What's New With Nonwovens in the Medical Industry?
The utilization of medical nonwoven fabric has outpaced woven materials in recent years. Even when traced back to their rapid adoption during WWII, nonwovens were proven to be superior products in terms of adaptability, disposability, cost, and effectiveness. Manufacturing technology improved in the following decades until current-day use of nonwovens has placed them in a position to dominate the medical textile industry.
What are Nonwovens Fabrics?
Nonwovens are defined as sheets or web structures bonded together by the process of entangling fibers or filaments (and sometimes by perforating films) mechanically, chemically, or thermally. The fibers may be oriented randomly throughout the fabric or only following one direction.
Multiple layers may be combined to achieve the desired elongation, strength, and other mechanical properties. Porosity is controlled by varying fiber density, diameter, orientation, and the use of additional mechanical processing.
Key characteristics of nonwovens that justify their use and popularity:
durability
strength
resilience
dimensional stability
low elongation
specific processing to control porosity