Nonwoven fabric

1. A bonded nonwoven fabric comprising:

absorbent staple fibres, wherein the absorbent staple fibres comprise gelling fibres, and

bonding stripes extending along the bonded nonwoven fabric and into the bonded nonwoven fabric from at least one face thereof, wherein the bonding stripes are formed of needle bonded web, said bonding stripes being transversely spaced from each other by regions of unbonded web, which are free of needling, wherein:

the bonding stripes are of high fibre entanglement density relative to the regions of unbonded web; and

the width of the bonding stripes at the face of the bonded nonwoven web is less than the width of said regions of unbonded fabric as measured transversely to the bonding stripes.

2. The bonded nonwoven fabric as claimed in claim 1 wherein the width of the bonding stripes at the face of the bonded nonwoven fabric is 0.5 mm to 4 mm.

3. The bonded nonwoven fabric as claimed in claim 1 wherein the transverse distance between the longitudinal centre lines of adjacent bonding stripes is in the range 4 to 16 mm.

4. The bonded nonwoven fabric as claimed in claim 1 wherein the bonding stripes are of substantially equal width at the face of the bonded nonwoven fabric.

5. The bonded nonwoven fabric as claimed in claim 1 wherein the bonding stripes are of substantially equal width throughout their depth.

6. The bonded nonwoven fabric as claimed in claim 1 wherein the absorbent staple fibres have a length of 25 to 76 mm.

7. The bonded nonwoven fabric as claimed in claim 1 wherein the gelling fibres comprise alginate and/or carboxymethyl cellulose fibres.

8. The bonded nonwoven fabric as claimed in claim 1 wherein the gelling fibres are alginate fibres incorporating carboxymethyl cellulose.

9. The bonded nonwoven fabric as claimed in claim 1 additionally comprising non-absorbent staple fibres.

10. The bonded nonwoven fabric as claimed in claim 9 wherein the non-absorbent staple fibres are resilient.

11. The bonded nonwoven fabric as claimed in claim 9 wherein the non-absorbent staple fibres are selected from polyester, polyamide, acrylic or polypropylene fibres or a blend of two or more of these fibre types.

12. The bonded nonwoven fabric as claimed in claim 1 having a basis weight of 100 to 300 g m-2.

13. The bonded nonwoven fabric as claimed in claim 1 wherein at least some of the absorbent staple fibres incorporate an antimicrobial agent.

14. The bonded nonwoven fabric as claimed in claim 13 wherein:

the antimicrobial agent is a silver compound; or

a copper compound; or

honey; or

a biguanide.

15. The bonded nonwoven fabric as claimed in claim 1 further comprising non-absorbent staple fibres and wherein at least some of the absorbent staple fibres and/or at least some of the non-absorbent staple fibres incorporate an antimicrobial agent.

16. The bonded nonwoven fabric as claimed in claim 1 wherein the absorbent staple fibres further include cotton and/or viscose fibres.

17. A wound dressing comprising the bonded nonwoven fabric as claimed in claim 1 .

18. A method of producing a bonded nonwoven fabric comprised of absorbent staple fibres comprising the steps of:

(i) providing an unbonded web comprising absorbent staple fibres comprising gelling fibres, and

(ii) forming in said unbonded web bonding stripes extending along the bonded nonwoven fabric and into the bonded nonwoven fabric from at least one face thereof, said bonding stripes being formed to have a width at the face of the bonded nonwoven fabric less than the transverse distance between the centre lines of adjacent bonding stripes whereby there are regions of unbonded web remaining between the bonding stripes as measured transversely thereto; wherein the bonding stripes are of high fibre entanglement density relative to the regions of unbonded web said bonding stripes being transversely spaced from each other by regions of unbonded web wherein the width of the bonding stripes at the face of the bonded nonwoven fabric is less than the width of said regions of unbonded web as measured transversely to the bonding stripes; and wherein the bonding stripes are formed by needling the unbonded web.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18 wherein the bonding stripes are formed by a needling operation in which barbed ends of an array of barbed needles reciprocate into and out of the unbonded web as the latter is moved relatively past the array, wherein the needles in the array are arranged in columns extending in the direction of said relative movement, and wherein the column widths, as defined for any one column by the maximum transverse spacing of the needles therein, are less than the transverse spacing between the centre lines of adjacent columns.