Karena Cancilleri, President Engineered Products at Beaulieu International Group. © Beaulieu International Group

Beaulieu Fibres International (BFI), a solutions provider of value-added fibres, is lifting polyolefin and PET core nonwovens to new performance heights at the upcoming Techtextil trade fair that takes place in Frankfurt next month. At the show, the company will give centre stage to innovations helping producers to extract the most out of their production equipment and pursue new opportunities in areas like automotive, geotextiles, flooring, filtration, upholstery, concrete reinforcement and hygiene.

“The nonwoven market is constantly looking for added value and system cost reduction opportunities. With our latest product innovations, Beaulieu Fibres International shows again that we are committed to helping our customers stay at the forefront of segment trends and efficiency,” commented Karena Cancilleri, President Engineered Products, Beaulieu International Group.

Headway for greener needlepunch fabrics

One of the company’s highlights at the exhibition will be BFI’s new polyolefin staple fibre UltraBond designed to bring significant sustainability and cost-efficiency benefits to the broad world of needlepunch fabrics. UltraBond is said to eliminate the need for latex or other chemical binders to consolidate nonwovens, contributing to a fully recyclable system. It opens up a new path to create 100% polypropylene (PP) needlepunch fabrics which meet the same performance requirements while reducing the end-of-life environmental impact.

UltraBond contributes to 100% recyclability. © Beaulieu International Group

Supporting the growing market for lightweight geotextiles, BFI provides high-tenacity fibres HT8 that are said to offer high-tensile strength without compromising on elongation. The fibres provide opportunities to reduce geotextile system cost by maximising machine efficiency and ensure desired performance at reduced weight – up to 15% compared with standard geotextile fibres, according to the manufacturer.

Lightweight automotive composites

The company will introduce UltraLink, a family of engineered polypropylene (PP) bonding fibres for thermoplastic lightweight composites. The UltraLink fibres are designed to provide an optimal cost to performance ratio in needle-punched compression moulded composite materials, when blended with glass, natural or synthetic reinforcement fibres. The UltraLink fibres are customised to improve the mechanical, thermal and functional properties of the composite, supporting the automotive industry in the continuous strive to reduce weight and improve comfort in a sustainable way.

‘Fresh’ innovation for hygiene

Straight from their March global premiere and now available, BFI’s new PET-core-BICO staple fibres support the segment’s search to improve final product performance. They are designed to bring the advantages of PP or PE sheaths to resilient hygiene-destined nonwovens. The use of PE in the sheath provides softness as required in top sheets, for example, while the configuration with PP in the sheath answers the requirements for ultrasonic bonding.

New PET-core-BICO Fibres for resilient, high loft hygiene nonwovens. © Beaulieu International Group

Fibres come in a dtex range from 1,3-6,7dtex/40mm in their antimony (Sb)-free version, as required by the latest hygiene safety regulations. The new fibres are part of BFI’s extensive range of Meraklon man-made fibres.

www.beaulieufibres.com