Opportunities And Possibilities For New Products Based On The Wet-laid Processpart 1: Nonwovens Made Of Natural And Wood Fibers

摘要

This article will show that in the wet-laid process, natural fibers such as flax, hemp, sisal and others as well as wood fibers are suitable - but so far rarely used - for processing of wet-laid nonwovens material. Wet-laid materials or nonwovens are used today in the areas of filtration, construction, coating, plastic reinforcement, battery separators, cars, hygiene/medicine, household and cleaning. In relation to the total production of nonwovens materials the share of wet-laid ones is rather small. Of the worldwide nonwovens production predicted for the year 2010 of approx. 5 million tons, about 870,000 tons will be produced with the wet-laid process [1] (table).