Non-conventional Fabrics

W
eaving, knitting, braiding, lace and felt manufacturing are considered to be
conventional methods of fabric formation. These systems have been
known to man for hundreds, on in some cases, thousands of years. In
every day living many fabrics are encountered which have not been produced by one
of the conventional systems. These fabrics, produced on other than conventional
systems, are classified as non-conventional fabrics. Applications for non-
conventional fabrics are many and varied. Tufted carpeting, disposable garments,
needled blankets, interfacing and flocked fabrics are examples of non-conventional
textiles.

Non-conventional fabrics are divided into two major groups: (a) non-woven
fabrics which are produced by basic fabric forming systems, and (b) other fabrics,
which are made by altering or combining one or more already formed fabrics, and in
this sense the techniques used are not considered basic fabric forming systems.
Such fabrics include tufted, flocked and laminated fabrics.

Non-woven systems and fabrics

Non-woven fabrics include any textile structure produced by bonding

(adhesively or mechanically) fibers, filaments, yarns or combinations of these. There
are two basic methods of non-woven production, the "wet process" which uses paper
making machinery and the "dry web process" which involves the use of carding or air
laying of fibers. Non-woven fabrics are structured to meet the requirements of
particular end uses and have to be produced at a low cost to make them competitive
with corresponding conventional fabrics. The non-woven industry in U.S. has grown
at a much higher rate than the rest of the fabric industry. A growth rate of 15% per
year has been experienced by this segment of the industry.
 In all non-woven processes which utilise
fibers as the basic fabric forming material, the
sequence of operations is usually very much
reduced as compared to weaving or knitting.

This sequence can be divided into four

steps: (1) fiber preparation; (2) web formation; (3)
bonding (including curing if needed); and (4)
finishing.

For the majority of fabrics which are made

from staple fibers, the fiber preparation is very
similar to that of yarn manufacturing that is fiber
Fig 1: Parallel laid web
opening, mixing and sometimes cleaning. From
this process the fibers are delivered to the web forming machine. There are three
types of webs: parallel-laid, cross-laid and random-laid.

Parallel-laid webs are formed by laying a

number of carded webs in the same direction to
obtain the required weight, shown in Figure 1.
Fabrics made from this type of webs will have
properties in the machine direction that differ from
the properties in the machine direction. To reduce
the difference between these two directions,
cross-laid webs are formed by cross lapping
carded webs. Depending on the relative speeds
of the cross lattices, Figure 2, the angle of the
web laying will vary. The angle is determined to
some extent, by the weight of the final web. The
third type is the random-laid or air-laid web which Fig 2: Cross-laid web

is produced by depositing fibers on the surface of a condenser cylinder and then

transferring the web to a screen, as shown by Figure 3. These types of web fabrics
are with nearly isotropic properties.

Chemically or adhesively bonded fabric

Spun-bonded fabrics:
Spun-bonded fabrics are produced by
bonding continuous filaments together after
their extrusion in an integrated process as
shown in Figure 4. The process variables
include polymer type, fiber denier, crimp level,
cross-sectional shape, fiber orientation, web
geometry, type of banding, bond frequency and
post bond treatments.

There are four types that constitute the

major volume of the spun-bonded fabrics. E.I.
Du Pont Co. produces three of these: (a)
Reemay (R), which is made from polyester; (b)
Typar (R), made from polypropylene; and (c) Fig 3: Random web process
Tyvek (R), made from polyethylene. Monsanto
manufactured Cered (R), which is made from nylon.

Reemay (R) and Cerex (R) are normally

used in similar applications and compete with
each other. They are used for interlining,
coating substrates, battery separators,
composites, quilting cover, filtration etc. They
have considerable tensile and tear strengths as
compared to their woven counterparts.

Typar (R) found extreme success as

primary backing for tufted carpets and also in
upholstery. It is in direct competition with woven
jute and woven polypropylene film fabrics in the
Fig 4: Spun-bonded process
tufting industry. It has tremendous strength,
does not rot and provides the necessary dimensional stability.

Tyvek (R) is fairly stiff and mainly found in competition with high grade paper.
It has very high tear strength and is used for tags and labels, wall covering,
packaging, maps, bookcovering etc. A porous type of Tyvek (R) tends to be much
softer and easy to drape which could be used for disposable and limited use apparel.
Thermoplastic fiber or powder bonded fabrics:
This is a group of fabrics which are produced by using a percentage of
thermoplastic fibers blended with the body fiber of the fabric. By the application of,
heat and pressure the thermoplastic fibers will melt and act as the binder between
the body fibers. Thermoplastic powder could also be used instead of the fibers, and
by the application of heat and pressure, the powder melts and bonds the body fibers
together. Percentage of binder to body fiber, the amount of pressure applied and the
temperature used are the main factors in addition to the web structure that determine
the properties of the final fabric.

