Fabric Rolling

Non-woven preparation
There are two primary methods of assembling non-woven fabrics: the wet laid process and the dry laid process.

1 One dry laid process is the "meltblown" method, which is used to make non-woven fabrics from plastic resins. In this method, plastic pellets are melted and then extruded, or forced through tiny holes, by air pressure. As the stream of fibers cools, it condenses to form a sheet. Hot metal rollers are used to flatten the fibers and bond them together.
2 A wet laid process is typically used for softer cloths, like diaper wipes, that use cotton blends. In this wet process, the fibers are made into liquid slurries with water and other chemicals. The resultant paste is pressed into flat sheets by rollers and then dried to form long rolls of fabric. These rolls are then further processed and slit into narrow widths and then perforated or cut into individual sheets. The finished cloths are classified by their dry weight that is at least 1.4 oz/in2 (40 g/m2). Absorbency of the wipes is also an important requirement (quality wipes can absorb between 200% and 600% of their weight in solution).

When manufacturing baby wipes, a wet laid process is typically applied. During this process, the non-woven fibers are made into liquid slurries with water and other chemicals, resulting in a paste which is then pressed into flat sheets by rollers and dried to form long master rolls of material. The master rolls are then further processed using a slitter rewinder, cutting the sheets down into smaller sizes for additional processing.