How can you identify a non-woven fabric?
Non-woven fabrics can be identified through various methods. Compared to materials like knitted or woven fabrics, non-woven fabrics are moisture-resistant, breathable, and flexible, making their identification quite a skill. There are many types of non-woven fabrics, which can be used to make medical masks, face masks, dry and wet wipes, among other things. The applications of this material are also extensive.
How to identify various types of non-woven fabrics?
1. Hand and Visual Test Method
This testing method is quick and effective, requiring no specialized microscope or magnifying glass. It only involves touching the fabric with your hands and visually inspecting it. The following are the specific details of the hand and visual test method:
- Cotton fibers are shorter and finer compared to bast fibers like flax and wool, and they often contain impurities and defects.
- Bast fibers like flax have a rough and hard texture.
- Wool fibers are curly and elastic.
- Silk fibers are long, thin, and have a special luster.
- Among chemical fibers, only viscose fibers exhibit a significant difference in dry and wet strength.
- Spandex has high elasticity and can stretch to more than five times its length at room temperature.
2. Microscopic Observation
Microscopic observation allows for the identification of different types of non-woven fabrics by observing their longitudinal and cross-sectional characteristics, as well as the non-woven fibers. Here are the specific methods for microscopic observation:
- Cotton fibers: Cross-section shape: round or oval; Longitudinal shape: flat, naturally twisted.
- Bast fibers (flax, jute, ramie): Cross-section shape: round or polygonal with cavities; Longitudinal shape: cross-sections, longitudinal lines.
- Wool fibers: Cross-section shape: round or nearly round, some have medullary parts; Longitudinal shape: scales on the surface.
- Rabbit hair fibers: Cross-section shape: dumbbell-shaped, with medullary parts; Longitudinal shape: scales on the surface.
- Silk fibers: Cross-section shape: irregular triangle; Longitudinal shape: smooth and straight with longitudinal stripes.
- Regular viscose fibers: Cross-section shape: serrated, core-sheath structure; Longitudinal shape: longitudinal grooves.
- Acetate fibers: Cross-section shape: tri-lobed or irregular serrated; Longitudinal shape: longitudinal stripes.
- Fibers rich and tough: Cross-section shape: less serrated, or round, oval; Longitudinal shape: smooth surface.
How to differentiate types of non-woven fabrics?
There are many types of non-woven fabrics, including spunlace non-woven fabric, spunbond non-woven fabric, meltblown non-woven fabric, etc. Next, I will explain the differences between each type of non-woven fabric and their manufacturing processes. Please refer to the following:
Spunlace Non-woven Fabric: Fibers are entangled and strengthened by high-pressure water jets.
Thermal Bonded Non-woven Fabric: Hot melt adhesive is added to the web, and the fibers are bonded by heat.
Wet-laid Non-woven Fabric: Wood pulp fibers are fixed on the mesh curtain using air flow technology, forming a high-strength fabric.
Wet-laid Non-woven Fabric: Fiber raw materials are placed in a water medium, forming a fiber suspension, which is then wet-laid and reinforced.
Spunbond Non-woven Fabric: Polymer is extruded into continuous filaments, which are then laminated and reinforced to form a fabric.
Meltblown Non-woven Fabric: Polymer is melted and extruded into fibers, which are then cooled, laid, and reinforced.
Needle-punched Non-woven Fabric: The web is reinforced into a fabric through needle-punching action.
Stitch-bonded Non-woven Fabric: Non-woven materials are reinforced into a fabric through weaving structures and yarn layers.
Conclusion:
There are two methods for distinguishing non-woven fabrics. By using these methods, one can roughly identify the types of non-woven fabrics. Each type of non-woven fabric has different manufacturing processes, and the differences between different types of non-woven fabrics have been explained. This facilitates a better understanding of the specific distinctions and variations among different types of non-woven fabrics.