Melt Blown Fabrics for Chemical Protective Liners.

摘要

Novel melt blown fabrics were processed from thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) using both a 6-inch and a 20-inch melt blowing (MB) line at the University of Tennessee's Textile and Nonwovens Development Center (TANDEC) These nonwovens were developed to determine the processing conditions to produce the finest fiber and most uniform nonwoven fabrics possible with TPUs to be potential candidate fabrics for new chemical protective clothing designs This study was performed in three phases The objective of Phase 1 was to establish an envelope of MB operating conditions versus web performance properties with three TPUs having different breathability and elasticity properties The objective of Phase 2 was to use this information to optimize the processing conditions of the 20-inch MB line through the evaluation of the web barrier and strength properties. Another focus of Phase 2 was to determine the extent to which polymer throughput rate could be increased, while maintaining acceptably small fiber diameters and other key performance attributes to improve processing economics. Phase 3 of this Scientific and Technical Innovation Research (STIR) project involved the designing of a novel high performance melt blown line with an addition port positioned at the end of a twin screw extruder, ahead of the die, to facilitate coprocessing of new additives for protective fabrics.