Anisotropic mechanical behaviour of calendered nonwoven fabrics: strain-rate dependency

Calendered nonwovens, formed by polymeric fibres, are three-phase heterogeneous materials, comprising a fibrous matrix, bond-areas and interface regions. As a result, to main factors of anisotropy can be identified. The first one is ascribable to a random fibrous microstructure, with the second one related to orientation of a bond pattern. This paper focuses on the first type of anisotropy in thin and thick nonwovens under uniaxial tensile loading. Individual and combined effects of anisotropy and strain rate were studied by conducting uniaxial tensile tests in various loading directions (0°, 30°, 45°, 60° and 90° with regard to the main fabric’s direction) and strain rate (0.01, 0.1 and 0.5 s^-1). Fabrics exhibited an initial linear elastic response, followed by nonlinear strain hardening up to necking and final softening. The studied allowed assessment of the extent the effects of loading direction (anisotropy), planar density and strain rate on the mechanical response of the calendered fabrics. The evidence supported the conclusion that anisotropy is the most crucial factor, also delineating the balance between the fabric’s load-bearing capacity and extension level along various directions. Additionally, individual fibres extracted from the fabrics were tested at various strain rates – 0.001, 0.01, 0.1 and 0.5 s^-1 – to study their rate-dependent effects. The strain rate produced a marked effect on the fibre’s response, with increased stress at higher strain rate while this effect in the fabric was small. The results demonstrated the differences of the mechanical behaviour of fabrics from that of their constituent fibres.