MODULE 3: WEB BONDING PROCESSES

3.1 Mechanical Bonding Processes

3.1.1 Needlepunching process

Principle
Needlepunching is a nonwoven process by which the fibres are mechanically
entangled to produce a nonwoven fabric by repeated penetration of barbed needles
through a preformed dry fibrous web. The machine which accomplishes this process
is known as needle loom. Figure 3.1 displays the schematic diagram of a needle loom.
The fibrous web, which is unbonded and therefore thick and voluminous, is fed to the
machine by a pair of feed rollers. It then goes to the working zone of the machine and

Figure 3.1

passes in-between a pair of perforated bed plates. The needles are arranged in a needle
board in width-wise rows. The needle board is mounted on a beam which is given an
up and down reciprocating motion by means of an eccentric crank mechanism. In the
down stroke mode, the needles descend through the perforations of the top bed plate,
through the web, and through the perforations of the bottom bed plate. During the
upstroke, the barbed needles withdraw upwards and the bed plate strips the web off
the needles. As a result, the fibres are mechanically interlocked, thereby providing the
mechanical strength. The needle bonded nonwoven is delivered by a pair of delivery
rollers.

Needle

53
 Needles are the heart of the needlepunching process. The schematic diagram
of a typical needle is shown in Figure 3.2. As shown, a needle has the following parts:
crank, shank, taper, blade, barb, and point. The shank locates in the hole in the
needleboard and the crank is clamped between upper surface of the needleboard and
the needlebeam, thus holding it firmly and vertically aligned in the loom.
Traditionally, the cross-section of a needle is triangular and carries a total of nine
barbs, three per apex. The dimensions of the barbs and their relative arrangement vary
depending on the application and machine operation.
In general, the nonwoven industry uses two types of needles, known as single
reduction needle and double reduction needle.
They are shown
in Figure 3.3.
The single
reduction needle
has two
sections, shank
and blade. But
the double
reduction needle
has an
intermediate
section in-
between the
shank and the
blade. This is a
transition stage
between the
different
diameters of the
shank and the
blade. The
Figure 3.2
single reduction
needle is much Figure 3.3

stiffer than the double reduction needle. The single reduction needle is usually made

54
only for coarser gauge needles. The single reduction needle is used for stiff fibres
(waste fibres, shoddy, etc.)

Figure 3.4

Figure 3.5

55
 Figure 5.5

The barb is known to be the main working component of a needle. The schematic
diagram of a barb along with its important parts is shown in Figure 3.4. A barb is
characterized primarily by kick-up, spacing, angle, and depth. As far as the kick-up is
concerned, there exist high kick-up (‘K’ barb), low kick-up (‘NK’ barb), and no kick-
up (‘B’ barb). These barbs are shown in Figure 3.5. The fibre carrying capacity
decreases from ‘K’ barb to ‘NK’ barb to ‘B’ barb. Based on the spacing, the barbs are
categorized by regular barb (RB), medium barb (MB), close barb (CB), and high
density barb (HDB). These barbs are shown in Figure 5.6. The high density barb
provides maximum aggressive punching, followed by the close barb, medium barb,
and regular barb. At the same time, the surface of the fabric is found to be maximum
uneven with the high density barb, followed by the close barb, medium barb, and
regular barb. There exist barbs with different angles, as shown in Figure 3.6. It is
generally known that the higher is the angle the higher is the fibre carrying capacity of
the barb. The depth of the barb is also an important parameter for the selection of a
barb. Actually, the depth of a barb relative to fibre diameter is a very important

56
characteristic as it decides the capacity
of a needle to collect and transfer fibres
into the vertical plane. If nf is the

number of fibres collected in the barbs

of a needle, bd is the depth of a barb, df

is the fibre diameter, and nb is the

number of barbs of a needle, then

2bd
nf = nb .
df
In nonwoven industry, a wide
variety of needles are used. They vary in Figure 3.6
their cross-sectional shape as well as the geometry of the point of the needle. The
blade cross-section
of classical needles
is triangular, with
three barbs formed
on the apex. This is
shown in Figure
3.7(a). The star
bladed needles have
Figure 3.7
four apices and a
cruciform cross-
section. This needle
is intended to carry
an increased
number of fibres per
penetration as
compared to the
standard triangular
needle, which can
increase fabric Figure 3.8
strength. This is shown in Figure 3.7(b). Besides there are fork needles used for

