3—STUDIES OF ADHESIVE-BONDED NON-WOVEN FABRICS PART I: A THEORETICAL MODEL OF TENSILE RESPONSE INCORPORATING BINDER DEFORMATION

A model network consisting of curled-fibre and binder segments in series is offered to represent the structure of bonded-fibre fabrics. By consideration of the geometrical deformation and energy changes of individual elements under a uniaxial strain, a method is formulated to predict the fabric stress in terms of applied strain and also relevant fibre, binder, and fabric parameters. Application of the analysis to fabrics consisting of composite webs or fibre blends or both is also outlined.