Chapter 1.

Introduction

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The term nonwoven was introduced approximately half a century ago when the people were completely unaware of this material and consider it a low cost substitute of traditional textile. But with the passage of time, the application spectrum of nonwovens have grown to an extent that the industries which has nothing in common from raw material to end user can be categories under the umbrella of nonwovens. The term nonwoven has always been controversial throughout the evolution period of nonwovens industry. Therefore, to date, the term nonwoven has many definitions. The most widely accepted definition can be taken from the international norm ISO 9092, according to which A manufactured sheet, web or batt of directionally or randomly oriented fibres, bonded by friction, and/or cohesion and/or adhesion, excluding paper and products which are woven, knitted, tufted, stitch -bonded incorporating binding yarns and filaments, or felted by wet milling, whether or not additionally needled.

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Chapter 1. Introduction

The conventional textile production operations e.g. roving, spinning, knitting has been partially or completely omitted in the processing of nonwovens, thus making them more economical. Nonwovens are not only the low cost replacement of more expensive textiles but they can be engineered for particular characteristics (e.g. fire resistant, abrasion resistant, absorbent, conductive, liquid repellent etc.) making them suitable for the applications that could never be achieved by the regular textile (EDANA, 2009a). According to the statistics, a significant part of nonwovens consumption consists of structural and mechanical purposes, which demand the appropriate knowledge of mechanical properties of these materials. Additionally, being engineered material, nonwovens have the great potential to be improved for wider spectrum of applications.This research aims at detailed analysis of deformation of thermally bonded monocomponent fibre nonwovens up to their fracture.

1.1

Aims and objectives

Nonwovens exhibit highly complex mechanical behaviour as they are manufactured by the consolidation of disordered fibres. In last several years, a number of approaches have been adopted to describe the mechanical behaviour of nonwovens and some numerical models have also been developed to simulate this behaviour. But all these models are based on ad hoc assumptions and reflect the deviation from the experimental result after a certain level of deformation. Numerical model incorporating the microstructure of the nonwovens to simulate their damage behaviour up to fracture will be a novel contribution to the knowledge and will be useful for both, academia and industry. This research is focussed on thermally bonded monocomponent fibres nonwovens having the low planar density (< 50 g/m2 ). The overall aims of the research are:

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Chapter 1. Introduction

1. To investigate the actual sequence and criteria for the deformation and fracture of low density nonwovens; 2. To develop a finite element model to predict the realistic performance and behaviour up to fracture of thermally consolidated low-density nonwovens. In order to achieve the above mentioned aims, the research work is divided in the following objectives:

1. To investigate the material properties of bicomponent fibres including the viscous effects; 2. To compute the orientation distribution of fibres in the fabric; 3. To examine the mechanical properties of thermally bonded bicomponent fibres nonwovens and deduce the sequence of deformation and failure mechanism; 4. To determine the curliness in the fibres; 5. To develop a finite element model to simulate the mechanical behaviour of the thermally bonded low density nonwovens; 6. To evaluate the capability of the finite element model by experimental verification.

1.2

Motivation

The production of nonwovens has grown rapidly in the last few decades and is increasing continuously. It is one of the fastest growing sectors in the textile industry (EDANA, 2011). The application areas of these materials have also been expanded because of employing new fibres and latest manufacturing techniques in recent years. These applications range from nonwovens intended for single use with short life (e.g. sanitary napkins) to multiple-use with long life (e.g. filters) (Russell, 2007). Thus,