57
structuring and patterning pre-needled fabrics. The crown needles are designed to be
used in conjunction with random velour needleloom to introduce fibre loops that
protrude from the surface of the fabric. These needles are shown in Figure 3.8

Selection of needle

The selection of needle is very important for getting good quality nonwoven
fabrics. It is decided by many factors, discussed earlier, along with the fineness of the
fibres required to be processed. Table 3.1 lists the gauge of the needles for different

Figure 3.9
finenesses of fibres. The higher is the gauge of the needle, the finer is the needle and
vice-versa.

Arrangement of needle boards

Table 3.1
The modern machine
Fibre linear density Needle gauge
manufacturers offer various
(denier) (SWG)
arrangements of needle boards in needle
0.5-1.5 42
looms. Figure 3.9 displays the different
1.5-6.0 38-40
arrangements of needle boards. Typical
6-10 38
applications of these arrangements are
10-18 36-34
filtration media, synthetic leather, floor
18-30 36-32
coverings, underlay, automotive
>30 30-coarser
headliners, and blankets, etc.

Critical process parameter

The quality of the needle bonded nonwoven fabric is decided not only by the
design of the needles, but also by the punch density of the needles. Punch density is

58
defined by the number of needle penetrations per unit area of the resulting fabric. If ξ
is punch density, n is the number of needles per unit width of needleboard, A is the
fibre web advance per stroke, P is the rate of production, and m is the number of
punches per unit time, then
n�m-1 � n�m-1 �
x �m-2 �= � �
= � �
.
� � A[ m] P�m�min -1 � m�min -1 �
� � � �

Therefore, when the needle board density is constant and for a given stroke frequency,
the punch density is determined by adjusting the fabric throughput rate. To obtain
higher punch density of a finished fabric it usually requires two or more needlelooms.
Depending on the scale of production, these passages may take place as separate
operations or may form a continuous production line.

Applications
Today the needle-bonded nonwovens are finding a wide variety of
applications, including geosynthetics, filter media, synthetic leather, waddings and
paddings, floor coverings, automotive fabrics, insulation, blankets, wipes, roofing,
etc.

3.1.2 Hydroentanglement process

Principle
Hydroentanglement, spunlacing, hydraulic entanglement, and water jet
needling are synonymous terms describing the process of mechanically bonding the
fibres in a web by means of high energy water jets. The machine which accomplishes
this is known as hydroentanglement or spunlace machine. The basic elements of this
machine are shown in Figure 3.10. A series of multiple high pressure columnar water
jets is produced by pumping water through a series of fine nozzles in a jet strip
clamped into an injector (manifold). The high velocity water jets are directed to the
unbonded web, which is supported on a moving perforated conveyor. The conveyor
may have a flat bed surface or cylindrical surface. The entanglement among the fibres
is introduced by the combined effects of the incident water jets and the turbulent
water created in the web which intertwines neighbouring fibres. The conveyor sleeve
being permeable enables most of the de-energised water to be drawn into the vacuum
box for recycling and reuse.

59
 Figure 3.10

Selection of fibres
Both natural fibres and synthetic fibres are used in hydroentanglement
process. The wood pulp is often blended with staple fibres and used in
hydroentanglement process. Viscose fibre has been found to be mostly used. The
important fibre properties for this process have been fibre flexural rigidity and fibre
hydrophilicity. Viscose rayon has a low wet modulus and this partly explains the ease
with which this fibre can be hydroentangled as compared to polypropylene fibres that
have higher modulus. As the coarser fibres offer higher flexural rigidity as compared
to the finer fibres, the former require more hydroentagling energy as compared to the
latter in order to have the same degree of bonding. Effective hydroentanglement
requires uniform and rapid wetting of the web. That is why the manmade fibres are
often treated with hydrophilic finishes before hydroentanglement.

