Physical properties of Jute-viscose blended needle punched nonwoven Part Ⅱ: Compressibility and bending stiffness

摘要

Needle punched nonwoven fabrics were made from jute-viscose blended fibre using various levels of blend, fabric weight, punch density and depth of needle penetration. The level of variables and their combinations in the experimental plan was selected following a statistical experimental designing technique. Different needle punched nonwoven fabric properties e.g. compressibility (thickness loss and energy loss) and bending modulus were studied. The changes in fabric thickness loss and energy loss during thickness compression and recovery follows similar trend. The compressibility of fabric in terms of thickness loss or energy loss is initially reduced with the increase in fabric weight, punch density and depth of penetration and after attaining a minimum value starts increasing if the increase in those variables is continued further. The changes in jute/viscose blend proportion in needle punched nonwoven fabric do not have much effect on changes in fabric compressibility. Bending modulus of fabric increases with the increase in fabric weight whereas fabric bending modulus after attaining a maximum value starts declining with the increase in punch density and depth of needle penetration. Blending of viscose fibre with jute in needle punched nonwoven fabric reduces fabric bending modulus. The predicted response surface equations for various properties of jute/ viscose blended needle punched nonwoven agree well with the experimental data as evident from high value of coefficients of multiple correlation.