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Performance Nonwovens

Kao Corp of Tokyo, Japan, has revealed details of a technique for making bulky sheet materials.
In the first of a series of regular articles, Adrian Wilson examines the use of highperformance nonwovens in niche industrial applications.
With increased competition and specialization in the nonwovens industry,the current business environment favours a shift from small,individual firms to groups of companies formed either through merger
A kind of blended fibre material for singe-use applications has been developed by Procter & Gamble Ltd, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
Two precursor webs can be laminated to form a nonwoven that behaves like terry fabric, according to International Patent WO 2004/059061.
Kimberley-Clark Worldwide Inc has patented a way of making a web of aliphatic polyester that has sufficient tear strength for a variety of purposes, as well as being biodegradable.
Corovin GmbH of Peine,Germany, has found a way to make a spunbond nonwoven comprising exceptionally fine filaments.
Orlandi SpA of Milan, Italy, had developed a system for making nonwovens using splittable fibres.
Using fibres with latent crimp,DuPont says it has developed a nonwoven characterized by a high stretch recovery.
A filament nonwoven based on polylactic acid fibres has been developed in Japan by Unitika Ltd.
Invista Technologies of Wilmington, Delaware, USA, has developed a new type of stitchbonded fabric.
DuPont says it has succeeded in developing a nonwoven with a balance of properties in the machine and crossmachine directions (MD/CD) that also has high bulk.
A nonwoven that has a higher tensile strength but is safe to use,can be flushed away,disperses easily and finally biodegrades is described in European Patent EP 1 589 138.
Three partners have developed a nonwoven with reversible thermal control and have now disclosed their invention in International Patent WO 02/12607.
Sweden's SCA Hygiene Products AB claims to have found a better way to add softening and/or debonding agents to hydroentangled fabrics.
A hydroentangled nonwoven in which the entanglement is greater on the outer surface than the inner is the subject of US Patent 6 852 654, assigned to the Polymer Group Inc.
A Swedish company has patented a process for producing airborne fibres for subsequent conversion to nonwoven fabrics.
A method and equipment for making hydroentangled nonwovens is the subject of US Patent 6 842 953.
A nonwoven with low tensile and high elongation properties in a specific direction - say the crossmachine direction (CD) - and high tensile and low elongation characteristics in the perpendicular sens
The Nonwovens Network was founded to help push the boundaries of applications for nonwovens--exploring future,as well as consolidating current,markets.Ian Holme reports from the Network's 1st Internat
SIA Abrasives Industries AG of Frauenfeld, Switzerland, has developed an abrasive material based on a nonwoven and claims its fabric has a number of unique physical characteristics and properties.
Since the advent of stitch-bonding there has been a problem of adding design to fabrics which, essentially, are plain structures.Now a technique that offers the possibility of introducing a pattern in
One of the most important and rapidly advancing sectors of the textile industry was the subject of debate at The 6th Nonwovens Network Seminar held in Bradford,UK.
A film-fibril plexifilamentary sheet that demonstrates improved balances between softness and toughness, as well as air permeability and liquid barrier resistance, is the focus of work by DuPont.
A composite nonwoven intended for the production of hygienic products is the subject of US Patent 6 836 938.
International Patent WO 03/069030 describes a novel system of creating an insulating composite by loading it with microspheres.
Biodegradable nonwovens that are easy to process, have fluid-management properties and are absorbent are the subject of Kimberly-Clark Worldwide Inc's latest patent.
A system for collecting and managing the air discharged during a melt-spinning process is the subject of US Patent 6 799 957.
A Japanese company has developed a nonwoven based on fluoro-resin fibres that it claims displays excellent mechanical characteristics.
A nonwoven designed specifically as an ink-absorber for ink-jet printers has been developed in the USA.
A nonwoven made of a combination of fluoropolymer and, say,aramid flocs is the subject on International Patent WO 03/010385.
An Israeli inventor,Akiva Pinto of Jerusalem, claims to have invented a better way of forming fibre webs.
US-based Procter & Gamble Co is developing ways of making nonwovens that contain apertures and have high degrees of elongation.
A US company claims to have devised a way to make nonwoven pads with convoluted surfaces.
Polymer Group Inc (PGI) has developed what it claims is an extremely lightweight nonwoven with an abrasive surface and high absorbency.
A filament nonwoven with greater strength in the cross-machine direction (CD) is the subject of European Patent EP 1 382 731.
An Italian has invented a nonwoven that develops an electrostatic charge to attract and retain dust, and can indicate when it is saturated.
A low-density nonwoven offering good thermal and acoustic insulation is the subject of US Patent 6 579 396.
One of the largest nonwovens manufacturers in the USA, Polymer Group Inc, has developed a dual purpose material that it believes has potential as an industrial wipe.
A heat-treated nonwoven based on crimped homofilaments is the subject of International Patent WO 02/05725.
An absorbent article for use in sanitary protection, hygiene and bandage applications has been developed by Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products.
A nonwoven structure that incorporates stabilized filament assemblies is the subject of International Patent WO 00/63479.
A flexible matrix of pyrolysed carbon fibres is suitable for use as the substrate for a fuel cells electrode, according to its US inventor.
A UK company has patented a variation of the traditional approach to making spunbond fabrics.
BBA Nonwovens Simpsonville Inc has developed a process to make a multi-component spunbond fabric
Carl Freudenberg has developed a method for making lightweight triboelectrically charged nonwovens for use in filter media.
US inventors have disclosed a method based on hydroentanglement for forming durable nonwovens with patterns and images.
A US company has invented a system for converting a thick web of nonwoven fabric into a contoured material.
A way of continuously making a complicated nonwoven is the subject of European Patent EP 1 246 958.
A nonwoven fabric in which the fibre density varies between strips of relatively high density and strips of relatively low density is disclosed in International Patent 01 12888 by First Quality Nonwov
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