Critical process factors

The critical process factors of the hydroentanglement process are specific
energy and jet impact force.
Specific energy is defined as the energy expended per unit time for unit mass
of fabric processed per unit time. As the hydroenglement process deals with transfer
of kinetic energy from the water jets to the web, the specific energy is very important

60
in deciding the degree of bonding of fibres. It is possible to derive the following
expression of specific energy

p Cd[ 1] i=M
h�J�Kg-1 �=
� � 2 2 r �Kg�m -3 �w�Kg.m-2 �b[ m] v�m.s -1 � i =1
0.5 �n i�
� �
l
m-1 �i [ m ]
di[2m] Pi1.5
[ Pa ]
� � � � � �

where η is specific energy, Cd is nozzle discharge coefficient, ρ is density of water, w

is basis weight of fabric, b is width of fabric, v is velocity of conveyor belt, ni is no. of

jets in i-th injector per unit length of i-th injector (manifold), li is length of i-th

injector, di is diameter of water jet nozzle in i-th injector, Pi is pressure of water jet at

i-th injector, and M is no. of injector. Often, the specific energy coefficient, which is
defined by the ratio of energy consumption to the fabric tensile strength, is calculated
as a useful means of assessing the efficiency of hydroentanglement in terms of the
development of fabric strength. This is expressed as follows
h�J�Kg-1 �
x �J�N-1 �m-1 �= � �

� � S �N�m-1 �kg -1 �m2 �

� �

where S is the ratio of average of tensile strength in the machine direction and the
cross-direction to the basis weight of the fabric.
Jet impact force affects the consolidation, thickness, and entanglement of the
web during hydroentanglement and depends on the water pressure and jet impact area
which is influenced by the jet diameter. This is shown below.
p 2
Fi = Pi di
4
where Fi is force imparted by a nozzle in i-th injector, di is diameter of water jet

nozzle in i-th injector, and Pi is pressure of water jet at i-th injector. Therefore, at a

fixed pressure, the impact force will increase if the nozzle diameter increases
providing a potentially more effective means of increasing fibre entanglement by
involving more fibres in the working field of entanglement.

Nozzle
The nozzles used in hydroentanglement process are capillary cone nozzles,
where the nozzles are usually operated in the cone-down rather than the cone-up
position. This type of nozzles is known as cone-down nozzle. Besides the cone-down

61
nozzle there are cone-up and cylindrical nozzles available. Figure 3.11 shows the
geometry of these three nozzles. It is of interest to know the discharge coefficient of
the nozzles and the resulting break-up length of the jets. Discharge coefficient is
defined by the ratio of the actual mass flow rate to the ideal mass flow rate of water.
Break-up length is defined by the length of jet at which it breaks after exiting from the
nozzle. The higher is the break-up length, the higher is the energy transmitted to the
web. The cone-up nozzle has a remarkably higher discharge coefficient than the cone-
down and cylindrical nozzles. This can be explained by the natural consequence of the
geometry of the nozzles. The
images of the jets after
exiting from the three
different nozzles for different
pressures are displayed in

Figure 3.11
Figure 3.12 [1].

. The break-up length profile

of these nozzles is displayed
in Figure 3.13. It can se seen
that the break-up length of
the cone-down nozzle is the
lowest among the three
nozzles. At lower pressure,

62

Figure 3.12
the break-up length of the cone-down and cylindrical nozzles is practically the same,
but at higher pressure the cone-down nozzle shows higher break-up length than the
cylindrical nozzle. This can be explained by the constricted water jet issued from the
cone-down nozzle, while the water jet issued from the cone-up nozzle is non-
constricted. In constricted jet, water is in contact with the ambient air and not the
orifice wall, but in non-constricted jet, water is in contact with the orifice wall.

Figure 3.13

Web support system

The webs in the working field of the hydroentanglement machine are
supported by forming wires whose surface topography has a direct influence on the
appearance of final product.

Jet streak
One of the major problems associated with the quality of the hydroentangled
nonwoven is related to the jet marks or jet strip. This is undesirable as it spoils the
aesthetic appearance of the fabric and reduces the mechanical properties of the fabric.

63
This is shown in Figure 3.14. This effect can be reduced by having the staggered
arrangement of the nozzles having one row with higher nozzle diameter and other row
with lower nozzle diameter.
Applications
The hydroentangled nonwovens are used in a wide variety of applications,
including wipes, surgical fabrics, medical gauge, filter cloths, artificial leather,
automotive fabrics, linings and clothes,
etc.

