It is any manufactured product, constituted from a web, sheet or mattress of fibres whether these are placed in a specific direction or at random, and whose internal cohesion is ensured by mechanical and/or physical and/or chemical methods, and/or by the combination of these different procedures, to the exclusion of weaving, knitting, counter-knitting or traditional felting (EDANA)
It is therefore neither paper nor textile, although the manufacturing procedures sometimes call on the techniques of one or the other.

The raw materials used are numerous and varied : cotton, transformation fibres (viscose), synthetic fibres (polyamide, polyester, polypropylene) or mixes.

The procedures used are based on the constitution of a sheet of fibres or filaments, consolidated by mechanical (needling), chemical, air-under-pressure or thermal bonding, which ensures cohesion and solidity.

1) The dry process, so-called textile process
Two methods :

the carding method, a mechanical procedure that combs the fibres and can give them a direction or place them at random,

the aerodynamic method that disperses the fibres then transports them in a flow of air. This procedure enables a wide variety of homogeneous or mixed fibres to be used.

2) The damp process, so-called paper process
A very liquid paste of water and fibres is brought to a moving belt from which the water in then sucked up. The web is then dried and consolidated by compression between cylinders. This enables a wide range of natural, synthetic or artificial fibres of varying lengths to be used.

3) The melted procedure
The polymer is melted and extruded in filaments that are cooled and transported on a moving belt to form a web. This procedure produces non-woven products with very high resistance, but allows less flexibility in the choice of raw materials.

1) Chemical : Chemical bonding consists in applying a bonding agent in a liquid state. The application of these bonding agents can be carried out in various ways, uniformly by impregnation, coating or pulverisation, or intermittently, for instance by impression.

2) Thermal : This method uses the thermoplastic properties of certain synthetic fibres to create the cohesion of the web by controlled heating. Different methods of thermal bonding are used : calendaring, hot air flow, cylinder systems and felt or sonic bonding.

3) Mechanical : The web in this case is reinforced by the friction of the fibres, which results from their physical entanglement. There are two types of mechanical bonding : needling and entangling by water.

This phase enables the product's properties to be modified or specific properties to be added. A large number of chemical substances can be used or various mechanical procedures can be applied : coating, compressing, flocking and dyeing. Non-woven fabric can also be combined with other materials to form complex products.

Thus, non-woven fabric has specific properties that enable it to be used in a very wide range of applications, in particular in the manufacture of protective garments and cleaning fabrics. Consequently, it is increasingly replacing textile garments or cloth on numerous markets where decision-makers wish to obtain the best compromise between quality, safety, hygiene, comfort and cost.