Manufacturing Processes of Nonwovens
Nonwovens are manufactured by different processes, such as:
Dry Laid Process: Involves laying down fibers onto a moving conveyor belt, followed by mechanical or thermal bonding. Methods include carding (aligning fibers), air lay (dispersing fibers in an airstream), or spunbond (extruding molten polymer through fine nozzles).
Wet Laid Process: Fibers are suspended in a liquid slurry which is laid onto a moving conveyor belt, forming a web through drainage and subsequent bonding. This method allows for the inclusion of a wider range of fiber types and sizes.
Meltblown Process: Utilizes high-velocity air streams to attenuate molten polymer into fine fibers, which are then randomly deposited onto a collector. The resulting web is subsequently bonded to form a nonwoven fabric.
Needle Punching: Involves mechanically interlocking fibers using barbed needles, imparting strength and cohesion to the fabric.
Spunlace: In this hydroentanglement process, high-pressure jets of water entangle and interlock the fibers, creating a cohesive, high-quality fabric structure.
Finishing and converting are the last operations performed on the fabric before it is delivered to the customer. Finishing includes operations such as coating and laminating, calendaring, and embossing to impart particular surface properties, corona and plasma treatments to change the wetting properties of the fabric, wet chemical treatments to impart anti-static properties, antimicrobial properties, flame-retardant properties, etc.
Pyradia manufactures several machines for the nonwovens industry, such as thermoforming equipment, trough-air dryers, unwinds, winders and more.
