The invention relates to elastically stretchable nonwoven sheets comprising an elastically stretchable nonwoven layer and a stretchable facing layer, and an in-line method for making such sheets.

A method for producing a nonwoven element for hygiene articles is accomplished by the steps of: forming a fibrous web from a multi-ply nonwoven material with at least one carded staple fiber layer and a storage layer which is arranged on the staple fiber layer and which has cellulose fibers, wherein at least a portion of the staple fibers of the staple fiber layer are formed from a thermoplastic; applying liquid jets to the fibrous web, as a result of which the fibers of the multi-ply nonwoven material are intermingled and entangled, and the fibrous web is embossed with a surface structure; applying heat to the fibrous web, as a result of which the thermoplastic staple fibers at least partially fuse and the fibrous web is bonded to form a nonwoven web, and severing individual nonwoven elements from the nonwoven web.

A simulated sclera 2 is obtained by including a plurality of fiber layers (a) and a resin (b) in contact with the fiber layer (a), having a. fiber diameter of a fiber constituting the fiber layer (a) of 0.6 μm or more and 170.0 μm or less, laminating the plurality of fiber layers (a), and impregnating the laminated fiber layers (a) with the resin (b).

A conformable and optionally elastic weather resistant, comfortable fabric provides wind and rain resistance, plus thermal insulation, along with moisture transfer through the fabric, by combining a hydrophobic and dense outer layer with a bulky absorbent middle layer and a thin hydrophobic inner layer, joined by stitching and optionally subsequently shrinking to bulk the structure and re-adjust the openings formed by stitching. The third hydrophobic layer may be omitted and substituted with hydrophobic underlap yarns formed during the stitching process. The method provides high conformability and optionally elastic fit or inelastic pre-adjustable body fit.

A thermoset composite (10) and method for producing the same is provided. The method includes: providing at least one surface veil layer (12) that includes a fibrous layer saturated with a water based binder, and one or more composite constituent layers (11); applying an amount of thermoset resin to the composite constituent layers; arranging the surface veil layer and the composite constituent layers in a stack; and producing the thermoset composite by pulling the composite constituent layers and the surface veil layer through a forming die.

A nonwoven fabric structure according to the present invention is a nonwoven fabric structure comprising a long-fiber nonwoven fabric as a main constituent, wherein the nonwoven fabric structure has a basis weight of 250 to 2000 g/m.sup.2, a Frazier permeability of 0 to 20 cc/cm.sup.2.Math.s, and an apparent density of 0.5 to 1.3 g/cm.sup.3, and therefore has excellent shaping properties and excellent mechanical strength properties.

The invention relates to a device for producing a nonwoven fabric, wherein at least one spinning apparatus for spinning fibers is provided and a deposit conveyor is provided, on which the fibers can be deposited to form the nonwoven web. At least one hot-air pre-bonding apparatus is provided for the hot-air pre-bonding of the nonwoven web on the deposit conveyor. An additional conveyor for receiving the pre-bonded nonwoven web is arranged downstream of the deposit conveyor in the conveying direction of the nonwoven web, at least one final bonding apparatus being provided for the final bonding of the nonwoven web on the additional conveyor. The hot hot-air pre-bonding of the nonwoven web can be carried out on the deposit conveyor, with the stipulation that the nonwoven web has a strength in the machine direction (MD) of 0.6 to 4 N/5 cm before being transferred to the additional conveyor.

A disposable face mask includes an upper portion of the face mask and a lower portion of the face mask, the upper portion and lower portion of the face masks each adjoin monolithically formed therewith face mask straps defined by perforations in a web of material used to form the face mask and straps, wherein the perforations allow the straps to be partially separated and utilized for securing said face mask to a wearer's face. The disposable face mask may be made by perforating patterns into a web of materials to define the face mask straps and face mask body that are formed monolithically from the web of materials. The face masks may be wound on a roll for dispensing by tearing off from the roll and then separating the straps at the perforations. Alternatively, the face mask borders may be cut-through to allow dispensing of the face masks individually from bulk packaging, where the face mask is removed from the package and the straps are separated at the perforations to allow the face mask to be secured to the wearer's face by tying the straps behind the wearer's head.

The present invention addresses the problem of providing a sound absorbing material which exhibits excellent sound absorbing performance in low-frequency and intermediate-frequency ranges, and preferably also in higher-frequency ranges. This laminated sound absorbing material includes at least: a fiber layer; and a porous layer, wherein the fiber layer has a mean flow pore size of 1.0-60 μm and an air permeability as measured with a Frazier method of 30-220 cc/cm.sup.2.Math.s, and the porous layer comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of foamed resins, unwoven fabrics, and woven fabrics, has a thickness of 3-40 mm and a density of 3-50 kg/m3 which is lower than that of the fiber layer, and is disposed such that the fiber layer is on a sound incidence side.