Saba Zafar
The term non-woven was introduced over 50 years ago to describe a new type of fabric that doesn’t rely on traditional yarn spinning methods like weaving, knitting or braiding. These sheets are made by bonding fibers together through heat, chemicals, or mechanical means.
Today is the era of technical textile. One of the major class of this category is geotextiles. Geotextiles can be made from natural fibers like jute, coir, sisal, cereal straw, and palm leaves because these fibers offer a sustainable, biodegradable alternative to synthetic materials, making them eco-friendly and costeffective.
Geotextiles can also be made from synthetic fibers like nylon, polypropylene, polyester, and polyethylene. Today, Non-woven geotextiles are widely used in agriculture, civil engineering, environmental applications, and landslides due to their versatile properties such as filtration, separation, drainage, and reinforcement.
In agriculture, non-woven geotextiles help prevent soil erosion by stabilizing the soil surface. They are placed over the soil in agricultural fields to reduce the impact of wind and water erosion. Moreover, In landslide-prone areas to prevent soil movement and improve the stability of slopes. They can act as a reinforcement material to hold the soil together and prevent sliding. In Civil engineering, non-woven geotextiles are used in road construction to separate different layers of soil (e.g., subgrade and aggregate).
They improve load distribution and help reduce the mixing of materials, ensuring long-term stability. In Environmental Project, Nonwoven geotextiles are used as part of a landfill liner system to separate waste from the environment and prevent contaminants from leaching into the soil and groundwater. Hence it can be concluded that nonwoven geotextiles are versatile materials used in various agriculture, civil engineering and environmental projects. Non-woven geotextiles offer effective and economical solutions across these fields. Their ability to provide separation, filtration, reinforcement, and drainage makes them a valuable tool for enhancing soil stability, controlling erosion, and improving water management.
“Their role in civil infrastructure and environmental protection continues to grow as these materials offer sustainable and durable solutions to modern engineering challenges.”
Their role in civil infrastructure and environmental protection continues to grow as these materials offer sustainable and durable solutions to modern engineering challenges. Most of the Geotextiles are made from synthetic fibers. However, many natural fibers can also have capability to be used in nonwoven geotextile manufacturing. Many researches are being conducted to find the best application of natural fibers in geotextile, because the future of nonwoven based technical textile is very bright.
The writer is a student of Department of Fiber and Textile Technology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad.
