Non-woven textiles are defined as flat structured fabrics such as felt or sheets which are neither woven nor knit. Production of nonwovens basically requires three basic steps
Fiber blending, web formation using extrusion, air laid, wet laid or carded web and fiber bonding for greater strength and functionality, using thermal, chemical and/or mechanical techniques. Non-woven are typically not strong, but such inter-fiber friction results in a strong fabrics and do not stretch.
The non-woven materials under these processes are widely used in numerous applications, including: Hygiene, filters, Medicals, technical, geotextiles and others like composites, disposable clothing, transportation wrapping, carpets backing, both primary and secondary, pillows, cushions and upholstery padding.
Non woven textiles are usually used as either durable or disposable. Nonwovens used as house wraps to prevent water infiltration are durable nonwovens. Nonwovens used as facings on baby diapers are disposable or single use nonwoven.
The nonwoven textiles end-uses likely to show the best growths are hygiene absorbent products (notably nappies or diapers), medical textiles, vehicle textiles, shoe components and artificial leather, as well as new miscellaneous niche markets.
Nonwoven textiles are relatively inexpensive to manufacture, easy to cut and offer a wider range of design and “sewing” options than woven fabrics. As a result, production of non-woven apparel items may lend itself to production labor requiring less training than workers in production of woven apparel.
In earlier nonwoven textile markets, there was a greater use of nylon and since 1998 there has been a rise in the consumption of acrylic micro fibers, especially in the development of artificial leathers. Nowadays, non-woven materials are mainly produced from man-made fibers. Polypropylene and polyester (mainly PET) are the two synthetic polymers which dominate the market.
At present manmade fibers dominate nonwovens production (99% of total) and the situation is unlikely to change markedly in the period to 2007. World usage of fibers in nonwoven production is 63% polypropylene, 23% polyester, 8% viscose rayon, 2% acrylic, 1.5% polyamide and 3% other specialty fibers.
The nonwoven textile industry has made dramatic technical and commercial progress in recent years. Within the overall technical textiles, non-woven textiles is expected to grow globally at an average 8%, with the Asia-Pacific region being projected to show a vigorous 9.6% annual growth rate between now and 2009. Production of nonwovens textiles is still strenuous in the USA (41% of world total) West Europe (30%) and Japan (8%). China produces 3.5% and the rest of the world 17.5%.
China intends to produce 7% of the world total to the rest of the world’s 21% to become a dominating force in nonwoven among the Asia-Pacific region and the third largest nonwoven producing region after USA and Europe because of life-style changes, the rising middle-class and its economy by 2007. While, India’s total volume of non-woven production is estimated at 35,000 tons. The rising market potential is likely to push non-woven production to 6.31 million tons in 2009
The nonwoven industry consumption rate is also increasing at a high level with the growth of emerging industries in regions such as China, Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. The regional distribution of consumption differs from that of production, which entails substantial trade between the West (West Europe and the US) and the rest of the world. This applies to both roll goods and finished nonwoven textiles.
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