Knitting technology, Third Edition

30.9
Stitch bonding or web knitting
Warp knitting machine builders 
Karl Mayer
build a range of 
Malimo
stitch bonding
machines (Fig. 30.4) [8]. Whereas warp and weft knitting construct fabrics from
yarns, stitch bonding constructs fabrics from a medium such as a fibrous web using
purely mechanical means. It is therefore a highly-productive method of producing
textile substrates for industrial end-uses.
Using horizontally-mounted compound needles, the medium can be pierced by
the pointed needle heads, so it is ideal for the production of textile composites. It
is stitch-bonded either right through the structure or only on one surface in order
to stabilise it. Dependent upon the model, additional yarns or fibres may or may
Fig. 30.4
Malimo stitch bonding machine knitting head [Karl Mayer].

---

376
Knitting technology
not be supplied to the needles. Yarn layers, webs, films or materials such as glass
fibres, rockwool, or re-cycled products can be processed
Malimo
web processing techniques include 
Maliwatt
,
Malivlies
,
Kunit
, and 
Mul-
tiknit
. The 
Malimo
machines operate with one or two guide bars and offer parallel
weft and multi-axial alternatives. Pile and fleece can be produced on the 
Malipol
(pile yarn feed) and 
Voltex
(pile web feed) machines.
The 
Karl Mayer Maliwatt
stitch-bonding machine is a high-performance machine
for plain stitch-bonding of loose or pre-bonded fibrous webs, as well as of substrates
of various materials within a wide range of thicknesses and weights per unit 
area.
The advantage of mechanical bonding is that it occurs in a single process without
the use of chemicals. The resultant fabric can be used in a moulded resin laminate
for boats, cars and sports equipment.
A special version of the machine for processing fibreglass into a web has 
now been developed. The fibreglass is fed to a chopper behind the machine. This
cuts the glass fibres into pre-determined lengths (25–100 mm). The chopped strands
are randomly arranged in the form of a mat on a conveyor belt that feeds to the
stitch forming area where they are bonded by means of a quilted seam. The mat 
is used to make reinforced plastic mouldings such as safety helmets and vehicle
bodywork.
Working widths range from 2900 mm to 6150 mm and gauges from E 3.5 to 
E 22.