*2.1.1. Cotton*

(Figure 1), put the global nonwovens production at over 1,500,000 tons in North America, over

**•** The basic structural element of textile fabrics is fibers, rather than yarns or threads.

this reason, the choice of fiber is directly related to fabric quality [1-6, 8-11].

**•** The fabrics are held together by means other than the interlacing or interloping character‐

While manufacturing nonwovens some conventional textile operations, such as carding, drawing, roving, spinning, weaving, or knitting, are partially or completely eliminated. For

All kinds of fibers can be used to produce nonwoven fabrics. The selection of fibers is based

2,000,000 tons in China, and around 2,500,000 tons in Europe.

Nonwovens have three key features and are as follows:

**•** The fabrics are composed of textile fibers.

**Figure 1.** World Nonwoven Production by Region [8]

izing traditional woven or knit fabrics [1].

**2. Fibrous materials**

2 Non-woven Fabrics

on the following features[1,6]:

**•** the ease of processability, and

**•** the desired end-use properties of the web.

**•** the cost-effectiveness,

Cotton is the most important vegetable fiber used to produce nonwoven bonded fabrics. The oldest textiles made from cotton originated around 5800 B.C. At present, cotton is cultivated in about 75 countries on 79 million acres of land, which represents about 0.8 % of all agricultural areas worldwide. Cotton plants grow in shrub-or tree-like forms to heights o from 25 cm to 2 m, depending on origin, soil, climate, and cultivation conditions. It grows fruit the size of walnuts which contain seeds that burst open and the cotton swells out in thick white flocks. The process of sowing to harvesting takes 175-225 days. Hand picking is advantageous compared to machine picking, as only fibers from completely mature capsules are being collected. After the harvest, the seeded cotton is ginned. Among the plant-derived fibers, cotton has the highest percentage of cellulose and is free of wooden particulates [1-4,6].

Raw cotton contains the following substances:


The quality of cotton depends on the following parameters:

	- **•** color,

maturity degree (75**-**85%),

	- **•** moisture absorption (7-8%), and

Cotton, as a natural cellulosic fiber, has many characteristics, such as: comfortable,

	- **•** machine-washable,

**Figure 2.** Microscopic View of Cotton Fiber [6] **Figure 2.** Microscopic View of Cotton Fiber [6]

for a high module, and it is hygroscopic.

Figure 2 shows a vertical view, revealing the convolutions typical for a cotton fiber and the cross section of cotton fibers. Cotton's shape and structure make it suitable for the Figure 2 shows a vertical view, revealing the convolutions typical for a cotton fiber and the cross section of cotton fibers. Cotton's shape and structure make it suitable for the production of nonwoven bonded fabric: cotton has a ribbon-shaped cross-sectional form, spiral twist, a

4

production of nonwoven bonded fabric: cotton has a ribbon-shaped cross-sectional form,

spiral twist, a hollow structure, a high wet strength for a hollow structure, a high wet strength

hollow structure, a high wet strength for a hollow structure, a high wet strength for a high module, and it is hygroscopic.

Cotton fiber was used extensively during the early development period of nonwoven business. Cotton mills in USA tried to find ways to upgrade the waste cotton fibers into saleable products. The first method was bonding the short cotton fibers with latex and resin. These products were used in industrial wipes. Over the past decade, bleached cotton fiber has been used for producing fabrics on conventional nonwoven equipment. These products were used in medical and health-care applications, wiping and wiper markets, and some apparel markets. At the same time, cotton fiber has physical properties like fiber length, strength, and resilience, which is important particularly to its process-ability. For example, long cotton fiber is suitable for producing nonwovens. The fiber has excellent absorbency and feels comfortable for the skin. The wet and dry strengths are good. Dimensional stability and resilience recovery are moderate. The spunlace process is usually utilized in producing medical and health-care fabrics, especially in Japan and the Asian region [14].
