Polymer-laid, meltblown, spunlaid, spunbond, and flash-spun are manufactured with machinery developed from polymer extrusion. They can be films or layered composites. In a basic spunbonding system, sheets of synthetic filaments are extruded from molten polymer onto a moving conveyor as a randomly oriented web. First launched commercially in 1960's as a carpet-backing system the demand for spunmelt has grown and it is now a major player in the nonwovens industry. Hygiene product components account for the majority of production demand. The meltblowing process "is a one step process in which a high velocity fluid - normally air - blows molten thermoplastic resin from an extruder die tip onto a conveyor, take-up screen, or substrate to form a fine fibered self bonded web". The extremely fine fibers result in a soft, self bonded fabric with excellent covering power and opacity. Because of the finess and tremendous number of fibers, meltblown webs can develop significant bonding strength through fiber entanglement.
Spunbonded nonwovens are made from the continuos extrusion of filaments into a web (polymer laid). They consist of randomly oriented filament fibers subsequently consolidated by thermal bonding, mechanical entaglement, adhesive bonding, or etched filament surfaces to interlock the fibers. This method produces the second largest amount of nonwovens.
Melt-blown nonwovens are produced in a similar process to spunbonded nonwovens in that fiber extrusion is used (polymer laid). However, upon passage through the extrusion orifice, the molten polymer is now accelerated by high velocity hot air jets which reduce the filaments to microdenier size. The individual fibers are propelled to a collection surface. As the fibers are in a tacky state upon collection, cohesion forms between the fibers creating a cohesive web. Some of the potential shortcomings include low fiber strength and low abrasion resistance. This method is the most popular technique for producing microdenier fibers.