College of Textiles College of Textiles North Carolina State University North Carolina State University 2401 Research Drive

2401 Research Drive Raleigh, NC 27695-8301 Raleigh, NC 27695-8301 Phone: 919-515-6551 Phone: 919-515-6551 FAX: 919-515-4556 FAX: 919-515-4556 URL: http://wwwncrc.ncsu.edu URL: http://wwwncrc.ncsu.edu EMAIL: nonwovens@ncsu.edu EMAIL: nonwovens@ncsu.edu Director: Director: Behnam Pourdeyhimi Behnam Pourdeyhimi Emeritus Director/Founder: Emeritus Director/Founder: Subhash Batra Subhash Batra Associate Directors: Associate Directors: Don Shiffler Don Shiffler Rory Holmes Rory Holmes Administrative Assistant: Administrative Assistant: Alicia Ford Alicia Ford Pilot Labs: Pilot Labs: Sherwood Wallace Sherwood Wallace Analytical Labs: Analytical Labs: Amy Minton Amy Minton

Ind ust ry

State of NC

NONWOVENS COOPERATIVE SU RESEARCH CENTER NC

NC State University

New Directions in Nonwovens Technologies

April 2003
Behnam Pourdeyhimi Professor and Director Nonwovens Cooperative Research Center

Participating Universities
Auburn Clemson Georgia Tech. North Carolina State University Loughborough University of Tennessee University of Georgia UMass Dartmouth

Nonwovens?
Nonwovens are Engineered Fabrics Nonwovens are manufactured by high-speed, low-cost processes Large Volume, Low Cost Nonwovens are in many applications already, but most are hidden and you do not see them

Copyright, B. Pourdeyhimi, NCSU, 2002

Copyright, B. Pourdeyhimi, NCSU, 2002

The US Nonwovens Industry

Nonwovens are growing at a significant rate The US is the largest market for nonwovens The US industry is composed of over 550 firms
employment: in excess of 160,000 annual sales: over $40 billion

The US industry leads the world in nonwovens technology and production The firms are typically small
median employment: 75 annual sales: $7.5 million
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The US Nonwovens Firms

Roll goods manufacturers
BBA, Freudenberg, PGI

Raw material suppliers

DuPont, Goulston, Wellman, FiberVisions

Machinery manufacturers
Fleissner, Nordson, Hills

Downstream processors
Kimberly Clark, P&G

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The Core US Nonwovens Firms

Core nonwovens firms are located in 32 states and the District of Columbia. North Carolina has the largest number of core nonwoven firms.
State North Carolina Massachusetts Georgia New York South Carolina New Jersey Michigan Virginia Number of Firms 29 17 12 12 10 8 6 3

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Economic Impact on North Carolina

Category Core Nonwovens Suppliers Associated Firms Total Number of Firms
29 18 50

Total Employees
4,073 4,017 7,498

Total Sales $MM

1,239 765 1,161

97

15,588

3,165

Forty of North Carolinas one hundred counties have at least one commercial nonwoven related facility located in them.

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Worldwide Nonwoven Production

Rest of World .16 m. tons 5% Middle East .17 m. tons 4% Asia-Pacific .64 m. tons 17% L. America .24 m. tons 6% W. Europe 1.1 m. tons 30% N. America 1.2 m. tons 30% Japan .34 m tons 8%

Source: INDA

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Worldwide Outlook Nonwovens Roll Goods Production

Quantity Dollars (billions) Square Meters (billions) Tons (millions) 1991 8.2 41.0 1.86 1996 10.8 61.0 2.63 2001 14.1 93.0 3.85 2006 20.2 140.0 5.63 Growth Rate 1991-2001 5.5 % 8.6 % 7.5 % Growth Rate 2001-2006 7.5 % 8.5 % 7.6 %

Source: INDA

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Worldwide Nonwoven Production 000,000 Tons

