Novelties in the Field of Nonwovens and Technical Textiles

Abstract

An overview of the production of nonwovens and technical textiles as well as of some major technical manufacturing novelties is given. The area of the fastest development in the textile field encompasses nonwovens and technical textiles. The average growth of nonwovens for the period from 1987 to 2002 amounted to 9.0 %. Nonwovens are predominantly manufactured in West Europe and North America. The chief methods of web manufacturing in Europe are mechanical process on cards and chemical spun laid process. The well known process of spunlacing AquaJet-Spunlace spreads out over several fields. New technological lines for manufacturing composites from 2 or 3 layers are introduced. A significant technological novelty is the elliptical motion of the needle bed by needling the web that can be used for each needling procedure. Another significant technological novelty in needling the web is the principle of the curved line of the needle penetration that is achieved by means of the asymmetric curve of the needling zone and linear vertical needle motion. Thermal web bonding is an important and great competition to web bonding by chemical binders. The basic characteristic of the world markets for technical textiles is a permanent growth of production and application areas. Rising importance is most often connected with the development of man-made fibres, especially high strength fibres. Demands on the production of technical textiles are huge, ranging from less sophisticated application areas, e.g. in civil engineering such as building of roads, railways, tunnels, to highly sophisticated application areas for medical devices, filters, artificial blood vessels and specific demands for military purposes. The overview of some modem requirements of protective technical textiles used for specific military purposes confirms the complexity and interdisciplinary quality of technical textiles.