Indi an 10 urnal of Fibre & Textile Research

Vol. 26, December 200 I, pp. 398-402

Relationship between tensile properties of fibres and nonwoven fabrics

P C Pate l & V K Kothari a
De partment of Tex ti le Tec hnology, Indi an Institute of Tec hnology, New De lhi 11 00 16. Indi a

Received 21 Jun e 2000; revised received and accepted 16 Ocrober 2000

The stress-stra in behaviour of sp un bo nded needl e-punched fabri c, spun bonded heat- sealed fabric and staple fi bre nee-
dle-punched fabri c has been studi ed usin g wide- width tensile test meth od. T he stress-strain behavi o ur of co nstituent fi bres
of these fabrics has also bee n studi ed and the structural parameters of no nwoven fa brics evaluated as these are the main two
fac tors whi ch inOuence the mechani cal properties of no nwoven fabrics. The fibre network theory has been used to predict
the stress-strain behav iour of fab ric using the fibre data and structural parameters of no nwove n fabrics. It is observed th at
there is good agree ment betwee n theoreti cal and experimental values in case o f heat-sealed spunbo nded nonwove n fab ri c. In
case of needl e-punched fabrics, the stress-strain curve of the staple fibre fabric sho ws major deviati on fro m the ex perimental
curve while the stress-strain curves fo r spunbo nded needle-punched fabrics show substanti al dev iatio n fro m the ex perimen-
tal curves. The slippage of fibres is a dominating fac tor in the defo rm ati o n of needle-punched nonwoven fabrics in general
and staple fibre fa brics in parti cul ar and hence both the modulus and breaking stress are fo und to be much lower th an the
theoreti cal values. The structure of no nwove n fabri cs is the most impo rtant fac to r affec tin g the tensi le behav io ur of these
fa brics.

Keywords: Heat-sealed fabric, Needl e-punched fabric, No nwo ven fabri c, Stress-strain behavi o ur, Tensile properti es

1 Introduction Hearl e and Stevenson 2. 3 developed fibre network the-

Nonwoven fabrics are extensively used in different ory for the prediction of tensile properti es of non-
4
applications due to their excellent properties. These woven fabrics. Hearle and Newton modified thi s the-
fabrics for application s like geotextiles are manufac- ory to account for the fibre slippage through binder
tured from fibres like polypropylene and polyester and theoreticall y determined the stress-strain curves
usin g man ufacturing processes like heat sea lin g of several bonded fibre nonwoven fa brics. They dem-
(thermal bonding) and needle punching (mec hani cal onstrated the ex tent of applica bility of theory in re la-
bonding). The formatio n of the structure of these fab- tion to the amount of binder materi al and the fibre
ri cs depends on the fibre arrangement in the web, fi- curl. Hearle and SultanS studi ed the influence of fibre
bre properties and bonding method used in the pro- type, fibre fin eness and staple length on the tensile
duction of fabric. When thi s structure is subjected to behaviour of some needle-punched fabrics. In thi s
ten sile load, the deformation of the fabric, viz. the work , the stress-strai n behavi our of nonwoven fa brics
extension of fabric in the direction of applied load and of different structures and polymer types has been
the contraction of fabric in the transverse directi on, studied to relate th e tensile properti es of fibres and
takes place. In case of nonwoven fabrics, fibre prop- fabric structure.
erties and fabric structure mainl y affect the fabric
properties. The extension of the fabric is attributed to 2 Materials and Methods
the rearrangement of fibre geometry and fibre exten- Polyester and polypropylene fabri cs of th e specifi-
sion. If ten sile properti es of fibres an d details of fabric cation s as g iven in Table I were used. The stress-
structure are known , it should be poss ible to relate strain relation ship of the fib res in these fa brics has
them to the ten sile properties of the fabric. been studi ed on the Instron tensile tester after prepar-
Backer and Petterson 1 developed the fibre web ing the specimens of filaments/fibres removed care-
theory to relate fibre modulus and web geometry to fully from the respecti ve nonwoven fabrics. A total of
the fabric modulu s of thin nonwoven structures . 30 fil aments/fibres of 100 mm gauge length were
tes ted and average stress-strain curve was obtained in
"To wh om all th e correspo ndence sho ul d be addressed.
each case. Fabric tensile tests were carri ed out using
Pho ne: 659 1407; Fax: 09 1-0 11-6862037; wide-width test meth od with 200 mm fabric width
E- mail : ko th ari @tex til e. iitd.erneLin and 100mm gauge length using specia l jaws at a strain
 PATEL & KOTHARI: TENSILE PROPERTIES OF FIBRES & NONWOVEN FABRICS 399

