We are continuing an effort to quantitatively measure the influence of processing variables on the structure of polypropylene melt blown webs. In this paper, we report experimental measurements of the influence of die-to-collector distance, primary airflow rate, die temperature, collector speed and resin throughput rate on the diameter of fibers in fully-formed webs. This enabled us to quantitatively compare the influence of these processing variables on fiber diameter as well as to achieve greater understanding of the melt blowing process.

We begin an effort to quantitatively measure the influence of processing conditions on the detailed structure of commercial polypropylene melt blown (MB) webs. In this paper, we report the influence of die-to-collector distance (DCD) on fiber entanglement, fiber orientation and pore structure in webs. This enabled us to quantify the influence of DCD on web structure as well as achieve greater understanding of the commercial MB process.

On-line and off-line measurements were obtained to gain an understanding of fly production during multi-hole melt blowing at commercial speed. These measurements allowed us to describe the effects of common processing parameters on fly production and develop a model for fly formation that begins to account for experimental measurements.

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The overall goal of our recent research has been to quantitatively measure the influence of commercial processing variables on the structure of polypropylene melt blown webs. In this paper, we applied a cool water quench spray to fibers to increase their thermal quenching rate. Then, we collected webs and measured single fiber diameter, shot content, fiber bundle size, basis weight uniformity and pore structure. The structure of webs produced with and without quenching was compared to access the influence of quenching on webs.