Abhijit Kochargonkar General Manager Reliance Industries, Mumbai
Dr. U.K. Saroop General Manager Reliance Industries, Mumbai
FTechnical textiles are defined as
textile material and products that
are used for its technical performance
and functional properties than its
aesthetic or decorative characteristics.
Nonwoven textile forms part of technical
textiles which has rapidly established
itself in this category and is creating
newer applications. Nonwovens
are probably the only product to have a
negative definition as it states that it is
not woven. Lot of people are not aware
of nonwoven despite coming across the
same many times everyday. Globally it
forms 20% of all the technical textiles
fabric usage.
The nonwoven industry is relatively
new and came into existence in the
1950’s. During the initial three decades,
growth of industry had been highest compared
to most other manufacturing industries
in America and Europe. It is now
getting developed very rapidly in the
Asian region. In Asia the major producers
are based in Japan, Taiwan, Korea,
Thailand and China. The Nonwoven industry
in India is still in its infancy with
many players now entering in this field.
Evolution
Nonwoven industry has developed from
three different technologies -
Traditional Textile Industry with
which Dry Form process was developed.
Paper Industry with which Wet process
was developed. Synthetic fiber industry
with which Spun bond and melt
blown process were developed.
These industries developed a distinctive
type of Nonwoven process. Although
the basic processes are different,
products that are produced are similar
and hence are replaceable by product
from other technology. The nonwoven
industry has developed with
merging, overlapping of products, process
and businesses.
Early years of Nonwoven technology
were characterized by product substitution
to replace traditional woven
and knitted fabric with nonwoven.
Hence nonwoven with higher production
speed and lower weight found preference
over the tradition fabric due to
its cost advantage. The current efforts
are directed towards developing new
applications which can use the properties
of nonwoven fabric effectively.
....contd.
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