What Are Nonwovens and How Are They Made?
What comes to mind when you hear the word nonwovens? Maybe wet wipes, diapers or nappies, face masks, automative filters, or insulation. All of these are correct and then some. Nonwovens surround us in everyday life. But what exactly are nonwovens, and how are they made?
According to the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry (INDA) ,“a nonwoven fabric is a primarily fibrous assembly — other than a traditional paper, woven, or knit — which has been engineered to some level of structural integrity by physical and/or chemical means.”
In other words, nonwovens are sheets or webs of natural, synthetic, or regenerated fibers that are formed into fabric through non-traditional methods such as weaving or knitting. Instead, fibers are laid, entangled, and bonded to form a stable structure.
Types of Nonwovens
Nonwovens appear in a wide range of everyday and industrial products, including (but not limited to):
- Hygiene and personal care: feminine hygiene pads, adult incontinence products, cosmetic removal pads, and personal care wipes
- Medical and healthcare: PPE, surgical gowns and drapes, sterilization wraps, shoe covers, and disposable bedding
- Filtration: HVAC filters, liquid filtration media, and HEPA filters
- Industrial uses: fiberglass mat or glass veil, geotextiles, roofing underlayment, and cable wrapping
- Household goods: dryer sheets, mop pads, dusting cloths, and vacuum cleaner bags
- Home furnishings: carpet backing, upholstery linings, and mattress insulators
- Agriculture: frost protection covers, seed blankets, and weed-control fabrics
- Packaging: tea and coffee pods, thermal liners, and cushioning layers
Three Main Nonwovens Manufacturing Categories
Because nonwovens are best understood as fabrics formed directly from fibers without weaving and knitting, they are generally grouped into three categories based on how the fibers are formed into a web:
- Wetlaid
- Airlaid
- Polymer extrusion - spunbond, meltblown, and spunbond-meltblown-spunbond (SMS) composites
These production methods enable the creation of materials used across the diverse applications found in hygiene, medical, filtration, roofing, industrial, and consumer markets.
What are Wetlaid Nonwovens?
Wetlaid nonwovens are one of the industry’s most established manufacturing approaches. The process mirrors papermaking: fibers are suspended in water, formed into a web, dewatered, bonded, and finished.
This technique enables uniform fiber distribution and is ideal for very short fibers that cannot be processed using other methods.
Wetlaid systems produce uniform, paper-like, high-strength materials from cellulose, glass, synthetic microfibers, and blends.
Kadant’s Role
Wetlaid nonwovens
form the foundation of many essential products including fiberglass mat or glass veil, tea bags, hygiene and medical components, and filtration media, which are areas Kadant provides substantial value with improved efficiency and product quality through roll cleaner assemblies, wire belt cleaning, filtration, and showering technologies.
Proven Kadant technologies such as the VeriLite™ roll cleaner assembly, the M-clean™ system, and the RotoFlex™ resource recovery strainer help wetlaid operations achieve cleaner processes, reduce energy and water costs, and meet increasingly rigorous performance and sustainability goals.
For a real‑world example, see the case study: Nonwoven Fiberglass Mat Dryer Wire Cleaning with the M-clean PRO.
What are Airlaid Nonwovens?
Airlaid nonwovens use high‑velocity air instead of water to convey and deposit fibers. Staple fibers are opened, individualized, and distributed onto a porous forming screen. Airlaid materials are typically bonded using adhesives or thermal bonding. The airlaid process is ideal for highly absorbent structures, high loft materials, and blends using fluff pulp or binder fibers.
Common applications include absorbent cores (diapers, feminine hygiene, and incontinence products), household wipes, food pads, and insulation.
What are Polymer Extrusion Nonwovens?
Polymer extrusion nonwovens including spunbond, meltblown, and SMS (spunbond-meltblown-spunbond) composites represent some of the fastest growing segments in the nonwovens industry. These technologies melt polymer pellets, extrude them into filaments, and deposit them as webs before bonding.
- Spunbond: strong, coarse filaments suitable for structural applications
- Meltblown: extremely fine microfibers for filtration and barrier properties
- SMS: multilayer composites combining strength and filtration efficiency
Applications include hygiene top sheets and back sheets, medical gowns, filtration media, geotextiles, and industrial fabrics.
Across these three manufacturing categories, nonwovens enable a high degree of customization through web‑formation methods, bonding techniques, and fiber types. These choices influence key performance attributes such as uniformity, density, absorbency, strength, softness, and porosity. For example, wetlaid materials offer excellent uniformity and opacity; airlaid materials provide high loft and absorbency; and extrusion‑based materials deliver strength or fine‑fiber filtration efficiency, depending on the process used.
