It’s half a minute that stops his breath.
That’s the feeling of anticipation American Nonwovens Corp.’s R&D Director Paul Brady still gets when a mattress containing the flame retardant (FR) fabric he designed is set on fire in a chamber to test how much heat it will release.
“You just hold your breath,” he says. “It surprised me the first time that it really held up. But you also learn the ways it will fail in different bedding constructions, which is just as valuable to know.”
American Nonwovens engineered its successful Blazeblok™ line of FR fabrics to help bedding manufacturers meet a new federal standard for mattresses that went into effect July 1, 2007 in the U.S.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s 16 CFR Part 1633 standard is opening up a whole new market for nonwovens suppliers that companies like American Nonwovens are poised to seize.
“This is one of the biggest opportunities that has come along for nonwovens in a long time,” Brady says.
Nonwovens a Natural
Nonwovens players bring expertise in producing thermal insulating materials in other segments, such as the automotive industry. And these materials also are widely used in home furnishings today, from bedding to window coverings.
So introducing FR materials for mattresses to meet the new standards is a natural and huge market, with more than 22 million mattresses produced in the U.S. every year.
The standard doesn’t just affect residential beds but covers mattresses people rest their heads on everywhere from college rooms to hotels, recreational vehicles and jails.
The ability to create a variety of reasonably low-density structures and composites, using a range of technical fibers and coatings, combined with the relatively low cost of nonwovens is giving the industry an advantage over traditional textile groups, according to Brady.
“The bedding industry’s demand-challenge is giving us an opportunity to find success in a new supply market,” he said.
With an estimated usage of more than 600 million square yards of fabrics going into mattresses, boxes and foundations, Brady predicts there’s enough business to go around for nonwovens companies of all sizes and consortiums of manufacturers have already been formed to supply the needed materials.
Answer Comes Knocking
American Nonwovens identified the market opportunity several years ago and set out to develop a unique solution. In fact, hardly anything the Columbus, Mississippi-based company offers comes right off the shelf, with 90 percent of its products custom-designed to meet specific end uses.
The 26-year-old roll goods producer that specializes in light-weight needlepunch materials has experience making materials used in everything from medical and cosmetic wipes to the base fabric for upholstered seats on Harley Davidson motorcycles.
Brady’s R&D team worked on the new FR material for more than a year, looking for an innovative way to develop a material that would be both cost-effective for the mattress industry and also did not require them to significantly change their manufacturing processes.
“The answer literally came knocking on our door,” he said. “I got a cold call from a salesperson who offered up a fiber that I really liked. I played with it and found a design that would meet our needs.”
Blazeblok is a needlepunch material made from synthetic and natural FR components in a unique combination that chars when ignited but doesn’t burn or fall apart.
Lessons Learned
Looking back to his early days of testing the new material in mattresses, Brady says he’s learned a lot.
“We thought we had a miracle fabric,” he said. “Everything we tested at first passed. But that’s unrealistic. Every bedding manufacturer has a different design and construction and what works for one doesn’t work for another.”
Sales executive Brenda Potter has been involved with the Blazeblok project since its inception through bed manufacturing, construction and testing. “The new regulations are overwhelming for some of the smaller manufacturers who are considering just closing up shop,” she says.
Their advice for others looking at the market:
“Don’t just send a roll of fabric and expect them to come beating down your door,” Brady said. “Although the very largest bedding companies probably do have a very knowledgeable staff of scientists at their disposal, most small companies do not. They know how to make beds, and do a good job of it, but they may know very little about how to protect their products against fire.”
Based on the success of the initial line, American Nonwovens is now developing a second generation of FR materials and will continue to look for improved solutions.
Pricing issues and tightened raw material supply will create challenges for the market, Brady predicts.
“The market is evolving,” he said. “The answers today will likely not be the ones for tomorrow. We’ll just have to wait and see how the standards evolve and change.”
And Brady will keep on holding his breath.