Configuration of PET Fiber Arrangement in Roller Drafting Air-Laid Webs

Abstract

Roller drafting air-laid web formation is a new method that can be used to produce metal fiber webs, conventional textile fiber webs, and blended fiber webs. The configuration of inner-fiber arrangements in the web is researched in this study. A roller drafting air-laid web is processed by opening sliver into individual fibers with conventional 3/3 drafting rollers. The fibers are then collected lay by lay to form a web on a stainless mesh conveyer belt with suction air. The process uses drafting roller opening as a way to replace the opening saw rollers of a conventional dry web machine. Therefore, researching the configuration of fiber arrangement in the web and its effect on the strength and elongation of the nonwoven fabric are necessary. In this study, we prepare a series of pet webs with basis weights of 40, 80, and 100 g/m², respectively. After the webs are needle punched, we examine the strength and elongation of the nonwoven fabrics in the machine direction (MD) and cross direction (CD), respectively. We compare the results with other conventional dry forming webs. Our results show that the strength of the nonwoven fabrics is similar in both MD and CD, and their elongation has the same trend. The strength ratio of the nonwovens in the MD/CD ranges from 1:1.2 to 1:1.4 and the elongation ratio from 1.2:1 to 1.3:1. Contrary to other dry forming webs, the strength of nonwoven fabrics in the MD is lower than that in the CD. The mechanical properties of this new web formation process are quite similar to existing air-laid webs, since the strength of nonwoven fabrics in the MD is nearly equal to that of the CD. This new web formation possesses the advantages of fiber disorder arrangement and even mechanical properties in both MD and CD.

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