3.2 Thermal Bonding

Processes

Introduction
It is known that the fibres in the
webs can be bonded thermally in order to
have sufficient resistance to mechanical
deformation. The basic concept of
thermal bonding was introduced by Reed in
Figure 3.14
1942. He described a process in which a
web consisting of thermoplastic and non-thermoplastic fibres was made and then
heated to the melting or softening temperature of the constituent thermoplastic fibres
followed by cooling or solidify the bonding area. Since then many developments have
been made in thermal bonding processes. Today the thermal bonding processes
include calender bonding, through-air bonding, infrared bonding, and ultrasonic
bonding. Thermal bonding requires a thermoplastic component to be present in the
web in the form of homofil fibre, powder, film, hot melt or as a part (sheath) of
bicomponent fibre. The thermoplastic component becomes viscous under the
application of thermal energy. The polymer flows to fibre-to-fibre crossover points
where bonding regions are formed. The bonding regions are fixed by subsequent
cooling. The thermal bonding process is environmental-friendly, as no latex binder is
required. The thermal bonding process consumes less energy compared to foam
bonding or hydroentanglement bonding.

Principle of thermal bonding

64
 The formation of a bond during thermal bonding follows in sequence through
three critical steps:
1. heating the web to partially melt the crystalline region,
2. repetition of the newly released chain segments across the fibre-fibre
interface, and
3. subsequent cooling of the web to re-solidify it and to trap the chain
segments that diffused across the fibre-fibre interface.
The time scales for these processes closely match commercial practice.
The formation of a bond requires partial melting of the crystals to permit chain
relaxation and diffusion. If, during bonding, the temperatures are too low or if the roll
speeds are too high, the polymer in the mid-plane of the web does not reach a high
enough temperature to release a sufficient number of chains or long enough chain
segments from the crystalline regions. Thus, there will be very few chains spanning
the fibre-fibre interface, the bond itself will be weak, and the bonds can be easily
pulled out or ruptured under load, as observed. Under-bonding occurs when there are
an insufficient number of chain ends in the molten state at the interface between the
two crossing fibres or there is insufficient time for them to diffuse across the interface
to entangle with chains in the other fibre. Over-bonding occurs when melting occurs
and many chains have diffused across the interface and a solid, strong bond has been
formed. If the web reaches a sufficient temperature, many chains or chain segments
are released from the crystal, repeat across the fibre-fibre interface, and form a strong
bond. The fibres within the bond spot have lost their orientation and their strength. At
the same time, the polymer chains within the fibres located in the vicinity of the bond
also lose some of their molecular orientation (and strength) at the fibre-bond interface.
In well-bonded webs, failure occurs at the bond periphery because the
bridging fibres are weak in the region
Table 6.1
adjacent to the bond, but strong elsewhere. Fibre Melting
If the bridging fibres have the same strength temperature
over their entire length, including the region (degree Celsius)
at the bond periphery, better load sharing PET 245-265
PP 160-175
would lead to a stronger web. PA 210-230
PE 115-135
Raw materials PE/PET 130/250
PE/PP 130/175
CoPET/PET 110/250

65
 The thermal bonding processes utilize either thermoplastic fibres alone or
blends containing fibres that are not intended to soften or flow on heating. The non-
binder fibre components may be referred to as the base fibres or sometimes, carrier
fibres. Commercially, a variety of base fibres are used. The binder fibre component
normally ranges from 5-50 % on weight of the fibre depending on the targeted
properties of the final product made thereupon.
The base fibres can be of natural or synthetic or mineral or metallic origin.
The binder fibres can be momocomoponent (homofil) like polyester (PET),
polypropylene (PP), polyamide (PA), and polyethylene (PE) and bicomponent
(sheath-core) like PE/PET, PE/PP, and CoPET/PET. Looking at the thermal bonding
process, it is important to note down the melting temperature of these fibres.

Calender bonding process

Process description
In thermal calender bonding process, the fibrous web containing thermoplastic fibres
is passed through a heated
calender nip that is created by
two rolls (cylinders) pressed
against each other (Figure
3.15). One or both rolls are
heated internally to a
temperature that usually
exceeds the melting point
temperature of the binder fibres
Figure 3.15
to ensure there is sufficient
hear transfer to induce
softening at the prevailing line speed. As the web passes between the calender nip,
fibres are heated and compressed. This causes the binder fibres to become soft and
tacky and induces polymer flow in and around the base fibres. The fluid polymer
tends to collect at the fibre crossover or contact points and bonding sites are formed.
Cooling leads to solidification of the polymer and bonding.

