A study of nonwoven composites

Preliminary work on nonwoven composites at The University of Tennessee showed that spunbond/meltblown (SM) and spunbond/meltblown/spunbond (SMS) nonwoven composites containing side-by-side (S/S) bicomponent PP/PE fiber meltblown webs had lower flexural rigidity than 100%PP SB webs and that the SM composites had discernibly softer hand than did the composites made from 100% PP in the meltblown component.

This study further optimizes the production and processing parameters of the SM and SMS laminates containing MB webs with different ratios of the bicomponent polymer pairs PP and PE. The resultant laminates were tested for barrier performance, tensile strength, hydrostatic head (HH), air permeability (AP) and flexural rigidity (FR) properties. Response surface modeling was used for the analysis of the HH, AP, FR and tenacity of both the SM and SMS laminates. The effect of % polypropylene in the bicomponent meltblown web on the properties of the laminates was investigated using qualitative and statistical analysis methods.