Table I-Fabric details

Fabric Type of fibre Linear Manufacturing/bondin g Mass

density method g/m2
dtex

AF Polypropylene filament 23 Spunbonded heat-sealed 200

BF Polypropylene filament II Spunbonded needle-punched (surface 190

calendered)

CF Polyester filament 6.1 Spun bonded needle-punched 170

DF Polyester filament 9.6 Spun bonded needle-punched 220

EF Polypropylene staple 4.4 Staple fibre needl e-punched 200

rate of 10% / min . Ten samples were tested to obtain

the average stress-strain curve for each type of non- L f{ L
woven fabric. During the tensile test, the width of the t
specimen at the mid position between the jaws was
noted at the fixed time intervals corresponding to 10%
fabric strain in the test direction. Average of these
values at various strain levels was taken to calculate
the Poisson's ratio. (b)
Fabric structure was studied on projection micro-
scope using optical method similar to that used by
2
Hearle and Stevenson . Magnification of xl00 was (0)

used and a tracing paper having 25 mm diameter cir- Fig. I--Measurement of structural parameters of non woven fab-
cle marked in the centre of the paper was fitted on the rics (a) tracing of fibres on the projection microscope sc reen, and
screen of the projection microscope. Samples of 2 cm (b) ang ular orientation of fibres in rel ation to machine direction
[fl-f9 - fibres and L -longitudinal direction]
x 5 cm size were prepared from the nonwoven fabrics
such that larger dimension being cut in the machine as the ratio of number of fibres in a 10° angular inter-
direction of the fabric. Each sample was carefully val to the total number of fibres for various mid -
placed on a clean microscope glass slide and a few values of angular orientation, was obtained. The fibre
drops of n-decane were added to improve the fibre curl factor (C), defined as the ratio of length of the
definition. On focusing, the fibre projections were fibre segment to the shortest distance between the
clearly visible on the tracing paper through the screen seg ment ends, was also measured from the same
tabl e. A position on the slide was then chosen at ran- tracing for each type of fabric.
dom and fibres passing through the circle were traced.
Different layers of the fabric were progress ively fo- 3 Results and Discussion
cused to examine fibre layers in turn and every time 3.1 Stress-strain Characteristics of Fibres
the fibres projections were traced on the tracing paper Average stress-strain curves of the fibres taken
(Fig. 1). When a full traverse of the focu s through the from the nonwoven fabrics are shown in Fig. 2.
thickness of the specimen appeared, a second position Table 2 shows that the polypropylene filaments (A r
on the microscope slide was chosen at random and a and Br) removed from spun bonded fabrics have
new sheet of tracing paper was positioned. The same higher extension-at-break and lower initial modulus.
process was repeated again. A total of 50 such trac- Polyestcr filaments (C r and Dr) removed from needle-
ings were prepared in case of each nonwoven fabric. punched spunbondcd fabrics show relatively higher
The angle of each fibre segment in the circle with rc- initial modulus and lower extension-at-break. Poly-
spect to longitudinal direction (L) was measured. The propylene staple fibre (Er) shows the highest tenacity
number of fibre s in each 10° segment was counted and low elongation as the fibres are fully drawn be-
and the orientation distribution function ¢(8 j ) , defined fore the formation of web from the staple fibres . In
400 INDIAN 1. FIBRE TEXT. RES ., DECEMBER 2001

~u~-------------------------------,

"'s
l-Af
..
x

-
40 2-8f 6
x /
J- Cf
~ I ___ 2 z
4-0f
z 30 I
u i /) /~;:;:''''4 s- Ef 4
- i ., /"," ",-

'"
'" 20 i / ./P·· '"~
~
~
. / Vl
.11
~ . ;?