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Chapter 1. Introduction

nonwovens are designed to have particular characteristics to fulfil certain requirements. These characteristics are provided by the combination of various properties of nonwovens. The most important of these properties is the mechanical property which is involved in almost every application of nonwovens and must be optimized according to the required functionality. Therefore, nonwoven industry requires the better understanding of the mechanical properties and behaviour of these materials. Moreover, it is very challenging to produce a nonwoven according to particular requirements and involves numerous time-consuming and expensive optimization stages.In order to reduce the resource utilization during design and optimization phase of new products and development of current products, numerical models can be used to predict the mechanical properties of nonwovens up to their fractureboth at microscopic and macroscopic level. The design of a product containing the nonwoven parts, that undergo the mechanical loading during service conditions, requires the accurate mechanical properties of the nonwovens. The mechanical properties of the nonwovens are highly dependent on their manufacturing parameters and mechanical testing is resource hungry in terms of time and money. Therefore, a numerical tool is required which can reproduce the mechanical properties of the nonwovens and help the designers to predict the effect of manufacturing parameters on the properties of nonwovens. Several studies investigating this complex mechanical behaviour of nonwovens made up of polymers have been carried out but most of them stress on material performance rather than the deformation and fracture micromechanisms as they and have been presented by the market oriented manufacturers (Alvaro Ridruejo, 2011). A very few studies concerning the numerical model can be found in literature (Limem and Warner, 2005; Mueller and Kochmann, 2004; Kim and Pourdeyhimi, 2001; Demirci et. al., 2010; Hou et. al., 2009; Ridruejo et. al., 2010). These studies predict the mechanical properties of the nonwovens at only initial deformation level. None of these deals with the higher deformation and failure of the nonwovens. Development of numerical model (based on finite element method) for low density nonwovens, which can take into account the real deformation and fracture micromechanisms and deal with the failure of

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Chapter 1. Introduction

nonwovens, would be a novel contribution to the scientific knowledge and would be useful for both academia and industry. Finally, this research is commissioned by Wolfson School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Loughborough University, in conjunction with Nonwoven Cooperative Research Center (NCRC), North Carolina State University. NCRC is the platform of industry-leading companies from all over the world and the progression of the work was assessed biannually by the industrial advisors from the renowned nonwoven manufacturers. The outcome of the research will help these companies to eliminate some very costly and time consuming stages in product development and thus save time and money.

1.3

Methodology

The research employs the Finite Elements method to simulate the deformation and fracture behaviour of low planar density (<50 g/m2) thermally bonded monocomponent fibre nonwoven materials. In order to accomplish the aims of the research, extensive experimentation and computational modelling, described below, have been carried out. First, the mechanical behaviour of the fibres, that constitute the nonwoven fabrics under study, has been investigated using the tensile and relaxation experimentation. The mechanical behaviour of the nonwoven material has been analysed based on the properties obtained from the fibres. The mechanical performance of nonwovens is affect by the orientation of the fibres also. Optical and electron microscopy have been used for capturing the images of materials microstructure. The obtained images have been examined using the image analysis facilities, developed by Demirci et. al., 2011, to obtain the orientation distribution of the fibres in material. At macroscopic level, the mechanical performance of the nonwovens has been also been analysed by performing the tensile tests. Since, the material will be simulated with the help of developed Finite Element (FE) model, these tests results will be used to validate the simulation results and tweak the model if necessary.

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Chapter 1. Introduction

The numerical modelling of the nonwoven materials will start by introducing the randomness of the microstructure in terms of orientation distribution function (ODF). The ODF will be obtained from the image analysis of the microstructure using the digit image processing technique and stored in a file. A subroutine will be developed to generate the discontinues FE model directly from the input file. The fabric will be dealt as assembly of two regions having distinct mechanical properties.The bond point will be treated as deformable solid composed of fibre material. On the other hand, fibrous matrix will be treated as the load-transfer links between the bond points. The viscoelastic-plastic properties will be obtained from the mechanical properties of the fibres. The orientation of the fibres and the mechanical properties analysed for the two regions i.e. bond point and fibre matrix will be modelled in FE software with bond points as deformable solid and fibre matrix as truss elements. Finally, the simulations of several nonwovens with different manufacturing parameters will be performed and the results of these simulations will be validated by the experimentations. The methodology is summarized in flow chart, shown in figure 1.1.

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Chapter 1. Introduction

1.4

Outline

The report is presented in five chapters, the summary of which is following: Chapter 2

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CHAPTER II
NONWOVEN MATERIALS
Nonwovens are engineered fabrics, which are widely used in daily life. These are composed of randomly oriented fibres consolidated together by mechanical, thermal or chemical technique. These can be disposable intended for single-use to durable for multiple-use. The major advantages of nonwovens are the low cost and flexibility in characteristics. Nonwovens can be designed to have particular characteristics according to their specific purpose. These characteristics are provided by the combination of various properties of nonwoven (e.g. softness, absorbency, flame retardency, strength)while maintaining the profitable balance between the expected product life and cost to ensure fitness for purpose (Russell, 2007). A sample image of typical nonwoven is shown in figure 2.1.

