| abstract |
A nonwoven textile fabric having excellent softness, drape, and hand, good long and cross tensile strength, good wet abrasion resistance and good washability, and good absorptive capacity and opacity comprising: a relatively flat, sheet-like fibrous structure of from about 30 percent by weight to about 90 percent by weight of overlapping and intersecting structural fibers having an average length of from about 1/4 inch to about 1 1/4 inches or more, and from about 70 percent by weight to about 10 percent by weight of relatively short fibers having an average length of from about 1/6 inch to about 1/25 inch or less; said structural fibers being bonded together by a closely-spaced, nonmigrating, intermittent print pattern of discrete synthetic resin binder areas, and said relatively short fibers being bonded together by a substantially uniform, overall application of a relatively soft, synthetic resin binder in an amount of from about 2 percent by weight to about 10 percent by weight, based on the total weight of the finished nonwoven textile fabric. Methods of making such nonwoven textile fabrics, and particularly methods involving the use of wet-forming manufacturing techniques, are also included. |