ABSTRACT

As biodegradable/compostable cotton-based nonwovens are sustainable materials, there is increasing interest in them, with the expansion of nonwovens into novel applications. Over the past few years, research has been done at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville to produce and evaluate nonwoven products containing cotton with different thermoplastic binder fibers. Nonwoven fabrics manufactured from cotton and Eastar, a biodegradable thermoplastic fiber have shown great promise. The production of nonwovens by the thermal bonding process from such compositions, and the structure and properties of the resulting products are investigated. The results have shown that, by appropriately selecting the combination of fibers and process conditions, nonwoven fabrics with good performance properties can be produced.