Needle punch is the second-largest market segment in terms of capacity after the spunbond process segment. It is a continuously growing market with new opportunities and growing demands in its core applications like automotive, geotextiles, filtration, and home products. For more information log on to www.ategroup.com.

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Needle punch nonwoven applications
A.T.E. Enterprises Private Limited
V2.1 Mar 2018

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Web-forming
Web-bonding
Web-treatment
Web-handling
Melt spun Dry laid Air laid Wet laid
§ Meltblown
§ Carded
§ Air laid § Wet laid
§ Spunlaid
Thermal Chemical
§ Hydro-
entanglement
§ Calender § Padder
§ Needle punch
Dewatering Drying Dyeing Chemical
§ Vacuum § TAD § Padder § Padder
§ Squeezer
Winding Slitting Packaging Control
§ Winder § Slitter § Packaging § Line control
§ Oven
§ Low add-on
Mechanical
§ Quality control
Nonwoven technologies – needle punch
The table shows several nonwoven production technologies. Needle punching is one of these many nonwoven
production methods. For needle punching, a web or batt is first formed by carding (also referred to as dry laid).
The needle punching then mechanically bonds the web, after which it is wound. Density (GSM) monitoring and
control is widely used in line in the production process.

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Needle punch technology
 Needle punching is a nonwoven process by
which the fibers are mechanically entangled
or bonded by repeated penetration of
barbed needles through a preformed dry
fibrous web or batt to produce a fabric.
 Needle punching is by far the most versatile
and commonly used method of bonding,
accounting for 20-25% of the nonwovens.
 Needle punched fabric forms the base in
making many composites.

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Needle punch looms – the working of the machine
 A needle loom consists essentially of a needle board, a stripper plate and a stitching plate.
 Needles are arranged in a number of rows (up to 23-26) in a needle board with about 1500 to 5000 needles per
linear meter.
 The loom moves the needle board in a vertical, up and down stroke
 Board size ranges from 200 mm to 320 mm – to be slightly more than the planned fabric width.
 Stripper and stitching plates are perforated so that needles pass through them during the up and down
movement of each stroke. The stroke varies from 30 mm to 60 mm.
 As the needles penetrates through the web or batt, the barbs carry fibres with them thereby causing mechanical
entanglement of fibres.
 The needles are usually triangular in cross-section with barbs at the three edges.

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Needle punch nonwovens – application summary
Automotive
Geotextiles
Carpets
Filtration
Coating substrates
Roofing membrane
Industrial wipes
Personal care wipes

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Application – coating substrates (artificial leather)
118
 Weight:: 70 – 250 gsm (spunlaced) / 80 – 1,200 gsm (needle punched)
 Fibers used: PET (sea-island fibers)
 Fiber fineness: 0.9 – 6.7 dtex (down to 0.6 for needling)
Coated artificial leather is found in shoes, belts, apparel, bags,
suitcases, seat covers, and automotive textiles.
The nonwoven substrate is usually coated with polyurethane (PUR) or
PVC. PUR or PVC coated materials resemble smooth leather goods.
Suede leather like materials (such as Alcantara®) are microfiber-
based. Sea-island bicomponent fibers are extensively mechanically
needled and the sea-component of the fiber is washed out.
Main functional characteristics of
coating substrates:
• High tensile strength
• Isotropic
• High wet strength
• Soft
• Permeable to vapour
• Wear resistant
single use
multiple use durable
disposable

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Application – needle punched carpets
 Weight: 250 – 2,000 gsm
 Fibers used: PA mostly spun-dyed PP, PET and some with several colours
used
 Fiber fineness: 3.3 – 300 dtex
165
Needle punched carpets are tailor-made for the extreme
demands of office buildings, conference rooms, exhibitions and
other public areas.
Consisting of more than 10 fiber types/colours, they require
extensive blending and carding processes to obtain a web
of extreme uniformity.
Carpet backings are low-cost needled nonwovens from PP, R-
PET, reclaimed cotton and other cheap materials.
Main functional characteristics of needle
punched carpets:
• UV resistant
• Wear resistant
• Dense
• Elastic
• Sound absorbing
Technologies
• Mechanical needling with 2 cards and
2 crosslappers
single use
multiple use durable
disposable