Solution bonded fabrics:

Bonding agents that are widely used
with solution bonding are acrylic resins in
latex form. Spraying the latex on the web by
spray guns followed by curing tends to give
lofty fabric if calendering is not used. Web
speed and spray gun pressure as well as the
concentration of the latex determine the
percentage binder add-on. Saturation bonding
normally gives a fabric with higher binder
content and accordingly stringer and stiffer
fabric. Figure 5 shows a way of handling the
web through the saturation bonding process.
Fig 5: Saturation bonding
When squeezing rollers are used, the packing
density of the fabric is normally high. To
maintain bulk, suction is used to extract the excess latex.

Print bonding is a process in which the binder is applied to the web according
to a certain pattern, rather than cover the entire area of the fabric. This results in a
much softer hand as compared to saturation or spray bonding. This is due to the
presence of fiber segments which are not bonded and are free to move.

Mechanically bonded fabrics

Felt:
True felt is the oldest known non-woven fabric. It is normally produced from
wool fibers with the application of mechanical action, heat and moisture. The steps
used in the manufacturing of felt are:
(a) Blending or picking of the fibers to ensure homogeneous mix.

(b) Carding and fabricating involving carding and cross-lapping of multiple webs
to provide traverse strength.

(c) Hardening is an operation peculiar to felting. The object of this process is to

give the fibrous web enough strength for handling. This process involves
saturation with steam and mechanical agitation which consolidates the web
and reduces its thickness.

(d) Fulling is a mechanical beating action performed on the felt batt. Fulling
normally increases the fabric thickness and reduces its width.

(e) Finishing involves any of the finishing operations such as dyeing, resin
treatment etc., depending on the end use requirements.

Application for felt include hats, insulation, vibration and noise reduction pads,
filtration, etc.

True felt has been displaced by

woven felt, produced by napping and fulling
woven fabrics, and by needled felt which
will be discussed next.

Needle punched fabrics:

Needle punched fabrics are formed

by penetrating barbed needles through a
fibrous mat, Figure 6. The needle barbs
push fibers from the surface of the mat
inside the structure thus creating tension
which increases the packing density of the
fabric. The embedded fibers will be trapped
Fig 6: Needle Punching
by the surrounding fibers resulting in a
three-dimensional structure of mechanically interlocked fibers. Fibers produced from
fibers only are normally weak and not dimensionally stable. This drawback is usually
overcome by the use of a supporting scrim which may consist of yarns of fabric.
Needling is normally done on both sides of the "sandwich" and in many cases more
than once for every side. Fabrics of this type are used for filtrating, papermakers felt,
indoor-outdoor carpets, etc.

Fiber woven fabrics are produced by using needle punching, except that in
this case two boards are used to needle from both sides of the fibrous mat at a
certain angle. Needling is done consecutively by the two needle boards. In this way,
the entanglements made by one set of needles are interlaced with the entanglements
made by the other set of needles. The most common application of such fabrics is as
blankets.

The parameters involved in manufacturing this type of fabric in addition to the

web characteristics are: needle size, needle penetration, number of barbs per
needle, fabric feed, needling speed and the needle density on the board. The latter
three parameters determine the number of punches per unit area which is very
important in affecting the properties of the fabric produced.

Stitch bonded fabrics:

There is a very wide range of fabrics

which are produced by this technology. The
stitch bonding technology is also known as
knitting through. In the most common cases it
involves warp knitting of yarns through a
fibrous mat. It can also be knitting of fibers
without yarns or knitting of yarns around laid
warp and filling yarns which do not interlace
with each other.

Arachne(R) and Maliwatt(R) fabrics are

produced by knitting yarns through a fibrous
Fig 7: Stitch Bonding
mat. In this case the fibrous mat is fed to the
knitting zone where the needles penetrate through the fibrous mat as shown in
Figure 7. The knitting yarn can be taken from one or two warp beams. The machines
used are capable to high production speeds and good construction fabrics can be
produced. Most of these fabrics are used as blankets, floor covering, insulation,
interlining and upholstery.
 Arankit(R) is a type of fabric which is
produced by knitting the fibers together
without the use of warp. These fabrics are
used as coating substrate.

Malimo(R) technology produces fabrics

made from three sets of yarns: warp, filling
(without interlacing) and stitching yarns, as
shown by Figure 8. In this case, because the
warp and filling are fastened to each other by
stitching, shedding and beat up are not
needed. Thus much higher speeds than
weaving can be achieved. The number of
Fig 8: Malimo fabric
filling yarns per stitch can be varied, but is
difficult to control. These fabrics are used as table covers, drapes, vegetable bags,
dishcloths and some outerwear.

