Nonwoven geotextiles chemical bonding processes

Both woven and nonwoven geotextiles are made from four polymeric materials (polyamide, polyester, polyethylene, and polypropylene) and natural materials. Woven geotextiles may be fabricated with monofilament yams, muldfilament yams, or a combination of each. Nonwoven geotextiles are bonded by one of the several methods thermal, mechanical, or chemical. With the many combinations of materials and processes, it is not difficult to see that the physical properties of geotextiles will vary greatiy among products (Yeo, 2008). 

Nonwoven geotextiles. Nonwoven fabrics are defined as a sheet, web, or batt of directionally or randomly oriented fibres/filaments, bonded either by friction, and/or cohesion, and/or adhesion. In general, nonwoven fabric formation can be considered as a two-step process web formation (aligning the fibres with certain orientation characteristics) and bonding these fibres by mechanical, thermal, or chemical means. This two-step process has formed the classification of nonwoven structures, i.e. carded, airlaid, spunlaid, meltblown, needlepunched, hydroentangled, adhesive bonded, thermal bonded, stitch bonded, etc. Some of the important processes that are used for the manufacture of nonwoven geotextiles are discussed below. 

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