),
length/ diameter ratio > 300.
-More than 30% of fibrous content- fibers as in previous definition but also
meeting length/diameter ratio > 600; fabric density < 0.4 g/cc.
EDANA : a manufactured sheet, batt, or web of directionally or randomly
oriented fibers, bonded by friction, and/or cohesion and/or adhesion
(excluding paper and woven, knitted, tufted, stitch bonded incorporating
binding yarns or filaments, or felted by wet milling, whether or not
additionally needled.

4. 1.2. Classification
There is a basic
classification according to
the production principles
or the structure of
nonwovens fabric.
There are three basic steps of production:
•w eb fo rm in g
•web b o n d in g
•fa b ric fin ish ing .

5. P r i n c i p l e o f p ro d u c t i o n
Web Forming
methods
dry laid(of
staple fibers)
carded
air laid
combined carded-
air laid
electrostatic
Laid
polymer- laid
spunbond;
meltblown;
electrostatic spun
wet laid( of
staple fibers)
Web Bonding
methods
mechanical
needle
punched;
stitch
bonded;
spunlaced;
felts
thermal
calendered;
through-air
bonded;
ultrasound;
infrared
chemical
dispersion
bonded by:
saturation;
spraying;
screen
printing:
foam
polymer
solutions
bonded
Finishing methods
Coated laminated crimped printed special finished

6. Classification b y s t r u c t u re
classification by
structure of fabric
fibers orientation
siturated in
the fabric
plain
crosswise
oriented fibers
parallel
(lengthwise) fibers
randombly
oriented fibers
perpendicular
laid fabrics
nature of distribution of
bonding sites
mechanically
bonded
by fibre bundles
(randomly
distributedneedled;
regularly
distributedstitch-
bonded without threads;
bonded by threads
stitch bonded)
By single fibers (wet laid-
cellulose, spun laced,
felts)
chemically and
thermally bonded
(fig.3.)
Segment
structure
Agglomerate
structure
Point
structure

7. 2. Stages of Nonwovens production
processes
1) Preparation of staple fibers:
(bale opening, blending, lubricating etc.), defined blend of fiber flocks, or of
polymers (melting the polymer, forming fibers.
2) Web forming
3) Web bonding
4) Fabric finishing (coating, laminating…)

8. 2.1.1. Dry-laid methods
Carding (mechanical), air-laying (aerodynamic web formation), and also
combined.
•Mechanical methods- Carding
- opening of fiber bales,
individual staple fibers
are blended &
transported to the next
stage by air. The fibers
are untangled into a
web by a carding
machine.
Card is the key machine ( a rotating drum or series of
drums covered with wires or metal teeth).
The web can be parallel-laid or random-laid.

9. •Aerodynamic methods- Air laid
The fibers are pre-formed on a condenser
screen, transported to a rotating carding
cylinder to make short single fibers.
They are fed into air stream, a moving
belt/ perforated drum, to form a randomly
oriented web (contrary to carded webs).
2.1.2. Wet-laid methods
The process consists of:
wetting and dispersing fibers in water medium,
transportation to the web-forming device, At
the end water can be removed by pressure
between rollers, suction and drying.
Impregnation with binders is often included
(hydrogen bonds, dispersions, or by
thermoplastic bonding fibers).

10. 2.1.3. Polymer- laid methods
There are three main methods, based on a direct conversion
(melting) of a thermoplastic polymer into the fiber layer.
•Spunlaid methods
Polymer granules are melted and extruded to form
continuous filaments, cooled by air, deposited on to
a conveyor to form a uniform web (usually in layers
of overlapping loops of filaments). In the end the air
is removed by suction.
Co-extrusion of second components is often used.
•Melt- blowing process
Low viscosity polymers are melted,
transported and filtrated, then the melt goes
under extrusion using hot air stream to form
filaments. The web is formed by randomly
laying partially solidified fibers on the
surface of the drum/ belt.
After that web bonding follows, fiber
entanglement and cohesive sticking.

11. •Electrostatic spinning
-1970s, and it consists of forming polymer melt
into fibers by electrostatic forces in electrostatic
field of about 30kV.
-Fibers (PE, PP, PC, PA )are transported to the
supporting textile layer- laminate. Moving over
opposite charged electrode an electric field
forms to surround them, so small particles can
be attracted to the fiber surfaces by electrostatic
forces- ideal for filters.
2.2. Web bonding methods
2.2.1. Mechanical bonding methods
-Needle punching, stitch bonding and
spun- laced technologies
- advantage of energy saving and
environmental impact in spite of lower
productivity (except spun-laced).
Fig.11. Needle- punching scheme

12. •Needle- punching
-19th century
Dry-laid or spun bonded webs are transported between hole plates with barbed needles (periodically
penetrate through web, interlocking the fibers) - 3D structure and anisotropy of properties. Web is
released and moved to take- off rolls.
Performance depends of number of needles and frequency of needle board. To reduce thickness, pre-
needling is often needled.
•Stitch bonding method
-Germany and Czechoslovakia,
1950s
-properties similar to needle
punched.
-two systems : bonding by system of
threads and bonding without
threads.
By threads: cross-layered web is
transported to a mechanism to be
bonded by threads.
For a system without threads fibers
are pulled out of the layer creating
bonding bundles.

13. •Spunlaced method (water- jet; hydro entangled; or hydraulically needled)
-More productive but more demanding on energy
-high pressure jets of water entangle and create integrated webs.
Web is carried on the entangling substrate – micro perforated sleeve (placed
on a perforated drum- Honeycomb Shell), water jets entangle fibers. Then
fabric is dried.
The entangling substrates’ pattern determines the result product pattern.

