Properties of hydroentangled nonwoven fabrics made with greige cotton lint, selected manmade staple fibers, and their intimate blends with the lint in different blend ratios

Authors: Sawhney, Amar; Reynolds, Michael

Submitted to: Facta Universitatis, Series: Working and Living Environmental Protection
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/23/2018
Publication Date: 9/18/2018
Citation: Sawhney, A.P., Reynolds, M.L. 2018. Properties of hydroentangled nonwoven fabrics made with greige cotton lint, selected manmade staple fibers, and their intimate blends with the lint in different blend ratios. Textile Research Journal. 15(1):1-18. https://doi.org/10.22190/FUWLEP1801001S.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22190/FUWLEP1801001S

Interpretive Summary: Although cotton historically has been considered the king of fibers for traditional textiles such as woven and knitted fabrics for clothing and household products, it no longer can be claimed as such for non-traditional nonwoven fabrics that are now growing even more rapidly than the traditional fabrics. The nonwoven fabrics are made more efficiently than the woven fabrics and even look and behave more or less like woven fabrics, but they indeed are quite different types of fabrics for different end-use applications, such as filtration, geo, construction, industrial, medical, personal care and hygiene products, that almost solely utilize manmade fibers. This research was conducted to explore the process ability and potential utility of cotton and cotton blends in hydroentangled nonwoven fabrics. The study has shown that the blends of pre-cleaned cotton with commonly used manmade fibers can be efficiently processed and converted into viable nonwoven fabrics of integrity and satisfactory properties that would encourage and enable greater use of cotton in modern nonwovens.

Technical Abstract: A preliminary study was conducted to assess the effects of intimate blending, in three (3) different blend ratios, of pre-cleaned greige (raw) cotton lint fibers with the commonly used manmade staple fibers, viz., polyester, polypropylene, Tencel, viscose rayon and bleached cotton, on properties of the resulting nonwoven fabrics made by using a commercial-grade hydroentanglement system. A total of twenty one (21) different fabrics were made using the selected fibers, blend ratios, and processing metrics. Each fabric was made in three replicates to ensure reproducibility and the statistical validity of the test data. The study has shown that the intimate blends of cleaned greige cotton with manmade fibers can be efficiently processed on the hydroentanglement system and that the resulting nonwoven blended fabrics mostly exhibit satisfactory and even somewhat improved properties of tensile, tear and burst strengths and, more importantly, whiteness and absorbency, compared to those of 100% cotton-based nonwoven fabric. The study is expected to vitalize use of cotton in modern nonwovens that presently are made almost solely with manmade fibers.