Needle-punch fabrics are one of these: they date back to the 1800s and continue to be viable across many industries while still being repurposed with newer options today. (For more on its history, please see below.)
What is Needle-Punching?
For those unfamiliar, Needle-Punched Textiles are the mainstay of the Non-Woven Industries fabric types. Their well-known technology has been around since the 1880s, when it was initially developed in Great Britain to re-use waste fabric from the Knitted and Woven fabric mills.
Needle-Punched Fabric is considered the “Poster Child” for Textile recycling.
Delaware Valley keeps that heritage in mind in all our operations. Today most Non-Woven fabrics are made from new or “virgin” fiber and can be found in uses as wide ranging as from Medical gowns to roofing shingles.
The process uses a barbed needle to penetrate the fibers of a fabric. This creates an effect where the tufts of the fabric’s own fibers are carried vertically through the fabric. This helps create bonds between the fibers of the fabric, and if further binding is needed, adhesive backings can be added or Thermobonding can be employed that is a process that Delaware Valley refined in the 1980’s . This novel Thermobonding process binds the fibers in the fabric without the addition of waterborne adhesives and thus removes any use of water, thus cutting water pollution to zero, reducing the energy needed to evaporate water and it allows the fabric to be fully recycled in the future!
The process of needle-punching is highly efficient and can be automated to a high degree, making it especially cost effective! This is one of the key reasons why Needle Punched Nonwovens has remained so common for a Century and a half! When the basic centuries-old process is combined with more recent advances, like Thermobonding, Needle Punched Nonwovens have become the most cost effective and versatile Textiles in History.
How Needle-Punch Fabric Manufacturing Works
Below are the steps a needle-punch fabric manufacturer will follow during their process. Note: these may vary based on the required application.
- Mixing “Staple” fibers: When we refer to “Staple” fibers, we’re talking about individual fibers that have been cut to specific lengths for the purposes of this precise project. These Staple fibers come in various bales – they might be split by color, material or diameter, depending on the project in question. To begin, your manufacturer will open these bales and mix the required fibers together.
- Combing into a web: From here, these individual fibers are combed (also known as “carded”) into a single web. This web is lapped over itself several times – the number of times may vary depending on the desired chosen loft, density and weight.
- Barbed needle penetration: Next, this web is penetrated repeatedly with barbed needles. The barbs push the upper fiber layers down through the lower layers, thereby interlocking most of the fibers of the fabric, creating a strong interlocked fabric- the degree of this interlocking, again, will depend on the thickness, strength and texture that you need. Needles come in a wide variety of barb configurations that can be selected for different requirements of the finished fabric. The depth of penetration into the fabric and the intensity of needling can be adjusted to further modify the final characteristics of the finished fabric.
- Additional treatment with special forked needles can create 3-dimensional designs in the fabric if desired.
- Finally, adhesives can be added to increase strength to the finished fabric. Delaware Valley strictly utilizes the Thermobonding process and no longer utilizes water or solvent borne adhesives because the thermobonding process conserves energy, produces a stronger bonded fabric, increases the flexibility of the fabric and allows the fabric to be recycled back into useable fiber at the end of its life.
Common Needle-Punch Fabric Uses
The incredible versatility of needle-punch fabrics has evolved into a wide range of specific uses – enhancing their importance in the industry.
- Insulation: Because the needle-punch process can create fabrics that have a high loft quality, they are fantastic for insulation needs. High loft is known to trap in excess air and prevent the kind of heat loss that insulation is aimed at stopping.
- Acoustics: Noise is another key area where needle-punch fabrics are often used. These fabrics can absorb sound in excellent ways, meaning they’re often used for fabric wall coverings or acoustic panels, including in sound studios.
- Preventing abrasion: Needle punched nonwoven fabrics can readily be designed to withstand severe uses such as cargo interior and trunk coverings where severe abrasion is required to withstand loading and unloading of heavy payloads while still presenting an aesthetic finished surface in the vehicle. Their abrasion resistance is also widely demonstrated as they are the fabric of choice in door mats and other walk-off mats.
- Erosion control or drainage: Because needle-punch filter fabrics allow air and water to move through them while stopping soil or other materials from doing so, they are often used for geotextiles and various erosion control or drainage needs.
- Decorative Fabrics: Needle-Punched fabrics offer endless opportunities! They are a cost-effective finished fabric that can be used on walls, office dividers, protective column covers, flooring (carpets and throw rugs), vehicle walls, floor and trunk coverings, window shades and draperies.
- There are endless other applications: needle punched non-woven fabrics are used in air filters, liquid filtration, oil absorbers, roofing, protective tiles in space shuttles, upholstery fabrics, window shades and draperies, construction products, wall and floor coverings, sanitary napkins, diapers, surgical gowns, wound dressings, automotive interiors and exteriors, heat and sound insulation, craft felts, re-useable as well as disposable wipes, abrasive wheels, and on and on and on!
At Delaware Valley Corp., we’re proud to be a top needle-punch fabric manufacturer for all these uses and more. Whether you need them for insulation, acoustics or any other area, our team is here to help with top-quality products. Contact us today to learn more about how our needle-punch filter fabrics can benefit your industry!