The bicomponent meltblown process offers to associate two polymers in the same fiber generating fibrous media with new properties. In this study, we associate polypropylene (PP) and poly(lactic acid) (PLA), from renewable sources, polymers. The influence of primary air flow rate and the structural properties of the PP/PLA bicomponent meltblown are compared to PP and PLA monocomponent meltblown. The structural properties include fiber morphology and diameter, packing density, permeability, thermal shrinkage and crystallization. The results relate that the PP/PLA bicomponent meltblown fiber diameters are thinner than those of PLA monocomponent. Moreover, it has higher resistance to thermal shrinkage compared to PP monocomponent meltblown. The packing density and permeability are not affected by the association of PP and PLA due to low crimp effect. Two different filament formations of PP/PLA bicomponent meltblown at low and high primary air flow rate have also been observed. Lastly, this study illustrates that PP and PLA association is viable, showing the production of PP/PLA bicomponent microfiber and limited thermal shrinkage at high temperature. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 44540.
Formation behavior of fine fibers of polymethylpentene (PMP) and polypropylene (PP) in the melt blowing process was investigated through the observation of the spin-line near the spinning nozzle using a high speed camera. Reduction of the polymer throughput rate and increase of the air flow rate were necessary to achieve fine diameter fibers, however these conditions generally cause the instability in the spinning process. Observation of the spin-line at the melt blowing die revealed the periodic accumulation of polymer flow near the spinning nozzle followed by the quick pulling down of the accumulated polymer by the air flow. This behavior caused the periodic fluctuation of fiber diameter as well as the intermittent breakage of the spin-line under extreme conditions. Because of high extrusion viscosity, PMP showed more stable spinning behavior than PP. Frequency of diameter fluctuation became higher with the increases of air flow rate and throughput rate, and the maximum frequency of about 60 Hz was observed for PP spinning with the throughput rate of 0.18 g/min. Diameter distribution of the fibers in the prepared web was also analyzed to compare with the spinning behavior. Fiber diameter distributions were narrow and symmetric under stable spinning conditions, whereas skewed diameter profiles with a maximum at low value and a long tail to the larger diameter region were observed under unstable conditions. Intermittent spin-line breakage caused flaws of “shot” and/or “fly”, and the skewed fiber diameter distribution with the presence of a small amount of fiber of extremely large diameter was confirmed.
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