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Chapter 2. Nonwoven Materials

The basic information about the nonwovens in terms of classification, application areas and properties has been provided in this chapter. Some of the basic terminologies of nonwoven have also been introduced which would be used in succeeding chapters.

2.1

Classification

To date nonwovens can be divided into many sub-groups depending on the fibrematerial, processing parameters, planar density etc. In the present work, nonwovens have been classified according to the scope of this research work as shown in the figure 2.1. The mechanical behaviour of nonwovens depends on many factors e.g. manufacturing parameters, material of constituent fibres etc. The changes in any of these factors bring enormous variation in behaviour of the nonwovens (Adanur liao 1999, Bhat et al 2004,Datla 2002,Kim hs 2004,Lin et al. 2003EmrahRawal, 2006; Batra, 1998; Bhat et. al. 2004). Therefore, different types of nonwovens possess different characteristics and exhibit distinct behaviour.Hence, it is difficult to develop a FE model valid for all types of nonwovens. In order to make the work tractable, the research is focus on monocomponent fibres thermally bonded low-density point-bonded nonwovens as it is one of the widely used techniques for the production of nonwovens (Dharmadhikary et
al., 1995Emrah).

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Chapter 2. Nonwoven Materials

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Chapter 2. Nonwoven Materials

2.2

Application Areas

Over the past few decades, the use of nonwovens has augmented rapidly and now it has penetration in almost all fields of life. It is reflected by the use of nonwovens in hygiene, health care, civil engineering, clothing, food, packaging, filters, automotive, to name only few end uses (Albrecht, 2003). Classification Hygiene Building/roofing Wipes, personal care Upholstery/table linen/household Wipes, other Civil engineering/underground Others/unidentified Automotive Liquid filtration Medical/surgical Air/gas filtration Coating substrates Floorcovering Interlinings Shoe leather goods Garments % of Total 33.1 12.5 8.1 6.8 6.7 5.4 5.3 3.9 3.7 2.6 2.4 2.4 2.3 2.1 1.9 0.8

European produced nonwovens consumption by end use (Russell, 2007) Major usage of nonwovens is for the hygiene products followed by some structural and mechanical applications. But irrespective of the application areas, all the types of nonwovens require the knowledge of their deformation and fracture behaviour, so that, they could be manufactured strong enough to perform the intended functions without being disintegrate into individual fibres. Thus, understanding of the mechanical

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Chapter 2. Nonwoven Materials

behaviour of nonwovens at deformation and fracture stages would help to produce the nonwovens for longer service life with better functionality.

2.3

Thermally bonded nonwovens

The past decades has seen the increase in usage of thermal bonding technique to great extent for the manufacturing of nonwovens.Nowadays, it is the widely used technology in the manufacturing of nonwovens (Bhat et al., 2004). It can be used in spunbond, meltblown, wet-lay, air-lay and carded-web formation technique (Mishakov, V. Slutsker, G. and Stalevich, A. 2006, Michielsen, S., Pourdeyhimi, B.,and Desai, P. 2006xiaonan)As, the usage of this technology for the manufacturing of nonwovens is increasing day by day, this research work is focused onunderstanding the deformation and fracture behaviour of thermally bonded nonwovens and develops a FE model to predict it. This section briefly describes some of the features specific to thermally bonded nonwovens. In thermal bonding, fibres are joined together by the external forces i.e. temperature and pressure with the required pattern. The localised melting and diffusion of the fibres, according to pattern, form the inter-fibre connection on subsequent cooling (Thermal Bonding of Polypropylene). Since, the melting if involved in thermal bonding, thermoplastic component must be present in any form (e.g. fibre, powder, film etc)during this process. The commonly used materials for thermally bonded nonwovens are polymers, in which Polypropylene is most frequently used due to its chemical stability, good mechanical strength and low melting temperature (Emrah..thesis). Here, the research is focussed on the monocomponent thermally-bonded nonwovens made of Polypropylene (PP). The viability of thermal bonding lies in the several advantages over other manufacturing processes of nonwovens. The most important of these are:

