Low resistance bicomponent spunbond materials for fresh air filtration with ultra-high dust holding capacity

Abstract

In fresh air ventilation systems, filters with high dust holding capacity and low resistance are required to prolong their service life and reduce energy consumption. However, with the current filtration materials it is difficult to achieve this due to the limitation of the packing density and fiber diameter. Herein, a polypropylene/polyethylene (PP/PE) core/sheath bicomponent spunbond technique is proposed to fabricate airborne particle filtration materials with a three-dimensional (3D) fluffy structure. The properties of the bicomponent spunbond (BCS) materials, including fiber diameter, morphology, tensile strength, pore structure, and porosity, can be finely controlled by regulating the processing parameters such as the quenching air temperature, drawing air pressure, and bonding method. The resulting BCS materials exhibit a low pressure drop of 35.14 ± 2.01 Pa, an ultrahigh dust holding capacity of 9.36 ± 0.52 g m-2, and a relatively high filtration efficiency of 97.02% ± 0.8%. The successful fabrication of such intriguing materials could provide a new approach for the design and development of fresh air filtration materials.