Felting needles have three or four edges with barbs spaced along them, and barb size, depth and spacing are matched to the fiber dtex. Barbs that are too big cut fibers; too small and they carry too few. Barbs wear gradually and lose grip, so needle boards are rotated and replaced on a schedule to keep strength steady.
Heard on the job
Strength has been fading run over run because the barbs are worn, get the new boards in at shutdown.
Also heard as
- needle barb
Related terms
Needlepunch
Mechanical bonding in which barbed needles punch repeatedly through a batt, dragging fibers through and tangling it.
Needle loom
Machine that drives boards of barbed needles through a moving batt to bond it mechanically.
Punch density
Number of needle penetrations per square centimeter of fabric, the basic dose of needling.