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Chapter 2. Nonwoven Materials

y y y y y

Less capital investment (Structure and prop of polyprpylene) Lower manufacturing cost (Bhat et. al., 2001) Higher throughput (Nonwoven, willey) Better control onnonwoven properties (Nonwoven, willley) Less environmental impact (material can be 100% recycleable) (Russell, 2007) One of the characteristics of the polymer is changing in mechanical properties with

change in temperature. Since, heat is employed in thermal bonding which changes the temperature during manufacturing of nonwovens; the properties of the fabric are different from those of virgin fibres, depending upon the process variables [2-4 of structure and properties of polypropylene]. According to Krcma, 1962, the information about thermal and mechanical properties of fibres along with their geometry (e.g. fibre length, cross-section, curliness etc.) is prerequisite for the research on mechanical properties of nonwovens.

2.3.1 Manufacturing stages

There are several types of thermal bonding, such as hot calendaring, through air bonding, ultrasonic bonding, and radiant bonding (Gao and Huang, 2004..Emrah). In all types of thermal bonding processes, bonding is accomplished in three basic phases (Wang, Michielsen 2002; Michielsen, 2006) 1. Compressing and heating the web to partially melt in the crystalline region 2. Diffusion of the new released chain segments across fibre-fibre interface to form the bonds 3. Cooling of the bonded web to re-solidify it and mechanically lock the diffused chain segments Thus, the bonding process converts web of weak fibres into tenacious fabric. Of all

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Chapter 2. Nonwoven Materials

the types of thermal bonding, hot calender bonding is the most frequently used technique in thermally bonded nonwovens manufacturing (Bhat et al., 2004). Therefore, in order to avoid the intractable situation, the author has restricted the research work to the calendared bonded nonwovens. During thermal calender bonding, the above mentioned phases of fibres conversion into fabric are achieved in the following stages: First, fibres are produced form the molten raw material(s) and dropped freely on the conveyer belt to form the web. The orientation distribution of the fibres is defined at this stage, which produce anisotropic properties in the material. The illustration of this process is shown in figure 2.1.

Secondly, the web is manipulated according the geometric requirements. Then, this manipulated web made of thermoplastic fibres or filaments is passed through the nip of two rolls pressed against each other and heated at certain level of pressure and temperature respectively (Bhat and Malkan, 2002). The web is condensed in the roller gap and melted at contact point within a short period by the application of pressure and temperature. Often, one of these two rolls has engraved pattern and other is smooth. In some cases, both the rollers are engraved with identical pattern of raised and depressed areas but it leads to issue of aligning both rollers to achieve the desired pattern which is

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2. Nonwoven M teri l

di i lt and expensi e (R ssell 2007). Thus, the nonwovens manufactured by thermal bonding consist of two distinct regions: fibr web and bond points.The fibres are e solidified and bonded together at the bond points. The fibre web between the bond points keep them together. The process of conversion of week fibre web into tenacious fabric is illustrated in figure 2.2.

Bridging fibres Bond point

Fibre web Calendering Direction

Fabric

Typical hot calendering process The fibres located at the bond points are heated up significantly during thermal bonding process, while the morphology of the bridging fibres is slightly changed due to conduction of heat from the rollers to the fibres (Wang and Michielsen, 2002). During optimi ed thermal bonding, fibres at the bond points are not completely melted to give the film-like structure but flattened as shown in figure 2.3. It provides the fabric with good softness and better strength (Xianonan Hou, thesis) .

Chapter 2. Nonwoven Materials

Finally, the finishing of nonwovens could be done to attain certain characteristics (e.g. dimensional stability, flame resistance etc.). Finishing is essential when merely the selection of raw material and bonding conditions are not sufficient to attain these characteristics (Textile technology By Burkhard Wulfhorst, Thomas Gries, Dieter Veit).

2.3.2 Outstanding Features

The nonwovens have unique behaviour and properties which are different from the fibres, with which they are composed of. This behaviour of nonwovennot only depends on its macroscopic properties but also on its microstructure (Ridruejo, 2011). These macroscopic properties (mechanical, physical and chemical properties) and

microstructure of nonwovens are determined by the fibre composition and the fabric structure. Fibre composition stands for the material, structure and mechanical behaviour of the fibre while the fabric structure refers to the orientation distribution of fibres in fabric; bond point size, shape, pattern; and planar density.During thermal bonding process, some unique features are developed in the nonwovens which make them distinguished from other types of nonwovens. These features are as follows:
y y

Nonwovens have two regions: bond point and fibre matrix Both of the region, bond points and fibre matrix, have distinguish properties, which are different from the virgin fibres

Morphological changes occur in fibres due to conduction of heat during the bonding process and morphology of the fibres at bond perimeter is different from the original fibre and the bond point

The nonwovens bonded at optimized temperature give the desired strength while the under-bonded and over-bonded nonwovens exhibit lesser strength.

