 |
||||
 |
||||
 |
||||
 |
||||
 |
||||
 |
||||
 |
||||
 |
||||
The cost and performance characteristics of nonwovens make them ideally suited for wiping applications. Nonwovens offer numerous advantages compared to textile and paper wipers and have achieved a significant and growing share of the North American and international industrial wiper markets.
Disposable wipers have achieved over one-third share of the North American industrial wiper business, with rags and textile shop towels accounting for the balance. The penetration of nonwovens continues to grow as new generation products are tailored to the specific cost and performance requirements of various segments of the market. For example, nonwovens have gained an impressive share of the food service wiper segment at the expense of textile bar towels since they provide equal or lower cost per use, superior absorbency, rinseability and reusability.
Many industries view wipers as necessary tools since they provide better value-in-use than other alternatives in special applications. Because they are low linting with low extractables, soft, strong and absorbent, wipers have many advantages in clean rooms and controlled manufacturing environments in the pharmaceutical, semiconductor, biotechnology and aerospace industries.Special wipers are also used by technicians who service copy machines and telephone systems. The automotive and aerospace industries use wipers for surface preparation prior to painting.
Nonwovens are replacing rags, paper and shop towels in many general manufacturing markets such as automotive, furniture, transportation, utilities and printing/graphic arts. In many of these markets, price is an important factor in wiper selection. However, a number of other requirements must also be met such as specific absorbency, durability/strength, low lint and low/negligible extractables. Nonwovens often provide a better balance of cost/performance than alternatives.
Wipers
are made from many types of nonwovens including carded, spunlaced, air
laid pulp, double re-creped paper, wet laid, melt blown, and scrim reinforced
tissue. The success of nonwoven manufacturers in this large and highly
diverse wiper market is related to their ability to thoroughly understand
the requirements of specific wiping tasks and to engineer fabrics to specific/cost
requirements.
WEB FORMING TECHNOLOGIES