Principle

66
 The dominant mode of heat transfer in this case is conduction. Dharmadhikary
et al. [2] reported the principle of calendar bonding process as follows. The one-
dimensional heat equation can be written as
�2T 1 � T
=
�x 2
a �
t
In dimensionless form, this can be written as
�2 q � q
- =0
�h �
2
t
T1 - T y at
where q = , h= , t= 2 .
T1 - T0 b b
Here, T1 is calender roll surface temperature, T is web temperature, T0 is ambient

temperature, y is the distance from center of web measured in thickness direction, b is

half web thickness, and α is thermal diffusivity. The initial condition can be stated as
t = 0, q = 1 and the boundary condition can be mentioned as h = �1, q = 0 . The

( -1)
n
n =�
e -( n + 0.5) cos ( n + 0.5 ) p y b . It is
2

solution of this problem is q = 2 �

p2at b 2

n = 0 ( n + 0.5 ) p

graphically shown in Figure 3.16.

67
 Figure 3.16

It can be seen that the convergence of the series depends on dimensionless time and
there is a significant temperature that exists in-between center and surface of the web.

Types of calender roller

There exist two types of calender rollers, that is, embossed calender and flat
calender. These calender rollers are shown in Figure 3.17. It is generally known that
the point bonding results in softer fabric and the area bonding results in stiffer fabric.

Figure 3.17
68
Heating arrangement
The roll surfaces are heated from inside by direct electrical heat or through the
use of heated oil. Heated oil is preferred because it leads to more uniform temperature
distribution along the nip. In some configurations a fixed quantity of oil is sealed
inside the roll and it is heated electrically. Thermal inertia of internally heated systems
with or without oil is generally high. As a result heating by circulating oil systems is
much preferred. The calender roll systems must be so designed as to provide very
uniform temperature and nip pressure profiles all along the nip length. This is an
engineering challenge of major proportions. As a result the technology of making rolls
for calender bonding is quite complex.

Critical process parameters

The critical process parameters of thermal calender bonding process are roller
temperature, roller nip pressure, and contact time.
Roller temperature should be adjusted in such a way that the “sintering” of
fibre surfaces can be achieved while avoiding complete fibre melting and film
formation. Increasing bonding temperature up to a certain point increases the tensile
properties of the fabric due to the formation of well-developed bonding structure.
Further increase in temperature reduces the tensile properties which may be attributed
to the loss of fibre integrity and the formation of film like spot as well as the reduction
in load transfer from fibre to bonding point. Over-bonding of this kind leads to
“popping” of the structure under tensile load as the fabric fails at the bond locations.
The nip pressure influences the transfer of heat from the rollers to the web
(The so-called “pressure-induced heating”.) If F is force exerted onto the roller, δ0 is

initial thickness of the web, δ1 is final thickness of the web, V is volume of web to

melt, W is basis weight of the web, A is area of the web, ρ is density of fiber, Cp is

heat capacity, ∆T is temperature rise, ∆Hm is heat of fusion, χ is crystallinity, and f is

fraction of crystal that melts, then it can be written that

F ( d0 - d1 ) = V rCP DT + f DH mcrV
L WA WA
g ( d0 - d1 ) = rCP DT + f DH mcr
2 {r {r
=V =V

Lg ( d0 - d1 ) f DH m c
DT = -
2WACP CP

69
 Polymer molecules subjected to compression require more thermal energy to
melt compared to when they are at atmospheric pressure. This indicates that, as the
pressure is raised, the melting temperature will increase. This is known as Clapeyron
effect. Mathematically,
dP DH
=
dT T DV
where P is pressure, T is temperature, ∆H is molar enthalpy of melting, and ∆V is
molar volume change on melting. The slope is positive. The increase in melting point
temperature of polypropylene fibres is found to be 38 K/kbar.
The time of contact between roller and web is also important for the quality of
the fabric. The time of
contact depends on the nip
width and the velocity of
the rollers. Figure 3.18
shows the initial web
thickness is δ0, final fabric
thickness is δ1, nip distance Figure 3.18

is δ2, and roll radius is r. It is then possible to derive the following expression for time
of contact

t=
h 1�
=
v v�
r ( ( d0 - d2 ) + ( d1 - d 2 ) ) �
�

where t is contact time, h is nip width, and v is roller velocity. In general, the
contact time for light weight fabrics is kept to be 0.001 s, but for medium weight
fabric, it is kept at 0.1-0.7 s.