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Chapter 2. Nonwoven Materials

2.4

Summary

The classification of nonwoven materials and application areas has been briefly described to define the research scope properly. The properties of the nonwovens can easily be adjusted to make them useful for specific purpose. Having unique behaviour and manufacturing advantages, nonwovens have wide application spectrum. This research is focussed on thermally point-bonded nonwovens. The manufacturing technique along with the unique features developed during this process has been introduced. The mechanical and physical properties of these materials must be discussed as these are closely related to current research and will be explained in subsequent chapter.

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Chapter III
MECHANICAL BEHAVIOUR OF NONWOVENS
The suitability of nonwoven for a specific application is governed by its physical, chemical and mechanical properties (Russell, 2007). Although, all these properties of nonwoven materials are very important from their manufacturing perspective, only physical and mechanical properties have been discussed here as they are related to the deformation and damage behaviour of nonwovens. Mechanical properties of the nonwovens have been studied by many researchers (Adanur and Liao, 1999; Kim, 2004; Rawal, 2006; Michielsen et. al., 2006; Rawal, 2010) to understand the tensile strength, break length, elongation and deformation characteristics. Since, thermally bonded nonwovens consist of two regions (bond points and fibre matrix) having distinct properties, the mechanical behaviour of the fabric could only be predicted by knowing the properties of these two regions.

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Chapter 3. Mechanical behaviour of Nonwovens

The mechanical properties of the fibres forming the web are essential to determine the properties of the fibre web. The mechanical properties of fibres are defined by the number of parameters e.g. tenacity, initial modulus, breaking force etc. (Gusick et. al., 1963). These properties are determined with the help of tensile testing. The bond points are the regions composed of fibres joined together by heating and subsequent cooling. The fibres change their morphology from the fibre matrix into the bond points. This change in morphology is determined by the change in birefringence of the fibres, and is measured with the help of interference microscope [3 rapid morphology, barakat, hamze..emrah thesais].This phenomenon changes the fibre modulus significantly and affects the overall mechanical properties of the nonwovens.

3.1

Mechanical Anisotropy

Due to the nature of the web formation and bonding processes, the fibres in the nonwovens are not oriented in single direction, rather randomly oriented. This disordered orientation of fibres in nonwoven materials causes anisotropic mechanical properties both at micro and macro level (Michielsen et al. 2006; Kim, 2004) and it is the most prominent feature of the mechanical behaviour of nonwovens.The anisotropy of the nonwovens is due to random orientation distribution of the fibres and the bond pattern (Pourdeyhimi et. al, 1996Baris).Thus, the accurate determination and implementation of the fibres orientation and bond pattern into the computational model has vital importance for successful prediction of deformation and damage behaviour of nonwovens. The level of anisotropy in nonwovens is much higher than that of their woven counterparts, which have different mechanical properties in two principle directions, namely, warp and weft (Price et. al., 2006Emrah). In case of nonwovens, the anisotropy in two principle directions is used to make it simple i.e. machine direction (MD) and cross direction (CD). MD is longitudinal direction parallel to the production direction of the nonwovens. CD is the perpendicular direction to MD in the plane of web.

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Chapter 3. Mechanical behaviour of Nonwovens

