Configuration of PET fiber arrangement in roller drafting air-laid webs

Roller drafting air-laid web formation is a new method that can be used to produce metal fiber webs, conventional textile fiber webs, and blended fibe r webs. The configuration of inner-fiber arrangements in the web is researc hed in this study. A roller drafting air-laid web is processed by opening s liver into individual fibers with conventional 3/3 drafting rollers. The fi bers are then collected lay by lay to form a web on a stainless mesh convey er belt with suction air. The process uses drafting roller opening as a way to replace the opening saw rollers of a conventional dry web machine. Ther efore, researching the configuration of fiber arrangement in the web and it s effect on the strength and elongation of the nonwoven fabric are necessar y. In this study, we prepare a series of PET webs with basis weights of 40, 80, and 100 g/m(2), respectively. After the webs are needle punched, we ex amine the strength and elongation of the nonwoven fabrics in the machine di rection (MD) and cross direction (CD), respectively. We compare the results with other conventional dry forming webs. Our results show that the streng th of the nonwoven fabrics is similar in both MD and CD, acid their elongat ion has the same trend. The strength ratio of the nonwovens in the MD/CD ra nges from 1:1.2 to 1:1.4 and the elongation ratio from 1.2:1 to 1.3:1. Cont rary to other dry forming webs, the strength of nonwoven fabrics in the MD is lower than that in the CD. The mechanical properties of this new web for mation process are quite similar to existing air-laid webs, since the stren gth of nonwoven fabrics in the MD is nearly equal to that of the CD. This n ew web formation possesses the advantages of fiber disorder arrangement and even mechanical properties in both MD and CD.