Through-air bonding process

Introduction
The demerit of the calendar bonding process lies in the fact that it results in
reduction of thickness of the fabric. In some applications, for example, thermal
insulation, acoustical insulation, etc., where the thickness of the fabric dictates the
performance of the nonwoven products, the thermal calendar bonding process is not
desirable. The solution to this problem is through-air bonding process. The through-
air bonding process is generally applicable for high bulk and heavy weight

70
nonwovens. This bonding process primarily relies on convection mechanism of heat
transfer.

Process description
Figure 3.19 displays the schematic diagram of the through-air bonding
machine. The main component of this system is an air permeable drum with a high
open area onto which the web is transferred and supported by a travelling/carrying

Figure 3.19

wire. The perforated drum is

covered with a hood from
where the heat is delivered; the
hot air is drawn through the
web cross-section by means of
a suction fan.

Types of
through-air
bonding
machine

Generally
Figure 3.20
three types of
through-air
bonding

71

Figure 3.21
machines are used. They are perforated drum though air bonding machine, perforated
conveyor (flat bed) through air bonding machine, and impingement (air jetting)
through air bonding machine.
Figure 3.20 shows the schematic diagram of a perforated drum though air
bonding machine. Here the web is carried by a permeable screen around a perforated
drum enclosed in a chamber. The upper part of the chamber serves as a plenum into
which heated air is blown in. Inside the drum, there are baffles covering the
circumference except the portion through which heated air can be sucked in through
the fabric. The air suction is aided by suction boxes located inside the drum. The
sucked-in air is then re-heated and circulated back to the heating zone. This system is

suitable for light weight webs of 10 g/m2 to heavy but permeable webs up to 3000

g/m2.
Figure 3.21 shows the schematic diagram of a perforated conveyor though air
bonding machine. Here the web to be bonded moves on a permeable support screen
over a flat bed. Above the flat bed is a plenum into which heated air is blown in.
Below the flat bed are vacuum units which suck the heated air from the plenum
above, through the passing fabric over the flat bed. The air is circulated back into the
heating zone after re-heating. This system is particularly suitable for bulky, low-
density webs.
Figure 3.22 shows the schematic diagram of an impingement through-air
bonding
machine. In
impingement
bonding, the web
is carried over a
permeable
screen into an
oven. In the
oven are a
series of boxes
(plenums)
positioned
across the web
Figure 3.22

72
passage. Hot air is pumped into the boxes from one end, the other being closed. The
lower surface of the box contains an evenly spaced series of nozzles through which
jets of hot air impinge on the surface of the web passing beneath. While some hot air
may diffuse through the web most of it is deflected in different directions on the
surface. Maximum bonding occurs at the surface and decreases as one goes into the
thickness. In the case of denser webs, or to obtain symmetry of bonding in the web,
boxes containing nozzles may be placed below the web carrying screen. In these
cases, the nozzles are aimed upward so that hot air jets. This is mainly used for denser
webs or webs that must be bonded gently.

Infrared
bonding
process
Figure
3.23 shows the
schematic
diagram of an
infrared bonding Figure 3.23
machine. The mechanism is thermal radiation. The IR emitting bulbs (heaters) are
used to radiate electromagnetic energy in part of the IR wave length (0.7-300 μm)
which then translates to heat by the receiving /absorbing material. The heat flux
emitted by a heater is E=εσT4, where E…heat flux (W/m2), σ is Boltzmann constant
(5.67 �10-8 W/m2), ε is emissivity (0 to 1) and T is absolute temperature (K). It does
not require any medium, but does not penetrate deep into a structure. For thinner
webs, it is not economical. This is mainly used for glazing the surface of thick
nonwovens.

