1—the Mechanics of the Bending of Non-Woven Fabrics Part I: Spunbonded Fabric (Cerex)

A study is reported of a set of spunbonded non-woven fabrics (Cerex), made from continuous nylon fibres held together by uniformly dispersed junction bonds, for their bending responses in connexion with their fibre arrangement. The experimental study coupled with analytical modelling based on the observed morphology and involving the use of a self-consistent model developed for heterogeneous continua helped to clarify the mechanisms governing the bending stiffness of the fabrics. These self-bonded non-woven fabrics, requiring fibre segments to be strained in tension and compression when the fabric is bent, have quasi-continuum properties and hence possess relatively high bending stiffness. This demonstrates that relative fibre motion is essential to impart flexibility to a fabric.