Converting

Nonwoven materials possess several important characteristics, which permit handling at considerably higher speeds than conventional textile fabrics. Nonwovens can normally be cut in both the machine direction and cross-machine direction without unravelling of the edges. Nonwoven fabrics can also be engineered to facilitate high speed seaming and joining operations by means of adhesives, heat sealing or ultrasonic bonding techniques.

Choosing the type of converting machine which is to be utilised to produce a given product involves not only the characteristics of the product itself and its raw materials, but also manufacturing requirements, philosophy and marketing considerations. The size and configuration of the product itself determines the basic type of machine.
As these product, marketing and manufacturing considerations are evaluated, it is often necessary to make compromises and trade-offs to establish the best overall concept for production of a given product.

Base web finishing
Converting of nonwoven products often involves certain finishing operations which can be performed either inline with the converting machine or in an offline, roll-to-roll finishing operation.

One common web finishing technique is to emboss the material for either decorative or functional purposes.
Another common method of web finishing is to laminate a nonwoven with other materials to achieve a specific desired effect. Lamination with tissue can improve bulk, increase absorbency and reduce overall costs. Scrim may be laminated to nonwoven material as a means of greatly increasing the strength of the material. If barrier properties are required, lamination with a suitable barrier film may meet the requirements of the intended end use.

Numerous printing processes are available as a means of decorating a nonwoven material or for including identification or usage instructions on the finished product.

Another finishing treatment is the coating of the nonwoven using one out of the wide range of techniques utilised to apply the coating.

Furthermore a wide range of finishing treatments can be applied to nonwoven webs to change properties. Examples are aqueous fluid repellence, anti-microbial treatments, flame retardant and micro-encapsulation.