Ultrasonic bonding
process
Figure 3.24 shows the
schematic diagram of an
ultrasonic bonding machine.
Here the web is compacted
between an embossed

73

Figure 3.24
patterned roller (anvil) and an ultrasonic horn. The horn is vibrated at a frequency of
20-40 KHz. The friction between horn and web surface heats fibers above the raised
points on the anvil. Mechanical energy is converted into thermal energy. This is
mostly used for joining nonwoven laminates.

3.3 Chemical Bonding Processes

Introduction
In chemical bonding, chemical binders (adhesive materials) are used to hold
the fibers together in a nonwoven fabric. Chemical binders are polymers that are
formed by emulsion polymerization. The mostly used binders today are water-borne
latexes. They are applied in a number of different ways to nonwovens and because of
their viscosity is close to that of water they can easily penetrate into nonwoven
structure by emulsion. After application of binder by, for example, immersion, they
are dried and the water evaporates. The binder then forms an adhesive film across or
between fibre intersections and fibre bonding takes place.

Chemical binders
There are various chemical binder polymers used including vinyl polymers
and copolymers, acrylic ester polymers and copolymers, rubber and synthetic rubber,
and natural binders, principally starch. These are usually applied in aqueous
dispersions but can be supplied as polymer solutions providing they have sufficiently
low viscosity to allow penetration into the web.
Commercially, latex polymers are the most commonly encountered binder
because of their availability, variety, versatility, ease of application, and cost-
effectiveness.
The latex
polymers are
prepared by
emulsion
polymerization
by controlled
addition of
several
components.

74 Figure 3.25
These components include monomers (building block), water (medium), initiator
(decomposes to form free radicals to start the polymerization process), surfactant (to
prevent particle attraction and thus stabilize the emulsion particles) and chain transfer
agent (to control the final polymer molecular weight). The process of latex formation
starts with a distribution of monomer droplets in water, stabilized by emulsifiers that
have accumulated at the interface to the water phase. The emulsifier molecules have
the hydrophilic heads and hydrophobic tails. In Figure 3.25, the dot indicates the
hydrophilic head and the line represents the hydrophobic tail of emulsifier molecule.
If the concentration of the emulsifier is above a critical value, a spheroidal collection
of them is formed. This is called micelle and it typically contains about a hundred
emulsifier molecules. The initiator added is decomposed to form water-soluble free
radicals. When a free radical encounters monomer molecules dissolved in water, it
reacts successively with several to form a short polymer chain. This short chain,
called oligomer radical, is no longer soluble in water. It precipitates and is stabilized
by the emulsifier, which accumulates at the newly formed interface. This is now
called a latex particle. When there are enough oligomer radicals formed they grow
into latex particles. Also, it is possible for a growing oligomer radical to meet a
monomer droplet and initiate polymerization to form a latex particle. In this case, the
latex particle would be large. In addition, when the oligomer radical meets an
emulsifier micelle where monomer molecules are diffused in, the monomers
polymerize and form another latex particle. This can occur only if the concentration of
emulsifier is enough high, that is, above the critical micelle concentration. Once the
formation of latex particles is completed, their growth starts. The monomers flow
from water to the latex particles where the polymerization occurs. The latex particle
grows larger and contains hundreds or thousands of closely packed molecules in one
particle. As propagation proceeds more latex particles are added in layers to form a
larger latex particle. Sometimes it is desirable to limit the molecular weight of the
polymer by introducing a chain transfer agent. The growing polymer radical combines
with the chain transfer agent to stop the chain growth.

Methods of binder application

The most common methods of applying a binder to a dry-laid web are

saturation, foam, spray, and print bonding methods. For wet-laid nonwovens, most of

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the same methods can be used but bonding must be applied after partial drying. For
printing, the web must be dry.

Saturation bonding process

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 Saturation chemical bonding involves complete immersion of the nonwoven
web in a bath containing binder. The excess binder can be removed by a pair of nip

Figure 3.26

rolls. Figure 3.26 shows the basic methods of saturation using horizontal padding (a)
and vertical padding (b). The nonwoven web is guided through the saturation bath by
rollers and then presses between a pair of nip rolls to squeeze out excess liquid. The
amount of binder taken up by the nonwoven depends on the basis weight of the
nonwoven, length of time spent in the bath, wettability of the fibres and nip pressure.
This method can provide higher binder to fibre levels uniformly throughout the
nonwoven. But as it includes short wetting time, the method is more suitable for
lightweight and highly permeable nonwovens. This method also compresses the
nonwoven web, hence reduces the thickness of the ultimate fabric.

