Nonwoven fabrics for filtration, manufactured to order

Filter manufacturers do not buy fabric, they buy a set of properties that survive conversion. The media has to pleat without cracking, hold its pleat depth in service, resist the chemistry it is filtering, and contribute no lint of its own to the fluid stream. We produce air and liquid filtration media across spunbond, bicomponent spunbond and meltblown so that one specification conversation can cover the media, the support layer and the backing in a single filter.

Polyester spunbond is the structural media. It is available point-bonded or flat-bonded, with round or tri-lobal filament cross-sections. The combination of a flat bond with tri-lobal fibres is the one filter designers ask for most often: the flat bond exposes more of the filament surface and the tri-lobal cross-section increases surface area at the same basis weight, which improves filtration efficacy without adding pressure drop from added mass. Flat-bonded polyester spunbond is also exceptionally stiff for its weight, so it pleats cleanly on a wide range of equipment and holds the pleat geometry that the device was designed around.

Bicomponent polyester spunbond is specified where the filter has to survive handling and service. The filament is PET with a co-polyester component, either as a tipped tri-lobal or as a sheath around a round core, and thermal bonding melts only the co-polyester. Every filament crossing becomes a bond while the load-bearing core stays intact, which gives uniform bonding, very low lint and excellent abrasion resistance. Because the co-polyester is a separate stream, functional and compatible additives can be carried in it, adding performance to the media without touching the structural component.

All-polyester construction brings advantages that apply across the range. A 100 percent PET media is dimensionally stable under load and temperature, chemically resistant, mould resistant, and integral without binder, so nothing leaches into the filtrate. Continuous filaments give high strength and generate no lint, which keeps the filtration process clean as well as effective. The media can be calendered, moulded, die-cut, pleated, sonic bonded or seamed, and the tri-lobal versions in particular take coatings well, so a converter can build the element with whatever process their line already runs.

Meltblown supplies the efficiency layer. Fibres in the 6 to 8 micron range give very high surface area and small pore structure, which is what raises capture efficiency at a manageable pressure drop. We produce meltblown media in polypropylene for general air and oil-bearing applications and in polybutylene terephthalate where higher temperatures and aggressive chemistry are involved, including heavier basis weights for liquid and gas filtration. Fine-fibre point-bonded polypropylene spunbond covers applications that require a polypropylene media throughout, such as coolant filtration in heavy industry, and works as a composite support layer behind meltblown or nanofibre layers where the fine layer needs mechanical backing.

We manufacture filtration media to order for filter manufacturers. Send the polymer, construction, basis weight, width, efficiency target and the conversion process the media has to run on, and we will quote the specification delivered to your plant. The minimum order is one 40-foot container.