A nonwoven fabric has a volume-giving material, in particular fiber balls, down and/or fine feathers, and has a maximum tensile strength, measured according to DIN EN 29 073 at a mass per unit area of 50 g/m.sup.2 in at least one direction, of at least 0.3 N/5 cm, in particular of 0.3 N/5 cm to 100 N/5 cm.

A method for producing a volume nonwoven fabric includes the steps of: (a) providing a nonwoven fabric raw material, containing fiber balls and binder fibers; (b) providing an air-laying device, which has at least two spiked rollers between which a gap is formed; (c) processing the nonwoven fabric raw material in the device in an air-laying method, the nonwoven fabric raw material passing through the gap between the spiked rollers, fibers or fiber bundles being pulled from the fiber balls by the spikes; (d) laying on a laying apparatus; and (e) thermally bonding so as to obtain the volume nonwoven fabric.

A method for producing a volume nonwoven fabric includes the steps of: (a) providing a nonwoven fabric raw material, containing fiber balls and binder fibers; (b) providing an air-laying device, which has at least two spiked rollers between which a gap is formed; (c) processing the nonwoven fabric raw material in the device in an air-laying method, the nonwoven fabric raw material passing through the gap between the spiked rollers, fibers or fiber bundles being pulled from the fiber balls by the spikes; (d) laying on a laying apparatus; and (e) thermally bonding so as to obtain the volume nonwoven fabric.

The disclosure provides blowable insulation or filling material, and apparatus and methods for making same. The blowable insulation or filling material includes a plurality of discrete elongate floccules each formed of a plurality of fibers. The floccules include a relatively open enlarged medial portion. The floccules also include relatively condensed twisted tail portions extending from opposing ends of the medial portion. The floccules can be utilized by existing garment fill blowing machines without clogging thereof, and include a superior soft hand feel, thermal resistance and launderability. The floccules may be formed by forcing staple fibers through apertures of a rotating hollow drum to partially form the floccule structure within the drum. The partially formed floccules may be retained within the rotating drum for a dwell time to finalize the floccule structure.

The disclosure provides blowable insulation or filling material, and apparatus and methods for making same. The blowable insulation or filling material includes a plurality of discrete elongate floccules each formed of a plurality of fibers. The floccules include a relatively open enlarged medial portion. The floccules also include relatively condensed twisted tail portions extending from opposing ends of the medial portion. The floccules can be utilized by existing garment fill blowing machines without clogging thereof, and include a superior soft hand feel, thermal resistance and launderability. The floccules may be formed by forcing staple fibers through apertures of a rotating hollow drum to partially form the floccule structure within the drum. The partially formed floccules may be retained within the rotating drum for a dwell time to finalize the floccule structure.

The present invention is directed to a method of increasing the brightness of non-wood fibers and nonwoven fabric fabrics produced by the method. In one aspect, the method includes forming a mixture of non-wood fibers and exposing the mixture to a brightening agent to produce brightened fibers. The brightening agent is oxygen gas, peracetic acid, a peroxide compound, or a combination thereof. The brightened fibers have a brightness greater than the fibers of the mixture before exposure as measured by MacBeth UV-C standard.

Disclosed is a melt-blown fiber web with improved concentration force and elasticity, whereby a melt-blown fabric is cut and sealed at predetermined intervals using knives having arbitrary patterns so that concentration force and elasticity of the melt-blown fiber web can be improved without degrading the inherent function of the fiber web. Further disclosed are a method and apparatus for manufacturing the melt-blown fiber web. The melt-blown fiber web includes thermoplastic filaments, wherein cutting portions and sealing portions are arranged on top and bottom surfaces of the fiber web at predetermined intervals along a thickness of the fiber web so that a concentration force and elasticity of the fiber web are improved.

A holding material for a pollution control element which can sufficiently suppress scattering of inorganic fibers when the pollution control element is assembled in a casing, and which has a sufficiently high coefficient of friction. The holding material includes: a sheet-like main body made of first inorganic fibers having a minor axis in the range of from about 3 to 10 m; and a surface layer which is provided on at least one surface of the main body and contains second inorganic fibers having a minor axis in the range of from about 1 to 15 nm.

Nonwoven multilayer structures having at least two nanofiber layers are described herein. The nonwoven multilayer structure may have two nanofibers layers that have different properties from each other, such as fiber diameter. One nanofiber layer may be produced by an electrospinning process, while another nanofiber layer may be produced by a melt blown process.

A spatially controllable, for example CD controllable, eductor, and more particularly an eductor that is capable of providing a variable motive fluid and processes using such an eductor are provided.