The orientation distribution of the fibres is one of the prerequisites to deal with the randomness of the nonwoven materials. In 1952, distribution function was introduced for the first time to represent the fibre orientation in the fibrous media (Cox, 1952). After which, the orientation distribution function (ODF) became a common way to deal with the randomness of the fibres. Now, the determination of ODF is essential for nonwoven as well as for woven materials (Wood, 1990; Xu, 1996). Many researches have been done to determine the ODF of fibrous network. Initially, the phenomenon of dichroism and birefringence was suggested to determine the ODF. Then, the development in computational tools and imaging devices make it possible to determine ODF directly from the microscopic images of the fibrous network. The development of different techniques has been provided in Table 3.1 in chronological order. Now a day, mainly two methods are being used for the determination of ODF from the textiles: Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and Hough Transform (HT). Fourier transform is the one of the most useful technique in the field of image processing (Xu and Ting). It is an indirect method which decomposes the image from its spatial domain of intensities into frequency domain. But there are some drawbacks associated with this technique e.g. lightening condition can affect the results, binarized image may give false ODF (Ghassemieh et. al., 2002Emrah). HT is used to detect an object from an image effectively. By using this method, fibres in the fabric are detected via straight-line segments (Xu and YU, 1997Emrah). Each method for ODF determination has its own advantages over other methods. The main advantage of HT over FFT is that the results are relatively less affected by the image noise (Ghassemieh et. al., 2002emrah). The software used here for the determination of ODF is developed by Demirci et. al., 2011,using HT technique. It can compute the ODF of any fibrous media (e.g. fibrous metal networks, fibre-reinforced composites)from its micro-image obtained with X-ray micro CT or Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) technique. The graphic user interface of this software is shown in Figure 3.1. TheODF computed by this software is a histogram (Figure 3.2) to present the distribution of fibres relative to the reference

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Chapter 3. Mechanical behaviour of Nonwovens

direction. This ODF quantifies the degree of randomness of fibre matrix within the nonwoven material. As, the randomness in fabric microstructure defines its anisotropic behaviour, this ODF will be essential for predicting the direction-dependant mechanical behaviour of nonwovens. In addition to ODF, the level of anisotropy in nonwoven materials is also influenced by bond point pattern and geometry . (Lin et. al., 1973Emrah). e.g. tensile strain in MD causes the lateral compression of the bond points while the repositioning of the bond points occurs in CD (Kim et al., 2000).

Technique Visual method based on directional phenomenon of dichroism and birefringence directly from the fibrous media Zero span tensile testing method Optical method based on the illumination of the fibres in known direction by the light microscope Computer system based on the light diffraction phenomenon Random sampling algorithm and software to pick the random fibres and trace them to estimate the ODF Algorithm to extract the ODF from the images taken by CCD camera

Author(s)

Year

Hearle and Stevenson

1963

Kallmes

1969

Chuleigh

1984

Stenemur

1992

Huang and Bresee

1993

Xu and Ting

1995

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Chapter 3. Mechanical behaviour of Nonwovens

Software based on Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) ODF based on Hough Transform of images Computer program based on Hough Transform (HT)

Pourdeyhimi et. al.

1997

Acar et. al.

2002

Demirci et. al.

2011

Beside randomness of the microstructure and bond point geometry, the curliness of the fibres also contributes to the anisotropic behaviour of the nonwovens. The curliness of the fibre is due to the crimp which is defined as the successive waviness in the fibres induced mechanically or chemically (Brown, 1995).Because of the crimp,not all the fibres areunder same loading up to certain level of loading of fabric. The crimped fibresnot only cause anisotropy but also present considerable variation in mechanical behaviour than their uncrimped counterparts (Shiffler, 1995).Therefore, crimp is an important factor in determining the mechanical behaviour of nonwovens. The effect of fibre curl on the properties of fibre network was first studied by Hearle and Stevenson in 1963. After that many studies ignored the effect of fibre curl as it is very challenging to deal with it especially in nonwovens. A micromechanical model to predict the mechanical behaviour of nonwoven was developed by Rawal, 2006 based on the earlier work done by Adanur and Liao, 1999. In this model, fibre curl factor was introduced to develop the understanding of effect of loading on the curled single fibre.

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Chapter 3. Mechanical behaviour of Nonwovens

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Chapter 3. Mechanical behaviour of Nonwovens

3.2

Deformation and Failure Behaviour

Nonwoven fabrics have unique and complex mechanical behaviour and many researchers have been endeavoured to investigate it, but only a very few investigate the deformation especially failure mechanisms in nonwovens. The two distinct regions of nonwoven material, bond point and fibre matrix, have different microstructure and both of these region play their role in defining the overall deformation behaviour of the fabric. Because of it, the deformation behaviour of nonwovens resembles partially with behaviour of other materials; e.g. the presence of fibre matrix give the viscoelastic behaviour similar to the polymersand the randomness of the fibres in this matrix make it similar to woven textiles. The deformation and failure characteristics of nonwoven materials vary by changing the direction of loading, due to their anisotropic behaviour. Normally, the MD and CD directions are used to explain these characteristicsof nonwovens (Figure 3.) (Kim and pourdeyhimi, 2000Xiaonan, kim et. al, 2001, xiaonan kim 2004 (b)..emrah) but sometimes the angles between MD and CD are also used for further explanation of deformationand failure behaviour of these materials (michielsen et. al., 2006emrah).