Region N. America, Europe, Japan Latin America Asia-Pacific Middle East Rest of World Total 1991 1.5 .09 .22 .04 .06 1.9 1996 1.8 .17 46 .08 .11 2.6 2001 2.6 .24 .64 .17 .16 3.9 2006 3.6 0.4 1.1 0.4 0.3 5.6 Growth Rate 1991-2001 6.4 % 10.3 % 11.2 % 15.6 % 10.5 % 7.5 % Growth Rate 2001-2006 6.2 % 8.5 % 10.7 % 15.0 % 11.3 % 7.6 %

Source: INDA

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Worldwide Nonwoven Production 000 Tons

Category SpunMelt Carded Air Laid Wet Laid Total 1991 486 1,182 92 102 1,862 2001 1,444 1,964 276 161 3,845 Forecast 2006 2,229 2,632 567 202 5,630 Growth Rate 1991-2001 11.6 % 5.2 % 11.6 % 4.7 % 7.5 % Growth Rate 2001-2006 9.0 % 6.2 % 15.5 % 4.6 % 7.6 %

Source: INDA

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SpunMelt Growth
Category Spunbond (and SM Composites) Polypropylene Polyester Polyethylene, Nylon, Other Total Spunbond/Composites Melt Blown Polypropylene Other Resins Total Melt Blown 13.1 % 7.0 % 13.0 % 9.1 % 7.0 % 9.0 % 14.7 % 5.4 % 5.7 % 11.4 % 10.3 % 5.2 % 5.0 % 9.0 % 10 Year Growth 1991-2001 Expected Growth 2001-2006

Source: INDA

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Bonding Technologies
Category Needle Punched Spunlaced Thermal/Resin Bonded 10 Year Growth 1991-2001 5.8 13.3 2.6 Expected Growth 2001-2006 6.1 10.4 4.0

Source: INDA

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Fiber & Resin Consumption Millions of Tons

Staple Fibers Polypropylene Polyester Rayon Bico, Fiberglass, Other Synthetics Cotton Wood Pulp Other Natural Fibers Total Fibers SpunMelt Resins Polypropylene Polyester Nylon, Polyethylene, Bico, Others Total Resins 2001 870 560 230 280 60 390 <20 2,410 2001 1,180 270 120 1,570 2006 1,180 770 310 370 70 760 <30 3,490 2006 1,930 360 150 2,440
Source: INDA
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Nonwoven Products
Todays nonwovens are highly engineered solutions made up of a variety of materials including fibers, powders, particles, adhesives, films and other materials that provide specific solution or solutions by providing a multitude of functionalities.

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Major Trends
Materials
Permanently Hydrophilic Polypropylene/Polyesters New sustainable materials PLA, Bio PET, Kenaf Bicomponent Staple Fibers Innovative SpunMelt Bicomponent meltblown/spunbond products High speed/high volume processing Carding New Innovative/Combined processes Coform Surface treatments Coatings/laminations Composites Coforms

Processes

Post-Processes

Product Innovations

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Functionalizing Surfaces
Topical Finishes
staple fibers (typically done by fiber producer) SpunMelt fabrics require an added step in the process Atmospheric plasma Cold Plasma Electron Beam

Surface Modifications

Increased Surface Area Melt Additives

staple fibers SpunMelt fabrics

Smaller Fibers Micro and Nano Fibers

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Enabling Technologies
The major innovations in products will be based on:
Materials New innovative (sustainable) materials Bicomponent/multi-component fiber technologies Processes New innovative processes Apex, Co-forms Products Composites

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Why Bicomponent Fibers?

To utilize the properties of two polymers To exploit capabilities not existing in each of the individual polymers To improve the material performance suitable for specific needs by tailoring one or more properties with minimal sacrifice of other properties To bring about multifunctional properties without the loss of mechanical properties
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Classification
Side-by-side Sheath-core Segmented-pie Islands-in-the-sea Tipped Segmented-ribbon
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Increased Surface Area Segment-Pie: Splitting by Carding

Card-splittable fiber before splitting

Card-splittable fiber after carding

Ref: Middlebrooks, M. C.