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Foam bonding process
Figure 3.27 illustrates the foam bonding process. Here, air or water is used to
dilute the binder and as a mean to carry the binder to the fibres. One advantage of
diluting binder with air rather than with water is that drying is faster and energy cost
is reduced remarkably. Foam is generated mechanically and can be stabilized with a
stabilizing agent to prevent collapse during application. Foam can be applied so as to
remain at the surface or can be made to penetrate all the way through the fabric cross-
section. One or two reciprocating foam spreaders are commonly used to distribute the

Figure 3.27

foam across the width of the fabric. The excess foam is sucked through the porous
portion of the fabric and the perforations of the web carrying medium to the vacuum
extractor as shown in Figure 7.3. The key advantage of foam bonding is more
efficiency drying and the ability to control fabric softness. The disadvantages include
the difficulty in achieving adequate foaming and in controlling the process to give a
uniform binder distribution. Sometimes, non-stabilized foams, called froths, are
formed.

Spray bonding
process
Figure 3.28
illustrates a typical
spray bonding
process. Here the
binder is sprayed onto a

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Figure 3.28
moving web in fine droplet form through a system of nozzles, which can be statically
mounted across the machine or transverse from one side to the other side of the
machine. It is used to make highly porous and bulky products. This is possible
because the substrate does not need to pass between nip rollers. The liquid is atomised
by air pressure, hydraulic pressure, or centrifugal force and is applied to the upper
surfaces of the web. The depth of penetration of the binder into the substrate depends
on the wettability of the fibres, permeability of the web, and amount of binder. The
main advantage of this method is that the nonwoven is not compressed and the
original bulk and structure is retained. The disadvantages include lack of control of
the uniformity of spraying, poor binder penetration, high level of overspray and
waste, and possible lack of shear stability of the binder.

Print bonding process

The print bonding process applies the binder only in predetermined areas as
dictated by the pattern of the printing surfaces. Figure 3.29 displays the print bonding
process where the latex is transferred to the web via feed roll and engraved roll. As
the web passes the
engraved roll, it is pressed
against the surface by a
rubber roll, transferring
binder to the fabric. The
excess latex is removed by
a doctor blade. This method
is suitable only for applying
low levels of binder to the Figure 3.29
surface where a textile-like
handle is needled.
Methods of drying
After the binder is applied, the web is dried to evaporate the latex carrier
(water) and allow the latex particles to bond the nonwovens. Crosslinking (if
crosslinking groups are present in the binder formulation) is usually carried out in the
same dryer. During drying, film forming or coagulation takes place as well as
evaporation of the water and cross-linking occurs. There are several types of dryers
available such as drum dryer (Figure 3.30a), flat belt dryer (Figure 3.30b), stenter-

79
based dryer (Figure 3.30c), and infrared dryer (Figure 3.30d). In drum or belt drying,
the web is guided over a perforated conveyor surface through which hot air passes.
Air is then withdrawn from the inside of the drum or through the perforations of the
belt and mostly reused. The fabric shrinkage is one of important disadvantages of

Figure 3.30
these methods. This can be overcome by stenter dryer. In infrared dryer, water is
marked absorbed by infrared energy as it rapidly converts water into heat leading to
evaporation. It requires less capital investment but high running cost. They are often
used for pre-dry the surface to prevent the coating of binder on the first drum of a
drum dryer and to coagulate the binder to prevent migration or post-dry the surface to
complete crosslinking.

Applications
The chemical bonding process is used to develop nonwovens used as wipes,
interlinings, hygiene and medical products, footwear, automotives, and
homefurnishing products.

References
[1] Begenir A., Tafreshi, H. V., and Pourdeyhimi, B. P., Effect of nozzle geometry on
hydroentangling water jets: Experimental observations, Textile Research Journal 74,
2004, 178-184.
[2] Dharmadhikary, R. K., Gilmore, T. F., Davis, H. A., Batra, S. K., Thermal bonding
of nonwoven fabrics, Textile Progress 26 (2), 1-38, 1995.

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