The company will showcase its extensive industry-reference polyolefin (PO) fibre ranges tailored to provide solutions to the performance and processing needs of North America’s hygiene and technical market segments.

Hygiene

The trilobal range of polypropylene (PP) fibres – including ultrasoft trilobal fibres – from the company’s Italian subsidiary Meraklon are designed to deliver superior softness, an improvement in liquid management and required coverage to nonwovens for diaper, adult incontinence, feminine hygiene and wipe applications. The specific trilobal shape is said to enable a reduction in weight, which leads to system cost reductions. Trilobal fibres are offered with 0,9-6,0 den / 40mm.

Meraklon’s complete range of Polyethylene / Polypropylene (PE/PP) BICO fibres in white and superwhite cover a denier range of 1.2 den/40mm to 6.0 den/40mm. The PE sheath of the material provides a soft touch to the nonwoven, which is ideal for hygiene topsheets where softness for direct skin contact is required, the company reports.

In addition to advancing hygiene applications, Meraklon’s PE/PP bico fibres can also be used as bonding fibre in different applications. The solid PP core is said to provide strength and thermal stability while PE’s melting temperature at 130°C supports low bonding temperatures during processing.

Geotextiles

BFI’s HT8 fibres are said to offer unique high tenacity forces of over 6g/N without compromising on elongation (minimum 70%).  The 4 and 6 denier super tenacity fibres provide opportunities to reduce the geotextile system cost by allowing customers to maximize needlepunch efficiency and ensure desired performance with weight savings of up to 15% compared to standard geotextile fibre. 

The company recently extended its geotextile fibre range to 8 and 10 denier to support heavier geotextiles used for environmental and protective applications.

Automotive

The company has developed a series of engineered PO binder fibres for thermoplastic lightweight composites.  Each of the binder fibres are designed to provide optimal distribution and bonding of the reinforcing fibre component, whether it be glass, natural or other synthetic fibres. 

Additionally, BFI’s lightweight polypropylene binder fibres are said to offer dimensional stability in compression moulding because of their inherent low shrinkage properties. The market for low weight fibre reinforced thermoplastics continues to be an area of focus in BFI’s development and innovation efforts.

Liquid filtration

BFI offers a full range of fine and medium denier fibres for carded or spun filter media that need to comply with EC and FDA regulations applicable in the food industry.

“In many sectors, customers are looking for globally-applicable platforms in order to improve efficiency and maintain quality and security of supply for their products,” said Karena Cancilleri, Vice President Engineered Products, Beaulieu Fibres International.

“At the same time, we are seeing exciting possibilities for nonwovens in new market areas. BFI is therefore pleased to extend the proven capabilities of its innovative fibre technologies to the North American market segments looking for trusted and comprehensive global solutions.”

www.beaulieuinternationalgroup.be