Drape Properties Research Articles

Properties and Potential Applications of Nonwoven Crepe Fabrics

Nonwoven fabrice to which a convoluted, crepe-like structure has been imparted possess certain properties that suggest interesting potential areas of application. Such fabric structures may find acceptance as replacements for more expensive woven fabrics because of the capability of controlling drape and stretch characteristics to desirable levels. Possible end-use areas discussed are apparel fabrics, elastic inserts in disposable garments, and bags for air-particulate filtra tion. Physical principles governing drape and stretch properties are theoretically considered, and predicted values are found to agree well with experimental measurements on laboratory-made samples. These samples showed ex cellent permanency of structure and good wrinkle recovery. Air-particulate filtration performance of nonwoven crepe fabrics was evaluated. Improvements over flat fabrics in efficiency at equal material thickness, reduction in drag at equal material weight, high dust-holding capacity, and ease of cleaning were observed.

On the Development of Urethane Foam Manufacturing Technology

An outline of Japanese urethane foams now under production is given, including a description of formulation, processing and testing techniques. Extra super-soft foams, prepared from a 3000 M.W. glycerol-based triol and a reactive additive to satisfy a de mand in the bedding industry, have good drape properties, quick recovery after com pression and retain their softness at low tem peratures. High load-bearing flexible and semirigid foams with good physical properties have been successfully prepared by a one-shot process using polyolefins as the cell-opening agent. Rigid foams containing more than 95% open cell have also been prepared by this method.