Non-hollow microporous fiber or filament, method for forming the same, and nonwoven web, wet-laid paper, fabric and battery separator using the same

摘要

Fibers and filaments of an ultrahigh molecular weight polyolefin that have a void volume greater than about 20% and are wettable. Wettability is imparted to the fibers and filaments by incorporating a filler into the composition that is hygroscopic, has a particle size less than about 10 microns in diameter and a surface area greater than about 30 square meters per gram. The preferred fillers are those that contain surface silanol groups. The fibers and filaments are formed by the process of forming a mixture of the ultrahigh molecular weight polyolefin, filler and plasticizer, metering the mixture to an extruder, heating and kneading the blend in the extruder, conveying the extrudate to a spinneret-type die, expressing the extrudate through the die openings to form fibers or filaments, and extracting at least a portion of the extractable plasticizer to provide the desired porosity. The fibers and filaments may be formed into woven and nonwoven webs by airlaying and wetlaying techniques. Such webs are particularly useful as a battery separator.