Areas of application include technical, such as filtration, roofing, geotextiles and automotive, in addition to medical and hygiene applications.The proportion of nonwovens manufactured directly from polymer granulate now amounts to almost 50% of the total market, and its share is continuing to grow. The trend is towards lighter surface weights that despite everything still meet the high quality standards. Benchmark comparisons with current products in Europe show that with the spunbond technology of Oerlikon Neumag, the required qualities are achieved with reduced surface weights. This results in raw material savings of over 5%.

Furthermore, the machine builder from Neumünster has optimized the energy consumption of its systems. The new generation of systems saves almost 20% of the energy requirement in spinning alone. Together with the raw material savings and further technology optimizations, the conversion costs are up to 30% below those of the spunbond systems producing today.

Meltblown technology for even higher qualities

The optimized meltblown technology defines new requirements for the production of filter nonwovens. Whether as stand-alone mono and bicomponent systems, or as Plug & Produce components in existing systems, the Oerlikon Neumag meltblown process today enables cost-efficient manufacture of meltblown nonwovens with the quality standards of tomorrow.

Airlaid technology for extremely thin nonwovens

Production of high-quality, light airlaid nonwovens with economically attractive production speeds and system throughputs is nowadays in demand. In this area, the forming head of the Oerlikon Neumag airlaid technology with a high uniformity and homogenous fiber placement, even with extremely thin nonwovens, is setting standards.

Fiber production for carded nonwovens

For manufacturers of carded nonwovens, who in future would like to produce their fibers in-house, Oerlikon Neumag offers a comprehensive technology portfolio. The economically viable system capacities for special mono and bico fibers made of PP, PET and other polymers start at 5 t per day.

About Oerlikon

Oerlikon (SIX: OERL) is a leading, globally-active technology group with a clear strategy to develop into a leading provider of surface solutions, state-of-the-art materials and materials processing. The group invests in value-generating technologies, with which customers can be supplied with lighter and more durable materials that increase performance, improve efficiency and reduce the use of scarce resources. As a Swiss company with a history stretching back more than 100 years, Oerlikon and its in excess of 13,500 employees are present at more than 170 sites in 37 different countries. In 2015, sales totaled CHF 2.7 billion. The company, which invested CHF 103 million in research and development in 2015, employees more than 1,350 specialists for developing innovative and customer-oriented products and services.