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Increased Surface Area Evolon The Next Generation

i Evolon is a newly patented,

award winning method for manufacturing

Ref: Freudenberg
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Evolon The Technology

16 Sector PIE ~ 0.1 dtex

2 Sector S/S ~ 1 dtex

microfilament fabrics

Ref: Freudenberg
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Increased Surface Area How About Nano Fibers?

Electrospinning
10 to 200 nm 500 nm to 10 m
Surface Area (m2/g)

Meltblowing Bicomponent fibers

200 nm to 1000 nm

104 103 102 101 100 10-1 10-2 10-3

Electrospun fibers Single and Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes Textile Micro and Nano Fibers Conventional Fibers

Bicomponent Fibers in spunbonding Bicomponent Fibers in meltblowing

Diameter of Human Hair

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

Fiber Diameter (m)

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Engineering the Product Composites

Composite Nonwovens (CN) are made:
from 2 or more fibers Homogeneous blends and gradients Layered structures from fibers and particulates from 2 or more layers with at least one being a nonwoven

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CN Made From Fibers & Filaments Examples

Thinsulate from 3M composed of large fibers + sub-denier fibers Synthetic leather composed of Spunlaced splittable fibers

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Spunbond+Spunlace - Hydroknit (KC)

Pulp Fiber Dispersion
er Lay er

Head Box

Composite Fabric
p Pu l

Fib

in orm F

ric Fab g

ent ilam us F eb W inuo Cont unbond Sp

Hydroentangling Unit

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Apertured Nonwoven Fabrics

(US 6,025,050, BBA Nonwovens)

Card# 1 Polymer film Card# 2

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Layered Composites Examples

Spunlaced fabrics made of wood pulp and synthetic fibers
Tissues paper layered on top of carded web prior to hydroentanglement Fabric has one side rich in wood pulp fiber Treatment is added to wood pulp fibers to achieve barrier properties

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CN With Particulates
Nonwovens where particulates are bonded to the fiber or filament with an adhesive ( e.g. Abrasive pad where abrasive particulates are bonded to the fibers with a latex. Same approach has been used for carbon black)

Copyright, B. Pourdeyhimi, NCSU, 2002

CN With Particulates
Nonwovens made up of bicomponent fibers, where the outer layer is melted to form bonds between the fibers and between the fibers and the particulates.

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Let us summarize.

Materials Trends
Natural (Green) Materials
Kenaf, Hemp, Jute, Cotton, Pulp,

Bio Materials
P&Gs PET

Renewable (Green) Resources

PLA Cargill/Dow Kenaf Greene National Fibers

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Fabric Manufacturing Trends

Faster, more efficient processes More versatile processes New innovative multiple processes
IN THE WORLD OF COMMODITY PRODUCTS, THE ONE WHO MAKES IT FASTEST AND CHEAPEST WINS

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Product Trends
More engineered solutions multi-functional products will emerge by using:
Composites Laminates Finishes/treatments Coforms

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Potentials for Growth

90 80 Market Penetration (%) 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
N. Am er i c S. Af ric a a As ia Am eri ca S. Eu rop Ja pa n e

Fem Hy Diapers Med Fab Ind App

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W.

Technology Usage
70 Technology Usage (%) 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
As ia S. Am eri ca ca a n e N. Am er i c Eu rop Ja pa S. Af ri Ea s t

SpunMelt SL NP/Card Other

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Mi dd

W.

le

Regional Growth Potential

14 12 Growth (%) 10 8 6 4 2 0
ide N. Am er i c Am eri ca S. Eu ro rld w Ja pa Af ric a S. a As ia pe n

2000-2005

Wo

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W.

Outlook For Future

Opportunity for current and new players Over one-third of new growth will come from emerging economies - growth will be proportional to the GDP N. America, W. Europe & Japan will continue to dominate the nonwoven markets S. America & Asia will become significant players over the next five years

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