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Title: COMPRESSIBILITY OF COTTON BLEND PERPENDICULAR-LAID NONWOVENVS

Author
item Parikh, Dharnidhar
item Calamari Jr, Timothy
item Sawhney, Amar
item Goynes, Wilton
item CHEN, Y - LSU AGRICULTURAL CENTER
item JIRSAK, O - TECHNICAL UNIV OF LIBEREC

Submitted to: Textile Research Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/3/2003
Publication Date: 1/1/2004
Citation: Parikh, D.V., Calamari Jr, T.A., Sawhney, A.P., Goynes Jr, W.R., Chen, Y., Jirsak, O. 2004. Compressibility of cotton blend perpendicular-laid nonwovenvs. Textile Research Journal. 74:7-12.

Interpretive Summary: The market for nonwoven fabrics is growing. However, they are mostly produced from synthetic fibers such as polyester and polypropylene. This research was conducted under a Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS) grant, in cooperation with the Technical University of Liberec (TUL) in Czech Republic. The aim was to develop perpendicular-laid (P-L)highloft nonwoven fabrics containing cotton. Similar cotton blend nonwoven highlofts were also produced from the traditional cross-laid (C-L) technology for comparison. Important properties such as compressional resistance and recovery were compared. Kawabata paramaters describing compressional resistance and recovery were determined with a computerized Q-test instrument. In compressional behavoir, the P-L highlofts containing cotton are found to be superior to the cross-laid highloft fabrics. The superiority is essentially attributed to the predominantly upgright structure of the P-L nonwovens. The improved compressional properties of P-L nonwovens would be useful in the production of cushion mattress materials for futons, which would greatly increase the use of cotton in highloft nonwovens for such markets.

Technical Abstract: Perpendicular-laid and cross-laid highloft nonwoven fabrics were constructed of cotton, polyester and bicomponent co-polyester bonding fibers. Kawabata parameters describing compressional resistance and recovery of these fabrics were measured with a computerized Q-test instrument. Results were obtained from tests replicated by two independent operators in triplicate and on different dates. Compared to cross-laid fabrics, perpendicular-laid fabrics showed higher compressional resistance and superior elastic properties.