Spunlaced fabrics:
Spunlaced fabrics represent another non-woven structure which is
manufactured by using jets of swirling water to push fibers into the mat and create
mechanical interlocking somewhat similar to that of needle punching. Due to the light
weight and lack of binders, these fabrics tend to be soft and drape able. Spunlaced
fabrics are considered a very large step in improving the hand and the appearance of
a non-woven fabric.

Tufting
Tufting is a method by means of which
looped piles or cut piles are inserted into a
base fabric. The process was first utilised only
in the manufacture of carpets, but tufted
fabrics have been used in many other areas.
Unlike woven pile fabrics, the pile yarns in
tufted fabrics do not interlace with the ground
Fig 9: Standard cut pile yarns. In manufacture, the pile yarns,
machine
threaded in needles, penetrate the backing
cloth. On the face side, the yarn is held by a looper which prevents it from being
withdrawn when the needle recedes as shown in Figure 9. The loop height depends
upon the rate of yarn feed. Many types of yarns can be used for the pile such as
wool, cotton, viscose, acetate, nylon or polyester. The backing cloth must be
sufficiently firm otherwise it might become distorted during processing. Jute was the
main fiber used to produce woven fabrics for backing cloth. Recently there has been
a trend to use other fibers and to use non-woven fabrics. The backing cloth must hold
the yarn loops firmly enough during processing, but the permanent anchoring is
achieved by applying a layer of adhesive on the backside of the tufted fabric. In many
cases a secondary backing is also used.

Flocking

Flocking is the application of short

fibers, natural or synthetic, to a base fabric
coated with adhesive. The fibers are usually
perpendicular to the fabric which produces a
velvet-like effect. There are two main
methods of flocking, (1) mechanical and (2)
electrostatic. The principal fibers being used
are cotton, rayon and nylon, although it is
possible to use other fibers. Flock is available
as either precision or random cut. The
average length of fiber in the flock normally
Fig 10: Beater bar flocking
varies between 0.015" and 0.200". The short
flock usually has finer denier and is used for suedes. The long flock which is much
coarser is mainly used for carpets. Besides the difference in length and denier, flock
is available in its natural color or dyed. There are many types of adhesives available,
such as acrylic emulsions. In flocking applications it is necessary to thicken the
emulsion polymer to avoid excessive penetration of the adhesive into the fabric
substrate. The adhesive should for the most part be on the surface so as to be
available to anchor the flock. There are three methods generally used for the
application of the flocking adhesive:

(1) Knife coating resulting in a continuous overall coating.

(2) Print roll application which results in the application of stripe, blotch or similar
pattern.

(3) Screen printing which is used for applying decorative patterns.

Figures 10 and 11 show mechanical or beater

bar and electrostatic flocking machines.

Laminated and bonded fabrics

Fabric composites have become widely

used in many forms. Fabric to fabric bonding is
used to achieve good properties by using two
low quality fabrics. Stability can be given to light
weight, open construction woven or knitted
fabrics by bonding them to a warp knit tricot
Fig 11: Electrostatic flocking
fabric. In this way, bonding creates a unique
group of textiles which cannot be produced by any other method as economically.
There are two techniques used to produce
this type of fabric: foam-flame bonding, shown
in Figure 12, and wet adhesive bonding,
shown in Figure 13. Wet adhesive bonded
fabrics normally have better quality than foam
bonded fabrics.
Wet adhesive bonding

In this case a water soluble acrylic

base adhesive is coated on the back of the
face fabric which is then joined to the liner.
The fabric is then passed through a first stage
of heating which expels the solvents and
creates a preliminary bond known as "green
Fig 12: Foam flame bonding tack". The fabric then passes through a
second heating stage which creates a strong
permanent bond to stand washing and dry cleaning.
Foam-flame bonding

The adhesive used in this process is

polyurethane foam. By applying a gas flame
to the fame, it is burned off and becomes
tacky on one side so that it then adheres to
the face or first fabric as passage occurs
through the rollers.

The combination is then cooled and

flame is applied to the other side of the
foam causing it to become tacky and
adhere to a second, liner, fabric. The
tension control and the flame control are
two main factors to be carefully considered.
Fig 13: Wet adhesive bonding
The method is sometimes used to provide a
backing for light weight fabrics.

The two previous systems are not usually considered fabric forming systems,
but as finishing processes.

# Dr. Himadri Panda

&
# Dr. (Mrs.) Rakshinda Panda
Devashish Consultants (P) Ltd.
61, West End City,
Bidholia, Rampur Road,
P.O. Clutterbuckganj - 243502
Bareilly (UP)