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The deformation and failure process of nonwovens involve many micromechanisms that affect the overall behaviour of nonwovens e.g. striating of fibres in direction of loading, rotation of fibres to be uncurled, fibre sliding, bond breakage , friction etc (Ridreju ..damage, Kim and pourdehimi, 2000 Anderassen, Myhre etal. , 1995,..xiaonan). The complexity of the deformation and failure behaviour of nonwoven materials can be referred to the fact that these micromechanisms act simultaneously during their deformation and failure processes (Ridreju..Micromechanisms).In terms of loading, the deformation and failure of nonwovens is governed by a uni ue loading mechanism which is affected by the tension, shearing and compression of the constituent fibres. The type of the load on the individual fibres, during the deformation and failure process of the fabric, depends on theirorientation as compared to the direction of loading (Kim 2004bxiaonan). Thus, the randomness of nonwoven microstructructe makes the deformation and fracture processes of the fabric, direction dependant. The directional dependency of deformation behaviour of thermally bonded nonwovens is depicted in Figure 3. .

(MD)

Load (N)

Extension (%)

Obviously, according to Figure 3., the deformation of the nonwoven materials along MD is less as compare to that of CD at any particular loading value. Thus, nonwoven materials have higher strength along MD than CD. This is because of the web-forming process of nonwovens as the fibres are laid along the conveyer belt

ter 3. Mechanical behaviour of Nonwovens

(CD)

Chapter 3. Mechanical behaviour of Nonwovens

direction resulting in higher number of fibres oriented along MD than CD. Thus, the compression of the bond points and negligible rotation of the fibres occur when the nonwoven materials are deformed by the loading in MD. While, the loading of material in CD results in the large number of fibres to rotate in the direction of loading and repositioning of the bond points. Th ese deformation mechanisms of nonwovens is illustrated in Figure 3..

The failure of nonwovens is also The nonwovens materials exhibit nonlinear deformation behaviour. This

The inter -fibre bonds start to break at the initial stages of deformation and the reorientation of the fibres triggers by this bond breakage. This process remains continue upon loading, leading to higher stresses in the fibres oriented in loading directio The n. further bond breakage leads to locali ation of the damage (Figure 3.). Further loading causes the fibres aligned in the loading direction to undergo the plastic deformation and the fracture zone develops at damage points which ultimately lead to the rupture of the nonwovens (Ridrejumicromechanism).

nonlinearity is

Chapter 3. Mechanical behaviour of Nonwovens

The bonding temperature during the thermal bonding has vital importance. Dur as it not only determines the level of bonding but nip pressure, manufacturing throughput and web parameters (e.g. planar density )

several studies have been carried out to understand the mechanical behaviour of this type nonwovens Therefore, it is crucial to develop better understanding of mechanical behaviour of nonwovens not only at lower deformation level but up to their fracture, both at micro and macro level.

The prerequisite for producing the nonwoven for a particular application is good understanding of the fibre properties, structural parameters and manufacturing parameters as all these factors affect the behaviour of nonwovens (Rawal, 2006; Batra, 1998; Bhat et. al. 2004)
y y y y

Fibres than yarn Nonwovens has porous and permeable structure rather than continuous Nonuniform structure..babsis weight and thickness distribution Nonwovens are anisotropic because of the orientation distribution of the fibres

y The properties of nonwovens are affected by their manufacturing processes. The

physical, mechanical and chemical properties of nonwovens are affected by the manufacturing processes.

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Chapter 3. Mechanical behaviour of Nonwovens

Polymer material has the nature of changing their properties with the change in temperature during manufacturing process. .Therefore, the mechanical properties of the virgin fibres are different from the processed ones. The dimensional stability of the fibres by morphologymeasured by interference microscope

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