In a first aspect, the present invention relates to a method for producing a drive belt, in particular a toothed belt, having a belt body composed of elastic material and a tension member with tensile strands composed of carbon cord. In this case, these carbon cords, in the form of twisted carbon cords, are soaked with a liquid isocyanate solution before they are used as tension members for the drive belts. In a further aspect, a drive belt which can be obtained in this way is provided. This drive belt is in particular a high performance belt, such as a high performance toothed belt, having improved belt running times and adhesion properties of the carbon cord to the belt body.

A composite nonwoven mat and a method of making a composite nonwoven mat are provided. The composite nonwoven mat includes a nonwoven base layer having a first surface and a second surface, and a coating layer formed on, penetrating into, and adhered to the first surface of the nonwoven base layer. The coating layer includes a polymer material and a carrier composition. The composite nonwoven mat has an average Gurley porosity of at least 500 seconds.