Design and fabrication of lab-scale wet-laid equipment to develop wet-laid nonwoven for the application of absorbent core of disposable nursing pad

Abstract

This article deals with a newly developed lab-scale equipment fabricated to produce a wet-laid nonwoven, for the application of absorbent core of the disposable nursing pad. This equipment was designed based on the principle of filtration and thickening of fiber, such that it operates without electrical energy and less water consumption. Fully bleached pine fiber (Softwood kraft pulp) pretreated with 15% NaOH w/v was used as the raw material. Wet-laid nonwoven fabric of 200 g/m2, 300 g/m2, and 400 g/m2 mass per unit area were produced and tested for tensile strength and elongation were found to confirm the integrity of the nonwoven. Nonwoven fabric air permeability decreased with increasing mass per unit area and amount 38.08 ± 1.57 cm3/s/cm2, 29.75 ±0.49 cm3/s/cm2, 22.86 ± 0.88 cm3/s/cm2. The mean pore size was 36.42 µm, 33.66 µm, and 32.37 µm and the total absorption capacity was 20.57 ± 1.3 g/g, 30.05 ± 2.1 g/g, and 36.02 ± 0.88 g/g, respectively. SEM image shows random arrangement and interlacement of fibers and the nonwoven produced was found to be smooth, soft, and flexible using tissue softness analyser. Thus, the designed wet-laid equipment can be used to produce cost-effective wet-laid nonwovens and it is an eco-friendly setup regarding water recycling and the produced nonwoven samples are suitable for the absorbent core of the disposable nursing pad.