Experimental measurements are presented to provide phenomenological insight into the commercial melt blowing process. In particular, we discuss the following experimental measurements obtained at various die-collector locations: fiber diameter, fiber velocity, air velocity, fiber acceleration, fiber entanglement, fiber temperature, birefringence, wide-angle x-ray diffraction and small-angle x-ray scattering. Our discussion focuses on how these measurements provide insight into fiber formation during melt blowing.
References
1.
McCullochW.J.G. “The History of the Development of Melt Blowing Technology,” International Nonwovens Journal, 8 (1), 66–72 (1999)
2.
UyttendaeleM.A.J. and ShambaughR.L. “Melt Blowing: General Equation Development and Experimental Verification,” AIChE Journal, 36 (2), 175–185 (1990)
3.
RaoR.S. and ShambaughR.L. “Vibration and Stability in the Melt Blowing Process,” Ind. Eng. Chem. Res, 32 (12), 3100–3111 (1993)
4.
BansalV. and ShambaughR.L. “On-Line Determination of Diameter and Temperature During Melt Blowing of Polypropylene,” Ind. Eng. Chem. Res, 37 (5), 1799–1806 (1998)
5.
WuT.T. and ShambaughR.L. “Characterization of the Melt Blowing Process with Laser Doppler Velocimetry,” Ind. Eng. Chem. Res, 31 (1), 379–389 (1992)
6.
BansalV. and ShambaughR.L. “On-Line Determination of Density and Crystallinity During Melt Spinning,” Polymer Engineering and Science, 36 (22), 2785–2798 (1996)
7.
BansalV. and ShambaughR. L. “Fiber Vibrations and Distributions in Meltblowing”, Tappi Journal, 81 (3), 199–201 (1998)
8.
ShambaughR.L. and ChhabraR. “From the Spinneret to the Collection Screen: A Statistical Analysis of Fiber Motion in Melt Blowing”, Tappi Proceedings - Nonwovens Conference, 107–113 (1998)
9.
ChhabraR. and ShambaughR.L. “Experimental Measurements of Fiber Threadline Vibrations in the Melt-Blowing Process”, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 35 (No. 11), 4366–4374 (1996)
10.
HaynesB. and MilliganM. “Experimental Investigation of Melt Blowing”, INDA Journal of Nonwovens Research, 3 (4), 20–25 (1991)
11.
YinH., YanZ. and BreseeR.R. “Experimental Study of the Meltblowing Process,” International Nonwovens Journal, 8 (1), 60–65 (1999)
12.
YinH., YanZ., KoW-C and BreseeR.R. “Fundamental Description of the Meltblowing Process,” International Nonwovens Journal, 9 (4), 25–28 (2000)
13.
BreseeR.R. “Understanding the Melt Blowing Process,” Proceedings of the INTC 2001 Nonwovens Conference, Baltimore, 2001
14.
HuangX.C. and BreseeR.R. “Characterizing Nonwoven Web Structure Using Image Analysis Techniques. Part IV: Fiber Diameter Analysis for Spunbonded Webs,” International Nonwovens Journal, 6 (No. 2), 53–59 (1994)
15.
HendricksR.W., “The ORNL 10-meter Small-angle X-ray Scattering Camera,” Journal of Applied Crystallography, 11, 15–30 (1978)
16.
BreseeR.R. and QureshiU.A. “Fiber Motion Near the Collector During Melt Blowing. Part I: General Considerations,” International Nonwovens Journal, 11(2) 27–34 (2002)
17.
BreseeR.R. and QureshiU.A. “Fiber Motion Near the Collector During Melt Blowing. Part II: Fly Formation,” International Nonwovens Journal, 11(3) 21–27 (2002)
18.
BondE.B., SpruiellJ.E. and LinJ.S. “A WAXD/SAXS/DSC Study on the Melting Behavior of Ziegler-Natta and Metallocene Catalyzed Isotactic Polypropylene,” Journal of Polymer Science: Part B: Polymer Physics, 37, 3050–3064 (1999)
19.
HendraP.J., VileJ., WillisH.A., ZichyV. and CudbyM.E.A. “The Effect of Cooling Rate Upon the Morphology of Quenched Melts of Isotactic Polypropylene,” Polymer, 25, 785–790 (1984)
20.
ShibayamaM., ImamuraK.-I., KatohK. and NomuraS. “Transparency of Recycled Polypropylene Film,” Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 42, 1451–1458 (1991)
21.
ZiabickiA.Fundamentals of Fibre Formation, Wiley, New York, 1976, p200