The definitions of the nonwovens most commonly used nowadays are those by the Association of the Nonwovens fabrics Industry (INDA) and the European Disposables and Nonwoven Association (EDANA).

The various methods for bonding are:

a) Adding an adhesive

b) Thermally fusing the Fibers or filaments to each other or to the other meltable Fibers or powders.

c) Fusing Fibers by first dissolving, and then resolidifying their surfaces.

d) Creating physical tangles or tuft among the Fibers.

e) Stitching the Fibers or filaments in place.

Nonwovens find numerous applications ranging from baby diapers to industrial high performance textiles. Some of the important areas where nonwovens are treated as primary alternative for traditional textiles as geotextiles, materials for building, thermal and sound insulating materials, hygienic and health care textiles and automotive industries. Nonwovens are also used in cover stocks, agriculture, aerospace, home furnishings etc. Although it is not possible to list all the applications of nonwovens, some of the important applications are listed in Table 1 [2 ] .

Table 1

The nonwoven industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. It is rapidly developing a sophisticated and diverse market. It has been exhibiting an average growth of about 10% over the past twenty years and should continue this rate of growth in the next ten years. The technology in nonwoven industry has been improved significantly in nearly all available major manufacturing processes, including those of spunbond, meltblown, needle punched, spunlaced, wet laid and dry laid fabrication.

The most important point in rapid development and commercial acceptance of nonwovens is the ability to produce materials of special properties in less time and at reasonable prices. The relative production speeds of various textile technologies are compared in Table 2 [3,4 ].

A large number of Fibers are available n the market, but the nonwoven market is mainly dominated by three Fibers, namely polyolefins, polyester, and rayon. These three fiber types make up a substantial part of the overall nonwoven markets for Fibers [5 ].

The North American nonwoven industry is the largest in the world and accounts for almost one third of the worldwide sales of roll goods - around $2.8 billion - in 1997, according to estimates from the Association of the Nonwoven fabrics Industry (INDA). A major portion of the polyolefin and polyester fiber in the U.S. market is consumed by the nonwovens industry. Last year (1998), 57% of the polyolefin share was consumed by the nonwoven industry (Table 3) and only 43% was consumed by all the other industries, in spite of the fact that polyolefins are the major raw products for the packaging industry. Even in the case of polyesters, the share has increased to 14%. The major share of polyester fiber goes to high loft industry.

Table 3 U.S. shipments of olefin staple: Nonwovens Vs Other Markets, 1989-1998

Source : fiber Economics Bureau and Trade Estimates

CAGR- Compound annual growth rate.

Figure 1

The production of nonwovens amounts to approximately 20% of the total production of textiles and this percentage grows year by year. The total world production is shown in Table 5 [ 6]. The growth rates of nonwoven production are extremely high, when compared with the conventional textiles industry.

Table 5

The leading producers of nonwovens are given in Table 6 [7 ].

Table 6