Abstract
Nonwoven webs containing five different blends of bleached cotton with Lyocell rayon, bicomponent core/sheath polyester/polyethylene, or cotton comber noil were prepared by either light needlepunching, or light needlepunching followed by spunlacing (hydroentanglement). We optically acquired fiber bundle size measurements to learn about the pre-needling process, the hydroentangling process and the influence of fiber blend composition on fiber entanglement. Fiber entanglement measurements were compared to basis weight uniformity measurements. One of the bed sheet developments utilized a combination of bonding technologies (spunlacing and thermal bonding) that used low energy. Results from this work indicate that spunlacing produced high quality cosmetic pads and economical short-life bed sheeting.