1

EXTRUSION SPINNING
PROCESSES
SPUNBOND & MELTBLOWN WEB
PRODUCTION
 2

What is Extrusion Spinning?

• Extrusion of molten polymers to form fibers and webs
• Common polymers - PP, PE, PA, PES, etc.

• Spunbond & Meltblown

• Very different processes
• Spunbond/Meltblown composite
• SMS = spunbond/meltblown/spunbond composite
 3

SPUNBONDING
 4

Introduction
• Dupont developed and commercialized the melt spinning
technique for man-made fiber production in 1958.

• In the 1960s, Dupont (U.S.A.) and Freudenberg (Germany)

adopted this technique into spunbond technology.

• The spunbond manufacturing is very similar to the fiber

producing process.

• The primary difference between these two systems is in

the filament drawing mechanism. Rather than mechanical
take-up rolls used in the fiber producing process, the air
drawing device is used in the spunbonding process.
 5

• In the spunbond technology, usually a thermoplastic fiber

forming polymer is extruded to form fine filaments fibers of
around 15–35 micrometer diameter.

• The filaments are attenuated collected on a conveyor belt

in the form of a web.

• The filaments in web are then bonded to make spunbond

nonwoven fabric.
 6

Raw Materials
• Spunbond technology uses preferably thermoplastic
polymers with high molecular weight and broad molecular
weight distribution such as polypropylene (PP) and
polyester (PET) .

• To a small extent, other polyolefins such as polyethylene of

high density (HDPE) and linear polyethylene of low density
(LLDPE) as well as a variety of polyamides (PA), mainly
PA 6 and PA 6.6 are found.
 7

• Out of these polymers, polypropylene is mostly used

primarily due to its low price and advantageous properties
such as :
• low density
• chemical resistance
• hydrophobicity
• sufficient
• better strength.

• The fibre grade polypropylene (mainly isotactic) is the

principal type of polypropylene which is used in
spunbond technology.
8
9
 10

Spunbonding : Production Steps

• Melting the polymer

• Extrusion of molten polymer

• Cooling of molten polymer by air

• Cooled filaments are stretched and deposited on a

conveyor belt

• Bonding
11
 12

• A spunbond machine consists of:

• (1) a dispensing system to supply thermoplastic pellets
• (2) an extruder to melt the plastic and pressurize the
resulting liquid
• (3) a spin beam to distribute the melt
• (4) spinnerettes to form the melt into individual streams
• (5) a quench air system to cool the liquid streams into fibers
• 6) a high velocity air system to stretch the fibers to reduce
their diameter and align the polymer molecules thus
increasing the strength of the fibers
• (7) a dispensing system that moves the fibers and
distributes them evenly
• (8) a collecting conveyor to catch the fibers and carry them
• (9) a bonding station such as a calendar that causes the
fibers to stick together and form a fabric
• (10) a winder to form the fabric into rolls.
 13

Single beam spundbond line Double beam spunbond line

For production speeds of up to 300 m/min For production speeds of up to 500 m/min

Three-beam spunbond line

For production speeds of up to 650 m/min
 14

Reicofil-Hills bicomponents system

15
 16

Characteristics & Properties

• Random fibrous structure

• Most spunbond webs are layered, the number of layers increases with
increasing basis weight

• Basis weights range between 5-800 gsm, typically 10-200 gsm

• Fiber diameters range between 1 and 50 um, but the preferred range is
between 15 and 35 um

• Web thicknesses range between 0. 1 and 4.0 mm, typically 0.2-1.5mm

• High strength-to-weight ratios compared to other nonwoven, woven,

and knitted structures
17
18
 19

• Spunbond fabrics can be made at high speeds, in light to

medium weights, with good strength, and in wide widths.

• It is used in everything from house wrap to surgical gowns

to baby diapers.

• Most of the nonwovens in the world are made by the

spunbond process or some combination of spunbond with
other processes.
20
 21

Medical products are one of the most

prominent applications for spunlaid nonwovens.
 22

MELTBLOWN
 23

Introduction
• Melt blowing (MB) is a process for producing fibrous webs
directly from polymers or resins using high-velocity air or
another appropriate force to attenuate the filaments.

• The MB process is one of the newer and least developed

nonwoven processes.

• This process is unique because it is used almost

exclusively to produce microfibers rather than fibers the
size of normal textile fibers. MB microfibers generally have
diameters in the range of 2 to 4 µm, although they may be
as small as 0.1 µm and as large as 10 to 15 µm.
 24

Raw Materials
• Polypropylene has been the most widely used polymer for
meltblown technology.

• Besides, a variety of different polymers including

polyamide, polyester, and polyethylene are used. It is
known that polyethylene is more difficult to melt blown into
fine fiber webs than polypropylene, but polyamide 6 is
easier to process

• In general, the requirements of polymers for meltblown

technology are low molecular weight, and narrow
molecular weight distribution.
 25

Meltblown Fabrics: Production Steps

• Melt the polymer

• Extrude molten polymer

• Inject high velocity hot air

• As molten polymer is extruded, heated air pulls and

stretches the filaments

• Filaments are collected on a moving screen or a rotating

drum collector

• Bonding
26
27
28
29
30
 31

• Preparation of polymers for extrusion

• Extrusion of low viscosity polymer melt through fine

capillaries

• Blowing high velocity hot air to the molten polymer and

attenuate the polymer melt

• Coolling the molten polymer by turbulent ambient air to

form fine fiber

• Depositing the fibers onto a collecting device

32
 33

Major Markets
• Filters (Air & Liquid)

• Insulation

• Face masks

• Barriers in medical diapers

•…
 34

Multilayer Meltblown Example

 36

Spunbond vs Meltblown
• The meltblown technology requires polymers with
considerably lower melt viscosity as compared to the
spunbond technology.

• The initial investment for spunbond technology is three to

four times higher than that for meltblown technology.

• The meltblown technology consumes more energy than

the spunbond technology because of the usage of
compressed hot air.

• The meltblown nonwoven is generally found to be costlier

than the spunbond nonwoven.
 37

Spunbond vs Meltblown
• The two major differences between a typical MB process
and a spunbond process that uses air attenuation are:
• i) the temperature and volume of the air used to
attenuate the filaments
• ii) the location where the filament draw or attenuation
force is applied.
• A MB process uses large amounts of high-temperature air
to attenuate the filaments.
• The air temperature is typically equal to or slightly greater
than the melt temperature of the polymer. In contrast, the
SB process generally uses a smaller volume of air close to
ambient temperature to first quench the fibers and then to
attenuate the fibers.
 38

Spunbond vs Meltblown
• In the MB process, the draw or attenuation force is applied
at the die tip while the polymer is still in the molten state.
• Application of the force at this point is ideal for forming
microfibers but does not allow for polymer orientation to
build good physical properties.
• In the spunbond process, this force is applied at some
distance from the die or spinneret, after the polymer has
been cooled and solidified.
• Application of the force at this point provides the conditions
necessary for polymer orientation and the resultant
improved physical properties, but is not conductive to
forming microfibers.
 39

What is SMS?

Spunbond
+
Meltblown
+
Spunbond
40
41
 42

SMS Schematic
 43

Bonding Processes
• Chemical Bonding: Adhesives

• Needlepunching: Mechanical / Needles

• Thermal Bonding: Heat / Pressure

44
 45

Products
• Diapers

• Medical products

• Industrial protective apparels

•…