A Study On The Properties Of Chemical-Bond And Thermal-Bond In Ramie & Flax Nonwovens

In this paper, the waste fibers of ramie and flax produced during the textile processes have been used in nonwovens which are chemical-bond and thermal-bond. At the same time, the products' mechanical properties and structures are discussed.Air-laying are used for the fibers web in the test.During the chemical-bond processes, two different adhesives, namely the starch and the polyacrylic ester, are used. Their products with the same density and the same adhesive and the products contained the glass fabrics are analyzed. The products with the same adhesive have the similar tenacity, which shows that the fibers' strength is not the main reason to the products' tenacity. The adhesive has the effects on the products' properties. The products bound by the polyacrylic ester have the excellent features than the products bound by the starch. The tenacity of the products with the ramie fibers is larger than that with the flax fibers. And the products with the polyacrylic ester is better than the products with the starch. However, the products bound by the starch are suitable for environmental protection. The products contained the glass fabrics have the stronger tenacity, the air permeability is added and the heat retention is reduced. Both the ramie and flax products have the excellent resistance to ultraviolet radiation and light transparence, which can meet the requirement of agricultural application.The thermal-bond processing of the flax fibers and ES fibers are studied through the orthogonal layout and variance analysis. Some parameters such as the content of ES fibers, the heating temperature, the heating time and thepressure, which have the great effect to the products physics and mechanical performance, are discussed. The study shows that the content of the ES fibers is the main factor to the products' performance. With the increasing of the ES fibers, the breaking tenacity both longitudinal and crosswise are raised greatly.Some scanning electron microscope pictures have been taken. The number of the adhesive points and the adhesive area increase with the ES content increasing. These adhesive points connect all flax fibers to form the adhesive area. With the different temperature, the ES fibers have the different melt performance. Because of the different adhesive effect, the tenacity is different. Too high or too low temperature is not suitable for better adhesive structure. If the temperature is too low, which can not reach the ES fibers' melt point, the ES fibers can not melt fully and can not bind flax fibers. When the heating temperature and the time do not change, the lower pressure will result in the poor bind and the strength of the product is low. The higher pressure can help to the flow and diffusion of ES fibers, which are important to form better binding.To the different products which made by different ways, the breaking tenacity in the chemical-bond product is larger than that of the thermal-bond and their air permeability is similar. The bond between the flax fibers and the ES fibers belongs to non-polarity. Compared with the point-bond between flax fibers and ES fibers, the binding types of the chemical-bond product belong to the binder film. Both of the two binding ways belong to the mechanical binding.The two ways are suitable for the ramie and the flax waste fibers. Some of the products are tested by Zhejiang Xiaoshan Hemp Research Institute. The result shows that the plant growing is good.