3D Nonwovens Market - Forecast(2024 - 2030)

3D Nonwovens market size is forecast to reach $691.3 million by 2026, after growing at a CAGR of 20.9% during 2021-2026. Nonwovens are broadly defined as sheet or web structures bonded together by entangling fiber or filaments (and by perforating films) mechanically, thermally, or chemically. They are flat, porous sheets that are made directly from separate fibers or from molten plastic or plastic film. They are not made by weaving or knitting and do not require converting the fibers to yarn. 3D Nonwovens are the ones with significant thickness or high bulk and other shell structures with a 3D contour. China is a leading producer and exporter of all types of textiles, including 3D Nonwovens and the European Union is the largest importer and consumer of textiles globally.

Global economies are currently recovering from the consequences of the globe-sweeping COVID-19 pandemic. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the 3D Nonwovens wipes industry continued to operate, providing tools for slowing and reducing the impact of the virus. Due to the recommendations from WHO and the healthcare community, the necessity to use sanitizes, gloves, masks and wipes have become the norm globally. The nonwoven wipes industry has hence experienced a huge surge in demand that has challenged all stages of the supply chain. Disinfecting wipes have been supplied in record numbers, and demand for antibacterial wipes and healthcare wipes has also increased to extraordinary rates. It is not estimated that for some wipe segments this elevated demand will remain in place for the next few years, and overall global 3D nonwoven wipes demand through 2025 will exceed previous projections. 

The report: “3D Nonwovens Market – Forecast (2021-2026)”, by IndustryARC, covers an in-depth analysis of the following segments of the 3D Nonwovens Industry. 

By Manufacturing Method: Needle Punching, Air Laying, and Others

By Application: Automotive Textiles, Geotextiles, Aeronautics, Building & Construction, Medical & Healthcare, Sports, Protective Clothing, Marine, and Others. 

By Region: North America (USA, Canada and Mexico), Europe (UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia, Netherlands, Belgium, and Rest of Europe), APAC (China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, and Rest of APAC), South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Rest of South America), and RoW (Middle East and Africa).

Air-Laying segment held the largest share of 58% in the 3D Nonwovens market in 2020 and is growing at a CAGR of 20.49% during 2021-2026. It is an extremely versatile and efficient new technology for the manufacture of airlaid nonwovens, ensuring quality standards that are undoubtedly superior to the other airlaid technologies currently available on the market. For Instance, Cormatex has channeled its energies into R&D activities in light of these factors, leading to the development and realization of a groundbreaking air-laying device, patented under the name of Lap FormAir. The key driver of this growth, however, is the need to meet the demands of reducing manufacturing costs, increasing energy efficiency, using environmentally sustainable materials and increasing the operational versatility of machinery and equipment, while at the same time optimizing the end product's quality and functional performance. The continuing advancement of production technologies and continuous research into new materials with different characteristics and new properties have guided this industry trend.

Automotive Textiles segment held the largest share of 26% in the 3D Nonwovens market in 2020. Automobile textiles play a pivotal role in making car ambient and free from infections and diseases. Nonwoven aims to contribute nonwoven fabrics for the automobiles, which makes cars ambient, more attractive, infections free, cost-effective and more sustainable. Automotive Textile are widely used in vehicles like cars, trains, buses, aircrafts and marine vehicles. Nearly two-thirds of the automobile textile are for interior trim i.e., seat covers, carpets, roof and door liners. The rest is utilized to reinforce tyres, hoses, safety belts, air bags and others. Hence, the wide usage of 3D nonwoven in automotive textiles serves as a major factor contributing to its market growth in the future. Moreover, 3D nonwoven is an emerging technology that offers a variety of benefits over 2-D composite production and more traditional building materials like steel and aluminum. The key benefits include weight reduction, elimination of delamination, reduced crack risk, lower production time and cost reduction.

Europe held the largest share in the 3D Nonwovens market in 2020 up to 41% in 2020. Considering the diversified demand from various end-use industries such as healthcare, agriculture and others, UK is also a major region for the 3D nonwovens market. 3D Nonwovens is widely used in the automotive, healthcare, medical and wipes industry in the U.K. Moreover, Warren Nonwovens has been at the forefront of nonwovens in the automotive industry since pioneering the use of nonwovens on the Escort Trunk with Ford. It supplies materials that are licensed by major UK OEMs across a broad spectrum of applications. The rising growth in the automotive industry in Germany serves as a significant factor fostering its market growth in that region. For instance, Germany exports 80 percent of all the cars it manufacturers every year mainly to the other European countries. In addition, Germany invested over 20 billion euros on the R&D in the automotive industry which is the highest amount among the other sectors. The 3D nonwovens sector is one of the most important sectors of the Italian industry. The traditional success factor of the Italian 3D nonwovens industry is the ability to combine innovation, with production technologies. Furthermore, in Spain, high use of disposable medical items, such as drapes, towels, face masks, patient gowns, and gloves, to avoid hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) has also fuelled demand for disposable 3D nonwovens

Due to its hydrophobic, high temperature resistant, lightweight & durable, air permeability, good tensile strength, and zero toxicity, the demand of 3D Nonwovens tends to increase. The hydrophobic feature of nonwoven fabrics implies its waterproof property, it doesn't mean that it has pure water repellent, but it actually helps to maintain the quality of fabrics even if the water gets inside. It also has high temperature resistant property, which means the melting point of PET/polyester spunbond fabric is around 260℃ which is dimensional stability in the high temperature conditions. It is widely and largely to be used for various nonwoven bags printing. It also calls it low shirking nonwoven fabric polyester and is often used in heat transfer printing. Due to its high properties, the demand of 3D Nonwovens tends to increase in textile industry, which leads to increase the growth of the market.

In January 2018, the European Commission adopted the world’s first comprehensive Plastics Strategy. In May, the commission released “The Single-Use Plastics: New Measures to Reduce Marine Litter” report, which proposed new rules to reduce the 10 most found plastic waste items on Europe’s beaches that account for 43% of total marine litter. This includes wet wipes and sanitary items, which is a key product segment in the 3D Nonwovens market sales. These products are made using a mixture of cellulose and polyester (PET) or polypropylene (PP), and are produced mostly using carding and hydroentangling methods. While there are new methods which can help produce such products to comply with EU rulings it can be a capital intensive solution for majority of manufacturers globally. For example, a major innovation was offered by Austria-based Andritz AG. The high-performance Wetlace™ process for flushable, dispersible, and biodegradable wipes was showcased back in 2015. Similarly, Germany-based Trützschler 3D Nonwovens GmbH, in collaboration with The Voith Group, Germany, offers solutions that can replace existing fossil-based polymeric fiber products with cellulose and other bio-based polymers such as polylactic acid (PLA) to overcome the EU ban. 

Technology launches, acquisitions, and R&D activities are key strategies adopted by players in the 3D Nonwovens market. Major players in the 3D Nonwovens market are Reifenhäuser GmbH & Co. KG Maschinenfabrik, Freudenberg, Andritz AG, Lindauer DORNIER GmbH, Gehring-Tricot Corp., Apex Mills, Oerlikon, Berry Global Inc., Avgol Nonwovens, Teijin Frontier and others.