"V ~/
00 20 40 60
Strain,
80
0/0
100 120 140 20 40 60
Strain, %
SO 100 120 140

Fig. 3--Slress-strain behaviou r of fabrics

Fig. 2-Stress-strain behav iour of fibres
Spunbonded heat-sealed fabric (A F) shows much
Table 2-Tensile properties of fibres
higher initial modulus but offers very little resistance
Fibre Fibre linear Tensile Tenacity Extension- after 20% extension, eventually leading to the failure
density strength cN/tex at-break of the specimen. However, the need le-punched spun-
dtex cN % bonded polypropylene fabric (BF) shows lower initial
modulus and higher extension-at-break.
Ar 23 23 .7 10.7 127 The above results show distinct differences bet-
ween the stress-strain behaviour of nonwovens of dif-
Br 11 31.6 28.4 76
ferent structures. The stress-strain curves show the
Cr 6.1 17.2 28.1 31 striking similarity between the heat-sealed spun bon-
ded fabric AF and the fibre Ar. However, needle-
Dr 9.6 26.8 27 .6 64 punched fabrics show lower initial modulus even
4.4 16.9 37.8 30
when the initial modulus of fibres is high. This may
Er
be owing to the high degree of reorientation and slip-
Table 3--Tensile properties of fabrics (machine direction) page of individual fibres during the tensile load appli-
cation on these fabrics. This effect is very prominent
Fabric Mass Tensile Tenacity Extension-
g/m2 strength cN/ lex at-break
in case of staple fibre needle-punched fabric if one
kN/m % compares the shapes of stress-strain curves of fibre Er
(Fig. 2) and fabric EF(Fig. 3).
AF 200 9.7 4.7 80 The high modulus of the heat-sealed fabrics can be
132
attributed to the rigid bonds formed as a result of fu-
BF 190 9.4 4.9
sion of fibres at the crossing points in the fabric.
CF 170 8.7 5.0 61 There is a gradual decrease in the slope of the curve
right upto rupture and the stress value drops sharply at
OF 220 15.0 6.4 53 the rupture. The cause of fabric failure is fibre break-
EF 200 14.5 7. 1 75 age with few fibres slipping in the rupture zone of
broken specimen.
particular, the filaments removed from spunbonded In case of needle-punched spunbonded fabric (B F),
heat-sealed fabric show very high extension. the observations during the test show th at the fibres
are free to move after the initial breakage of weak
3.2 Stress-strain Behaviour of Nonwoven Fabrics bonds formed due to the surface calendering and the
Table 3 gives the main tensile test results for differ- fabric behaves like a simple needle-punched structure
ent fabrics based on wide-width tensile test in the ma- for all practical purposes .
chine direction (along the length) of the fabrics . Aver- Polyester spun bonded need le-punched fabrics (C F
age stress-strain curves of various nonwoven fabrics and DF) give higher strength with lower extension-at-
have been compared and the results are shown in break compared to polypropylene spunbonded fabrics
Fig. 3. (AF and BF). The results also indicate that the fabric
 PATEL & KOTHARI : TENSILE PROPERTIES OF FIBRES & NONWOVEN FABRICS 401

structure can alter the stress-strain behaviour signifi- The relationship between stress and strain of fibres
cantly. Fibres C r and Dr have nearly the same tenacity removed from different fabrics was obtained from th e
but the extension of Dr is nearly two times that of the average stress-strain curve of fibre . The theoretical
Cr. The needle punching process produces fabric OF and experimental stress-strain curves of different fab-
which has higher breaking stress and lower breaking
elongation . 35r-------------------------------,
Sa mp le BF
The needle-punched nonwoven made from staple
Fibre
fibres (E F) shows the lowest initial modulus and 30
higher strength than other fabrics. As the load in-
creases initially, the reorientation and slippage of fi-
bres occur without offering much resistance to exten- 25

sion. The structure develops a tension because of the

presence of vertical pegs formed by the needling pro-
cess, and jamming of the structure occurs after the
initial phase, giving rise to a distinct increase in fabric .'"'"
L

modulus. The slippage of the fibres dominates during Vl

the test, giving higher extension-at-break.

