**4. Conclusion**

The MB technique for making nonwoven products has been forecast in recent years as one of the fastest-growing in the nonwovens industry. With the current expansion and interest, a

Investigation of the Production Parameters and

statistically significant in the width direction.

**5. References** 

125.935

10.1106/152808302025393

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x\_Meltblown\_Nonwovens.html

should be investigated deeply for different applications.

/ausgabe\_86\_2006/LB\_2006\_Ebeling\_16\_ev.pdf>

Vol.61, No.3, 2010, pp. 117-123, ISSN: 12225347

Physical Characteristics of Polypropylene Meltblown Nonwovens 263

breaking load decreased with increasing collector drum speed, due to the decrease in the basis weight. The increase in collector drum speed caused an increase in the elongation both in the production and width directions, due to the decreasing basis weight and breaking load. The breaking load increased with increasing vacuum in both directions, due to stronger bounding of the fibres in the web as a result of the increasing air pressure applied to the web by the vacuum. The elongation increased with increasing collector vacuum in both directions. In the production direction the breaking load increased with increasing extruder pressure, but it didn't have a significant effect in the width direction. The elongation decreased with increasing extruder pressure in the production direction, whereas the correlations between the extruder pressure and elongation were not found to be

Polypropylene meltblown nonwovens can be used in various application areas such as surgical face masks filter media, liquid and gaseous filtration, cartridge filters, clean room filters, hot melt adhesives, cleaning wipes and others. The properties of such materials

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[2] Duran, D.; Perincek, S. (2010). The Effect of Various Production Parameters on the

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Shaped/Molded Structures by Integrating Meltblowing and Robotic Technologies,

strong and bright future is forecasted for this technology. The scope and utility of this technology will increase and meltblowing will become a major technique in nonwoven technology. The application of speciality polymer structures will no doubt offer new nonwoven materials unobtainable by other competitive technologies. (Dahiya et al., 2004)

In this chapter the results of a study regarding the investigations of the effect of die air pressure, extruder pressure, collector drum speed, and collector vacuum on the physical properties, namely thickness, basis weight, air permeability, fiber diameter and tensile properties of polypropylene meltblown nonwoven webs were presented.

The results have shown that thickness of polypropylene meltblown nonwovens were effected mostly by the drum speed and the collector vacuum. An increase in the drum speed and an increase in the vacuum caused a decrease in the thickness. Thicker surfaces were obtained with lower collector drum speeds and lover vacuum values.

The basis weight of the polypropylene meltblown nonwovens were mostly influenced by the die air pressure, collector drum speed and collector vacuum. The basis weight increased gradually with decreasing collector drum speed and increased with increasing die air pressure. The collector vacuum had a significant effect on basis weight; when the vacuum increased the basis weight also increased. The effect of extruder pressure on the basis weight was not statistically significant.

Air permeability is an important property for meltblown nonwovens, that effect their performance in many applications especially in filtration. The air permeability property of the meltblown nonwovens were influenced by the die air pressure, the collector drum speed, the collector vacuum and extruder pressure. The air permeability increased with increasing die air pressure, collector drum speed and decreasing vacuum. The air permeability decreased with the increasing extruder pressure.

Fibre diameter of meltblown nonwovens is a very important parameter for such applications as filtration and cleaning. Fibre diameter was effected by the collector vacuum and the extruder pressure. The die air pressure did not have a significant effect on the fibre diameter. The fibre diameter slightly increased, when the collector vacuum increased from 15% to 30%, but it did not change significantly with an increase in the collector vacuum from 30% to 60%. The fibre diameter of the meltblown nonwovens investigated in this study were not affected by the extruder pressure.

Breaking load and elongation were significantly influenced by the collector drum speed, collector vacuum, die air pressure and extruder pressure in production direction. The extruder pressure did not appear to be a significant factor for the tensile properties in the width direction. The breaking load results in production direction were slightly higher and therefore the elongation results were slightly lower than the results in the width direction. This is because orientation of the fibres were more towards the production direction around the collector drum and therefore the strength were more enhanced in this direction. The breaking load increased with increasing die air pressure both in the production and the width directions, due to the increase in basis weight and thickness. The elongation decreased with increasing die air pressure in the production direction, due to incresing breaking load. In the width direction this trend was not valid; increasing pressure caused an increase in the elongation in this direction. For both of the directions as a general trend the breaking load decreased with increasing collector drum speed, due to the decrease in the basis weight. The increase in collector drum speed caused an increase in the elongation both in the production and width directions, due to the decreasing basis weight and breaking load. The breaking load increased with increasing vacuum in both directions, due to stronger bounding of the fibres in the web as a result of the increasing air pressure applied to the web by the vacuum. The elongation increased with increasing collector vacuum in both directions. In the production direction the breaking load increased with increasing extruder pressure, but it didn't have a significant effect in the width direction. The elongation decreased with increasing extruder pressure in the production direction, whereas the correlations between the extruder pressure and elongation were not found to be statistically significant in the width direction.

Polypropylene meltblown nonwovens can be used in various application areas such as surgical face masks filter media, liquid and gaseous filtration, cartridge filters, clean room filters, hot melt adhesives, cleaning wipes and others. The properties of such materials should be investigated deeply for different applications.
