We all love to use latest products. The ones that have unmatched features. A trendy jacket that is water resistant, abrasion resistant and that doesn't show any seam. An attractive tent for the evening party and yes sans all those lose threads at seams that look so ugly. A safe and secured inflatable boat that doesn't allow any water inside, after all it's the question of life and death! Have you ever thought, how these products are made so durable, safe and at the same time neat and attractive? Its all because of fabric welding-the technique of joining fabric pieces by using heat and pressure- without any sewing, seam taping or gluing!

The heat sealing technique of fabric welding has been made possible by thermoplastic coatings on fabrics, such as polyvinylchloride (PVC), polyurethane (PU), polyethylene fabric (PE) and polypropylene (PP). Whenever, a fabric has to be made water resistant, abrasion resistant at the seam, resistant to thread decay and also to give attractive appearance, there is no better method then fabric welding. There are basically two types of fabric welding- Dielectric Welding and Rotary welding.

In Dielectric Welding, a die is lowered onto the fabric pieces that are supported by an underlying base plate after which a timed pulse of radio frequency energy is delivered between the die and the base plate. The fabric gets heated to the point where it melts the thermoplastic coating temporarily. As a result, the pieces of fabric are fused together. The die is then lifted and new pieces of fabric move into position for getting welded.

In Rotary welding, the fabric pieces move continuously through the welding area, usually pulled along by a pair of drive wheels. Heat is delivered through heated metal wedge or hot air. This is done immediately before the fabric passes between the drive wheels wherein welding pressure is applied which heat seals the fabric.

Many other welding technologies are included in these two basic methods of welding, knowing about which is really interesting.