Abstract: A heat shrinkable nonwoven fabric includes outer layers of thermoplastic staple fibers and an inner layer containing heat shrinkable fibers the layers are point bonded together at spaced locations without causing shrinkage of the heat shrinkable fibers. The web may then be uniformly heated in a relaxed state to cause a substantial increase in bulk.

Abstract: A method of making a nonwoven fibrous web. A web of primary fibers having uniformly distributed throughout secondary fibers containing 3 to 7 percent polyethylene by weight of the final web is formed on a conveying means. The polyethylene of the secondary fibers has a melting point that is lower than the melting point of the primary fibers. The web is then heated to a temperature below the melting point of the primary fibers but above the melting point of the polyethylene of the secondary fibers thereby causing some of the polyethylene fibers to bond to each other or to the primary fibers. The web is then heated to a temperature above the melting point of the primary fibers to form primary fiber-to-primary fiber thermal bonds which provide substantially all of the useful strength of the web.