Abstract
Effects of binder fiber and processing parameters on polyester nonwovens have been studied. Low melting point polyester staple binder fibers were used with regular melting point polyester fibers. In order to assess the efficiency of the use of binder fibers in the nonwoven, the Fiber Utilization Efficiency(FUE) was utilized as a measurement to indicate the extent of interaction between the fibers in tensile load transmission. The following processing parameters were studied in order to improve the FUE: web construction(uniaxial web), blending ratios between binder fiber and matrix fiber(20/80, 30/70, 40/60, 50/50), needle punching intensity(31, 62 and 93 needle punches/cm2), bonding temperature(12$0^{\circ}C$ to 22$0^{\circ}C$ with 1$0^{\circ}C$ increase increments). The Instron was used to test the tenacity and the FUE of nonwoven fabrics. High bonding temperature, above 4$0^{\circ}C$ from the melting temperature of binder fiber, can not egboively improve fiber utilization efficiency. A needle punching machine induces a directional tenacity difference between machine direction and transverse direction.