3.3 Prediction of Fabric Properties
The theoretical stress-strain relationship of fabric
was obtained using the following equations based on
the fibre network theory 3 : Fa br ic
( Experime ntal)
er= (l/C) {(l+e)2 .cos 28t +(l-v.e)2.sin28. }112 - 1 . .. (1)
100 120 140
qr= J(er) (2)
QL =qr cos 8. . ¢( 8.) cos 8. (3) Strain , %

Fig. 5--Comparison of theoretical and experimental stress-strain

where e is the fabric strain; er, the fibre strain; C, the
behaviour of sample BF
curl factor; 8. , the fibre angle to the stress direction;
v, the fabric Poisson's ratio; qr , the fibre stress; ¢( 8.), 30.---------------------------------- - ,
Sample (F
the fibre orientation distribution function; and QL, the Fi bre
fabric stress.
15,---------------------------------, 24
Sample AF
12

---------;Fibrt

-
)(

~ 18 Fabric
(Theoretical J

.." z
u

zu
'"
-
'"
!Vl'" 12
~ 6
~ ___.... Fabric (Theoretical)
Vl
Fa bric (Experimental)

20 60 80 100 120 It.O 20 30 40 50 60 70

Strain, %
Strain, '".

Fig. 4--Comparison of theoretical and experimental stress-strain Fig. 6---Comparison of theoretical and experimental stress-strain
behaviour of sample AF behaviour of sample C F
402 INDIAN J. FIBRE TEXT. RES. , DECEMBER 2001

30,-------------------------~~---­
50,---------------------------------
Sample OF Sample EF
f ibre

24 40

)(

'" 30
.::. fabric
z I Theore ticoll
u

.'"'" '"'"
-
Vl '"
12 ~ 20
Fabric
I Theoretical J

Fabric
(Experimental J

60 70 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Strain, % Stro in, %

Fig. 7--Comparison of theoretical and ex perimental stress-strain Fig. &-Comparison of theoreti cal and expe rimental stress-strain
behaviour of sample DF behaviour of sam ple EF

rics (A F, B F, C F, O F and E F) based on above equations stress-strain curves (Fig. 8) due to the higher slippage
have been plotted along with stress-strain curves of at fibre ends.
fibres for comparison (Figs. 4-8).
The theoretical stress-strain curve of spun bonded
4 Conclusions
heat-sealed fabric (A F) shows good agreement with
Deformation in various nonwoven fabrics depends
the experimental curve (Fig. 4). This is because the
on the type of structure formed by the bonding
fabric is thin with rigid bonds and hence the network
method. In case of heat-sealed nonwoven fabrics, ini-
of web remains intact during the tensile test of the
tial modulus is high but it decreases gradually with
specimen. The orientation of the fibres in the network,
the increase in stress while in case of needle-punched
measured in two dimensions, hol ds good during the
fabrics, initial modulus is low but it increases with the
test for this type of structure. Theoretical stress-strain
further increase in load as the structure gets locked.
curves of spunbonded needle-punched fabrics
(Figs 5-7) and staple fibre needle-punched fabric The prediction of stress-strain behaviour using the
(Fig. 8) show large deviations from the experimental fibre network theory gives close approximation in
curves. case of heat-sealed fabrics. However, in case of nee-
The thick web of the fabric and loose frictional dle-punched fabrics, the predicted stress-strain char-
bonds in the structure of the needle-punched fabrics acteristics differ substantially with the experimental
allow slippage of fibres on application of external results.
load which changes the fabric structure substantially
during the course of testing, resulting in lower initial References
modulus than predicted by the theory. 1 Backer S & Petterson DR, Text Res J, 30( 1960)704-71 1.
2 Hearle J W S & Stevenson P J, Text Res J, 33( 1963 )877-888 .
In case of needle-punched fabric made from carded 3 Hearle J W S & Stevenso n P J, Text Res J, 34(1964) 18 1- 19l.
web of staple fibres (EF)' there is even larger differ- 4 Hear1e J W S & Newton A, Text Res J, 38( 1968)343-351 .
ence between the theoretical and the experimental 5 Hearle J W S & Sultan M A I, J Textlnsf, 59(1968)137-147.