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Application – wipes
to ap
283
Wipes range from lightweight to heavy duty wipes for single as well as
multiple uses. A usual distinction is:
 Household wipes – for dry and wet cleaning; all 4 bonding processes
are used for these usually multiple use products with air laid leading (dry
laid + spunlaced as well dry laid + chemical bonded follow).
 Industrial wipes – heavy duty, multiple use products for the easy
removal of oil, grease, paint, ink and adhesives.
 Personal care wipes – according to EDANA the average weight is just
above 40 gsm. The material is mostly carded and spunlaced (95% in
Europe) or chemical bonded short fibre air laid (~ 5%).
Main functional
characteristics of wipes:
• Absorbent
• Strong/tear resistant
• Dimensional stability
• Soft
• Lint-free
Technologies
• Spunlacing / WLS
• Needle punched
 Weight: 25 – 150 gsm
 Fibres used: PP, PET, R-PET, CV, Cotton
single use
multiple use durable
disposable

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Application – automotive nonwovens
Weight:: 80 – 450 gsm up to 1,500 gsm for paddings etc.
Fibers used: PP, PA, PET, PET+BiCo, glass
to applications
157
In every passenger car some 20 to 30 kg of textile materials
(woven, knitted, and nonwoven goods) can be found.
Nonwovens:
 carpet, trim, headliner (visible)
 moulded parts, padding, filter media and battery separators
(invisible)
Main functional
characteristics of headliner
material:
• Uniform dye-ability
• UV resistant
• Mouldable
• Wear resistant
• Flame retardant
• Bio resistant
• Thermoformable
single use
multiple use durable
disposable

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Application – roofing membranes
 Weight: 120 – 250 gsm
 Fibers used: PET
 Fineness: 4 – 10 dtex
251
Options available:
 Polyester materials (both filament-based spunbond and staple fiber-based
carded webs) – highly preferred and gaining more and more market
relevance.
 Fire resistant and rot-proved glass fiber mats – is the second preferred.
 Substrates made from felt-cardboard and natural fibers – this is not
generally preferred and is on the decline.
After nonwovens production (including heat setting), the substrates are
coated with bitumen in a subsequent process.
Main functional characteristics
of roofing membranes:
• Dimensional stability
• Isotropic
• Tear resistant
• Heat, water resistant
• Wear and bio-resistant
Technologies:
• Needling (including chemical
bonding and heat setting)
single use
multiple use durable
disposable

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Application – filtration
 Weight: 20 – 650 gsm for air purifying > 400 gsm for hot-air filtration
 Fibers used: PET + bico fibers for household/automotive filters, high performance
fibers (PPS, aramide) for hot-air filtration
185
Filtration is a large area with different filtration types and specific
application requirements. Nonwoven filter media is used for the
separation of gases, liquids and solids.
In dry filtration, large areas for needled or spunlaced media are:
- bags for vacuum cleaners
- air purifiers and air conditioning (roll filters)
For wet filtration (e.g. tea bags, water and oil filter etc.) mostly other
technologies (wet laid and melt blown) are used.
Main functional characteristics of
filter media:
 High tenacity
 Permeable
 Uniform porosity
 Long service life
 Mechanical, chemical, heat resistant
 Resilient
single use
multiple use durable
disposable

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Application – geotextiles
 Weight: 100 – 2,000 (and up to 3,200) gsm
 Fibers used: PET, PP, R-PET, natural fibers
 Fineness: 3.3 – 17 dtex (60-120mm)
210
The term geotextile applies to nonwovens, woven and
warped fabrics used in highway, dam, tunnel, landfill and
waterway construction for:
 Separation
 Filtration
 Drainage
 Reinforcement
.
Main functional characteristics of
geotextiles:
 Dimensional and freeze-thaw stability
 Tensile and high-tear
 Strength
 Puncture resistant
 Elastic, porous
 Water permeable
 Chemical, temperature and UV resistant
 Bio-resistant (application dependant)
single use
multiple use durable
disposable

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