Fluff pulp is fiberized in hammermills, mixed in air with bicomponent or other short fibers, and pulled by vacuum onto a moving wire through forming heads. The web is then bonded with latex (LBAL), with melting bico in an oven (TBAL) or both (MBAL). Airlaid sheets are bulky, absorbent and paper-like, used for napkins, table covers, food pads and absorbent cores.
Airlaid line is on 80 gsm TBAL for the food pads, with 15 percent bico.
Also heard as
- air-laid
- airlaid paper
- dry-formed paper
Related terms
Fluff pulp
Bleached softwood pulp made to be shredded dry into a soft, bulky fiber mass for absorbent cores and airlaid.
Bico
Shop clip for bicomponent fiber, usually meaning sheath-core binder fiber bought for thermal bonding.
Drylaid
Describes webs formed from dry staple fibers, chiefly by carding and by air laying.
Latex
Water-based polymer dispersion used as the binder in chemically bonded nonwovens.
Absorbency
How much liquid a nonwoven takes up and how fast, usually reported as grams per gram and absorption time.