Needle punching process

Needle-punching has been used to produce blankets for over 50 years and was one of the earliest applications of the process. High-quality synthetic and natural fibres are still used, but the process is usually employed to produce economical products from regenerated fibres that are often used as emergency or disposable blankets (Ahmed, 2007, p. 225). In the production of needle-punched blankets, modifications to the needle-punch process have been made to improve their properties. The Fibrewoven process, developed by the Chatham Manufacturing Company in the 1950s, now... 

Within the plane of a nonwoven material, the fibers may be either completely isotropic or there may be a preferred fiber orientation or alignment usually with respect to a machine or processing direction. In the case of thicker dry-laid nonwovens, fiber orientation may be randomized in the third dimension, ie, that dimension which is perpendicular to the plane of the fabric, by a process known as needle-punching (7). This process serves to bind the fibers in the nonwoven by mechanical interlocking. 

In the majority of cases they are produced by needle punching a batt of fibres (a number of layers of carded fibre web formed by means of a cross-laying mechanism) on to both sides of a woven base-cloth or scrim. This may be carried out in a continuous process or by attachment of a preformed and pre-needled batt produced in a separate operation. After tacking the fibre to the scrim, the assembly is consolidated in a secondary, more intensive needle-punching operation, usually with the aid of finer needles. This operation frequently addresses both sides of the felt simultaneously in a single double-punch process. 

Felting (1686) n. (1) The process of exposing wool fibers alone or in combination with other fibers to mechanical and chemical action, pressure, moisture, and heat so that they tangle, shrink, and mat to form a compact material. Felting is generally carried out in a fulling mill. (2) See needle-punching and needled fabric. 

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