New nonwoven products containing cotton and Lyocell (Trademarked, Tencel), low temperature thermal-bondable bicomponent olefin/polyester, or comber noils were developed using needlepunching and spunlacing (hydroentanglement). Webs containing five different blends were prepared by either light needlepunching, or light needlepunching followed by hydroentangling. We acquired detailed basis weight uniformity measurements to learn about processing and the influence of fiber blend composition on web uniformity. Basis weight uniformity was evaluated without regard to web direction ("Total" uniformity), along the machine direction (MD uniformity) and across the cross direction (CD uniformity) at numerous size resolutions. We observed that blending manufactured fibers (either Tencel or olefin/polyester) with bleached cotton and comber noil substantially improved basis weight uniformity of both types of nonwovens. We also observed that subjecting needled webs to hydroentangling significantly improved Total and MD uniformities.

Nonwoven webs containing five different blends of bleached cotton with Lyocell rayon, bicomponent core/sheath polyester/polyethylene, or cotton comber noil were prepared by either light needlepunching, or light needlepunching followed by spunlacing (hydroentanglement). We optically acquired fiber bundle size measurements to learn about the preneedling process, the hydroentangling process and the influence of fiber blend composition on fiber entanglement. Fiber entanglement measurements were compared to basis weight uniformity measurements. One of the bed sheet developments utilized a combination of bonding technologies (spunlacing and thermal bonding) that used low energy.Results from this work indicate that spunlacing produced high quality cosmetic pads and economical short-life bed sheeting.

Kenaf is a bast fiber that offers the advantage of being biodegradable, renewable, and environmentally safe. Unfortunately, mechanically harvested (raw) kenaf fibers are coarse, brittle, and difficult to process through conventional textile and nonwoven equipment. Kenaf batts can be prepared by an air-laid process, but the batts do not have stable uniform structures. In earlier work, we attempted to card kenaf on a cotton