A semipermeable membrane support containing polyolefin-based fibers, which can withstand repeated washing and backwashing, makes it easy for a semipermeable membrane component to permeate thereinto and difficult for the component to strike therethrough, and is excellent in adhesion to the semipermeable membrane and adhesion between a non-coating surface thereof and a resin frame. The semipermeable membrane support which is used by forming the semipermeable membrane thereon is a wet-laid nonwoven fabric containing core-sheath type conjugate fibers composed of polypropylene as a core component and polyethylene as a sheath component and has a burst strength of 300 to 1,000 kPa, or the Bekk smoothness and 75 mirror surface glossiness of the coating surface on which the semipermeable membrane is to be formed of the semipermeable membrane support being more than the Bekk smoothness and 75 mirror surface glossiness of a non-coating surface on the opposite side.

A fiber aggregation contains fiber containing a thermoplastic resin, each of the fiber being mutually joined and aligned.

A bonded and entangled non-woven structure made of at least 50% staple fibers by weight of the bonded and entangled non-woven structure, and at least a partial bonding of the fibers of the non-woven structure. The at least partial bonding including thermally activated bonds between a first polyolefin material produced with a catalyst including at least one metallocene catalyst and having a melting point in the range 130-170 C. and a second material having a melting point which is at least 10 C. higher than the melting point of the first material, the weight of the first material in the non-woven structure being at least 3% of the weight of the nonwoven structure.

A bonded and entangled non-woven structure made of at least 50% staple fibers by weight of the bonded and entangled non-woven structure, and at least a partial bonding of the fibers of the non-woven structure. The at least partial bonding including thermally activated bonds between a first polyolefin material produced with a catalyst including at least one metallocene catalyst and having a melting point in the range 130-170 C. and a second material having a melting point which is at least 10 C. higher than the melting point of the first material, the weight of the first material in the non-woven structure being at least 3% of the weight of the nonwoven structure.

A radiative cooling apparatus including a layer of a material. The layer defines an exterior face. The material has a composition such that the layer is configured to reflect, at the exterior face, at least partly of the incoming electromagnetic radiation of at least some wavelengths in the solar spectrum. The layer is further configured to emit thermally-generated electromagnetic emission of at least some mid-infrared wavelengths out from the exterior face. Ceramics provided by embodiments of the invention could produce extra cooling effect without any electricity consumption, creating a prominent benefit to the energy saving of air conditioning systems of buildings.

A hook-and-loop fastener has a hook element comprising a substrate having a face from which projects a multiplicity of hooks and a loop element formed by of a fiber web. The fiber web is formed by a homogenous mixture of first multicomponent filaments each formed by a high-melting-point polymer and a low-melting-point polyolefinic polymer and second polyolefinic monocomponent filaments. The first filaments constitute between 20% and 80% by weight of the mixture. The fiber web has a face formed with a patterned array of dense bonded regions of a predetermined small thickness interspersed with less dense open regions of a predetermined big thickness substantially greater than the small thickness of the small thickness interspersed with less dense open regions of a predetermined big thickness substantially greater than the small thickness of the bonded regions so that the filaments of the open regions form loops.

A spunbond nonwoven laminate has a plurality of stacked spunbond nonwoven layers, namely at least two and at most four spunbond nonwoven layers that have crimped continuous filaments or consist of crimped continuous filaments. The degree of crimping of the filaments is different in each of these spunbond nonwoven layers, and each of the crimped filaments of the spunbond nonwoven layers has a crimp with at least two, preferably at least three, and more preferably with at least four loops per centimeter of length. The crimped filaments of the spunbond nonwoven layers are multicomponent filaments, particularly bicomponent filaments, with a first plastic component and a second plastic component present in the respective filament in a proportion of at least 10 wt %.

A spunbond nonwoven laminate has a plurality of stacked spunbond nonwoven layers, namely at least two and at most four spunbond nonwoven layers that have crimped continuous filaments or consist of crimped continuous filaments. The degree of crimping of the filaments is different in each of these spunbond nonwoven layers, and each of the crimped filaments of the spunbond nonwoven layers has a crimp with at least two, preferably at least three, and more preferably with at least four loops per centimeter of length. The crimped filaments of the spunbond nonwoven layers are multicomponent filaments, particularly bicomponent filaments, with a first plastic component and a second plastic component present in the respective filament in a proportion of at least 10 wt %.

A non-woven fabric that absorbs only a small amount of volatile low molecular weight compound, and that has good texture when used as a non-woven fabric that makes contact with human skin. This thermal bond non-woven fabric containing cyclic olefin resin includes at least: fibers (A) containing at least 50 mass % of a cyclic olefin resin (A1) having a glass transition temperature Tg.sub.A1 C.; and fibers (B) containing at least 10 mass % of either a cyclic olefin resin (B1) having a glass transition temperature Tg.sub.B1 C., or a crystalline thermoplastic resin (B2) having a melting point Mp.sub.B2 C.; the fibers (A) and the fibers (B) being heat-spliced together; wherein Tg.sub.A1>Tg.sub.B1 or Tg.sub.A1>Mp.sub.B2, and either the difference between the glass transition temperature Tg.sub.A1 C. and the glass transition temperature TgB1 C. or the difference between the glass transition temperature Tg.sub.A1 C. and the melting point Mp.sub.B2 C. exceeds 20 C.

A non-woven chopped fiber mat includes a mixture of glass fibers and synthetic fibers. The non-woven mat is formed using a binder composition that includes a binder resin, a coupling agent, and a corrosion inhibitor. The non-woven mat is non-corrosive and resistant to volatile unsaturated monomers such as styrene, but still remains fully compatible with solvent-containing polyester resins, such that it can be used in various pultruded products.