Non-woven solidified by means of a melt binder

A non-woven material formed from:

• supporting aramid fibers consisting essentially of a copolyamide which is soluble in an organic solvent and which contains at least 95 mol %, relative to the copolyamide, of recurring units --OC--Ar.sup.1 --CO-- and --HN--Ar.sup.2 --NH --, in which --Ar.sup.1 --and --Ar.sup.2 -- are divalent aromatic radicals whose valence bonds are in the para or comparable coaxial or parallel position and which are unsubstituted or substituted by one or two inert radicals, and up to 5 mol % of structural units containing m-bonds and being derived from an aromatic dicarboxylic acid or an aromatic diamine or a combination thereof, and
• binding fibers consisting essentially of a thermoplastic aromatic polyether amide whose melting point is below the melting or decomposition point of said supporting aramid fibers, said thermoplastic polyether amide having an average molecular weight in the range from 5000 to 50,000 and a melt viscosity not exceeding 10,000 Pas,
• the non-woven material being solidified by the essentially complete melting of the binding fibers.

A process for the production of a solidified non-woven comprising combining aramid supporting fibers and thermoplastic aramid binding fibers;

• forming the combined fibers into a sheet;
• optionally, subjecting the sheet to mechanical presolidification;
• and heating the sheet to effect melting of the thermoplastic aramid binding fibers and bonding of the aramid support fibers at the crossing points of the support fibers.

A paper formed from a mixture containing about 70 to 98% by weight, of supporting aramid fibers in the form of fibrillated staple fibers and about 2 to 30% by weight, of binding fibers comprising thermoplastic aramids which has been solidified by bonding the supporting fibers to the binding fibers by partial melting or by virtually complete melting of the binding fibers.