14. 2.2.2. Chemical bonding methods (adhesion bonding)
- adding adhesives in form of polymer dispersions (latex and foamed latex bonding) or
polymer solutions.
The process is consisted of:
•Forming fiber layer
•Application of binder
•Coagulation of binder
•Drying
•Curing
•Polymer dispersions- latex bonding
method
The binder is applied by saturation,
spraying, printing (specific patterns)
etc. Then coagulation takes place
(water evaporation or with
thermosensibilisers- more effective),
the concentration of the adhesive rises
and at a critical level - particles start
bonding. Drying and curing.
•Solution bonding
Process consists of:
forming fiber layer,
saturation,
coagulation, finishing
(drying, spraying,
printing, lacquering,
embossing etc.

15. 2.2.3. Thermal bonding methods
It requires a thermoplastic component as a binder (fiber, powder, film or hot melt) and
controlled heat.
The process consists of:
•Forming fiber layer
•Application of binder by:
depositing; layering up fiber layer and binder netting/ foil; forming layer as blend of
basic and bonding fibers. This is the most important part of the process.
•Melting binder by increasing T
•Forming binder
•Solidification of binder by cooling
Fig.15. Calendering thermal bonding method
Calendering uses heat and high pressure through two
heated rollers to weld the fiber webs together at speed.
Through-air thermal bonding - Carefully controlled hot
air stream is required.
Ultrasonic bonding high frequency energy - internal
heating and softening of the fibers. High loft, softness,
breathability and/or high absorption.
Infrared bonding thermal radiation from heaters caused by
electromagnetic energy radiated in the IR wave length).
Does not penetrate deep into a structure, so for thinner
webs it is not economical.
- Environmental friendly

16. 2.3. Finishing methods
- enhancement and web converting chemical or mechanical methods used for adding
some specific properties:
flame retardant, water repellent, antimicrobial, porous, antistatic, breathable, absorbent,
UV resistance, fluorescence...
Coating
At least two layers (textile fabric and
continuous polymeric layer in liquid form) in a
solvent/ water base, it evaporates off to leave
the polymer behind, applied to one or both
surfaces, filling the air pockets, in contrast
with laminating method.
Laminating
- two or more layers, at least one a
textile fabric, bonded together by
added adhesive, or by the adhesive
properties of one or more of the
component layers. When applying
the adhesive, the fabric retains its
air pockets and the laminate has
fewer points of contact.

17. 3. Characterization of fiber bonding structure
Regarding how are fibers bonded together in order to form the nonwoven structure, they give
specific properties to the fabric.
- made by chemical or thermal fiber bonding.
3.1. Point structure
- open structure of long
segments of bi-component
bonding fibers which are
linking only in crossing
points.
Calendering and hot-air
bonding are usually used -
good air permeability,
high resistance, good
elasticity and low tensile
modulus.
3.2. Agglomerate structure
- Forming agglomerates of a binder from bonding
powders and mono-component bonding fibers,
using calendering and through-air method.
Forming long free fiber segments – voluminous
and elastic fabrics and good properties.
3.3. Segment structure
Typical for dispersion binding. When it spreads on the fiber
surfaces, the forces between them arise and move segments of
fibers creating bundles.
The resulting surface is like the micelle models of crystalline
regions of polymers, and the bigger amount of binder, the thicker
its segments would be. Free segments of fibers are short g- ough
and harsh textiles.

18. 4. Nonwovens global production and production in Turkey
- Most developing and promising sector in the
global textile industry,
According to EDANA/IDNA Estimates
of 2015:
Asia is the leading producer- 42% of
the world’s production in 2014, rising
from 32% in 2004
- production mostly concentrated in
China (66%) biggest nonwovens
global producer ( 2.4 million tonnes).
North America - 2.1 million tonnes in
2014 (increase of 3,9% from 2004
(during the recession period)).
The MENA (Middle Eastern and North
African countries) - 336,000 tonnes;
forecast to reach half a million by 2020
(average growth of 6.6% over the last
decade, predicted to keep growing by
7.1 percent annually through the period
2014-2020)

19. Greater Europe’s production of
nonwovens grew by 4.8% on
average in the decade of 2004-
2014, from 1.3 million to over 2.2
million tonnes in 2014

20. 4.1. Nonwoven production in Turkey
•The production capacity over 110,000 tonnes per year.
•Istanbul, Bursa, Gaziantep, Kocaeli and Tekirdağ are the
major cities in the production.
•more than 150 companies, and the largest are a part of EDANA.
•The major end-user sectors : automotive, packaging, hygiene,
medical supplies, construction, clothing, military, agriculture and
filtration.
•It is one of the leaders in big bag (FIBC - flexible intermediate
bulk container) production (3th in the world ranked in 2015).

21. •Very good infrastructure, strong textile training and research
institutions, a skilled workforce, the availability of raw materials and a
large domestic market. The Scientific & Technological Research
Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) and its organizations, the Marmara
Research Center (MAM) and the Bursa Test and Analysis Laboratory
(BUTAL)- technical, testing and scientific assistance to the sector.
• export of 2015 : nonwovens, big bags (FIBC), tire cord fabrics, textile
fabrics, sacks, bags, packing of strip plastic materials and glass fibers
and articles- exported to The EU (Germany, France, Italy, UK,
Romania, Spain and Poland), the USA, Russian and Egyptian market.
FIBC- flexible intermediate bulk
containers

22. Thank you!