Cotton-Containing Nonwoven Wipes for Use in Specialty Applications and Enhanced Cleaning Efficiency

The use of consumer and industrial disposable wipes continues to grow annually and is driven by applications in new areas, novel materials and products. The historically low consumption of cotton fiber in wipes applications is being addressed through research which has led to a doubling of cotton use in these nonwoven applications over the past 7 years. One significant factor that drives demand and usage of cotton is sustainability and biodegradability, particularly with regard to disposable applications. Synthetic fibers and regenerated cellulosic fibers such as rayon currently comprise the majority of wipes substrates. Rayon is typically blended with non-biodegradable synthetic fibers such as polypropylene to impart strength. Cotton fibers are a renewable, biodegradable fiber for disposable wipes applications which exhibit good tensile strength that increases when wet; as opposed to rayon, which loses tensile strength under the same conditions. In raw or greige form, cotton fibers are also competitively priced, yet see little use in these applications. In this study, we demonstrate the feasibility and advantages of using cotton fibers in specific wipes applications. Cotton-based wipes were determined to be suitable for use in specialty applications such as cleaning precision aviation components. These aerospace wipes are required to meet standards specified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). In common wipes applications that require hard surface cleaning, the inclusion of cotton fibers increased the surface roughness of the wipes compared to polypropylene fibers which was correlated with increased cleaning efficiency- a critical factor for hard surface disinfecting applications. Overall, cotton fiber is well-suited to a broad range of wiper applications and provides excellent opportunities for development of new wipe products.