Spunlaced Flax/Polypropylene Nonwoven as Auto Interior Material: Mechanical Performance

Abstract

The spunlacing technique for producing auto interior nonwovens is examined. A 50/50 flax/polypropylene nonwoven is processed using an AquaJet spunlace system with two different spunlacing settings. The spunlaced nonwovens are thermally bonded into 2D and 3D interior parts by a panel press and a stamp-forming press. Physical properties, mechanical properties, and moldability of the nonwovens after spunlacing and molding are evaluated in accordance with relevant European and German industrial standards. The statistical method of variance analysis and image analysis method are used for data process. The research work finds that the spunlacing process brings some technical merits for the flax/polypropylene nonwoven in auto interior applications, in particular, an enhancement of tensile and flexural strengths, a large thickness reduction with controlled ultimate weight, and a competitive moldability. The experimental data also reveals that using a setting of lower water-jet pressure on the spunlacing process line is more suitable for entangling flax/polypropylene nonwovens to produce high performance auto interior composites.