What Are the Types of Nonwovens?

The first written definition of nonwoven fabrics came from the American Society for Testing and materials in 1962 which defined them as “textile fabrics made of carded web or fiber web held together by adhesives.” Currently, INDA, the association of the nonwoven fabrics industry, defines a nonwoven as “sheet or web structures bonded together by entangling fiber or filaments (and by perforating films) mechanically, thermally or chemically. These substrates are flat, porous sheets that are made directly from separate fibers or from molten plastic or plastic film. They are not made by weaving or knitting and do not require converting the fibers to yarn (INDA).
 
Technical definitions express the fundamental basis for the nonwoven processes, but due to the wide variety of production techniques, a general description of nonwoven fabrics is not enough. As with woven or knitted fabrics, each process possesses unique characteristics. The resulting fabrics do not have much in common aside from being categorized as nonwoven. Nonwoven components such as; fiber selection, web formation, bonding, and finishing techniques can be altered to manipulate fabric p