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Advances in High-Performance Functional Nonwovens
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Advances in High-Performance Functional Nonwovens

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymeric Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 September 2023) | Viewed by 6621

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Jay Hoon Park

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Plastics Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA 01854, USA
Interests: polymer; additive manufacturing; nonwovens; smart textiles

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nonwovens have long played an integral role in household textile and wearable applications, though their use has spread wider than that of others, such as filtration, biomedical scaffold, energy material, and sensors. Nonwovens hold unique advantages over other conventional textiles in that materials can directly be applied for the desired application with minimal postprocessing. This rapidly grown field had seen even stronger growth in interest due to recent global events. For instance, the COVID-19 pandemic had necessitated innovation in the material and processes of nonwovens, ranging from melt-blowing to electro/centrifugal spinning. The rise of additive manufacturing has also coincided with the melt-writing techniques that originated from a nonwoven manufacturing method, such as melt electrospinning. As nonwovens have gained strong momentum for innovation, this Special Issue calls for both original articles and reviews on nonwovens and their application to address the current state of the art, innovation, challenges, and next steps. This Special Issue invites articles related to polymer-based nonwovens and their applications, whether fabricated via conventional methods (melt-blowing, electrospinning) or others (melt-electrospinning, melt writing, electroblowing, etc.). I look forward to receiving high-quality articles on this exciting topic.

Dr. Jay Hoon Park
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • nonwovens
  • melt blowing
  • electrospinning
  • filtration
  • energy
  • sensor
  • biomedical

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 2984 KiB  
Article
Turning Waste into Treasure: The Full Technological Process and Product Performance Characterization of Flushable Wet Wipes Prepared from Corn Stalk
by Lulu Liu, Yeying Wang, Ziying He, Yang Cai, Kai Meng, Ke-Qin Zhang and Huijing Zhao
Materials 2023, 16(22), 7189; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16227189 - 16 Nov 2023
Viewed by 893
Abstract
As a daily consumable, wet wipes are mostly synthetic fibers, which are incinerated or landfilled after use. The nanoplastics generated during this process will lead to environmental pollution. The application of flushable wet wipes, which are dispersible and fully degradable, is of great [...] Read more.
As a daily consumable, wet wipes are mostly synthetic fibers, which are incinerated or landfilled after use. The nanoplastics generated during this process will lead to environmental pollution. The application of flushable wet wipes, which are dispersible and fully degradable, is of great significance. The main raw material for flushable wipes is wood pulp, which has a long growth cycle and high cost. Corn is widely planted and has a short growth cycle. Currently most corn stalk is treated by incineration, which produces a lot of smoke that pollutes the environment. Therefore, using corn stalk as the raw material for flushable wet wipes, replacing wood pulp, is both cost-effective and environmentally friendly. In this study, aiming at industrial production, we explored the full process of producing flushable wet wipes from corn stalk to pulp board, then to the final wipes. The corn stalk was treated using alkali and a bleaching agent to obtain corn stalk pulp, which was then made into pulp board through the nonwoven wet-laid process. The optimal parameters for the alkali treatment and bleaching were obtained. The properties of the corn stalk pulp board were compared with the commercial wood pulp board. Further, we mixed the corn stalk pulp with Lyocell fiber to prepare wet-laid webs, which were then bonded using a chemical binder poloxamer. Then, the evenness of the web, mechanical properties, absorption, and dispersibility of the flushable wipes were characterized. Results showed that the pulp obtained using the optimal treatment process has a high yield and better whiteness. The properties of the corn stalk pulp board are comparable with the commercial wood pulp board, which can therefore potentially be replaced by the corn stalk board prepared in our study. The prepared flushable wet wipes had good evenness and their water absorption rate was more than 600%. The mechanical strength in dry and wet states achieved 595.94 N/m and 179.00 N/m, respectively. Most importantly, the wet wipes can completely disperse under the standardized testing method. A good balance of dispersibility and wet strength of the wet wipes was achieved. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in High-Performance Functional Nonwovens)
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27 pages, 8008 KiB  
Article
Nanoval Technology—An Intermediate Process between Meltblown and Spunbond
by Tim Höhnemann, Johannes Schnebele, Walter Arne and Ingo Windschiegl
Materials 2023, 16(7), 2932; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16072932 - 06 Apr 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2632
Abstract
The idea of ”Nanoval technology“ origins in the metal injection molding for gas atomization of metal powders and the knowledge of spunbond technologies for the creation of thermoplastic nonwovens using the benefits of both techniques. In this study, we evaluated processing limits experimentally [...] Read more.
The idea of ”Nanoval technology“ origins in the metal injection molding for gas atomization of metal powders and the knowledge of spunbond technologies for the creation of thermoplastic nonwovens using the benefits of both techniques. In this study, we evaluated processing limits experimentally for the spinning of different types of polypropylene, further standard polymers, and polyphenylene sulfide, marked by defect-free fiber creation. A numerical simulation study of the turbulent air flow as well as filament motion in the process visualized that the turnover from uniaxial flow (initial stretching caused by the high air velocity directed at the spinning die) to turbulent viscoelastic behavior occurs significantly earlier than in the melt-blown process. Modeling of the whole process showed that additional guide plates below the spinneret reduce the turbulent air flow significantly by regulating the inflow of secondary process air. The corresponding melt flow index of processible polymer grades varied between 35 g·10min−1 up to 1200 g·10min−1 and thus covering the range of extrusion-type, spunbond-type, yarn-type, and meltblown-type polymers. Hence, mean fiber diameters were adjustable for PP between 0.8 and 39.3 μm without changing components of the process setup. This implies that the Nanoval process enables the flexibility to produce fiber diameters in the typical range achievable by the standard meltblown process (~1–7 μm) as well as in the coarseness of spunbond nonwovens (15–30 μm) and, moreover, operates in the gap between them. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in High-Performance Functional Nonwovens)
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23 pages, 2594 KiB  
Review
Advancement of Nonwoven Fabrics in Personal Protective Equipment
by Dhanya Venkataraman, Elnaz Shabani and Jay H. Park
Materials 2023, 16(11), 3964; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16113964 - 25 May 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2668
Abstract
While nonwoven fabrics have existed for several decades, their usage in personal protective equipment (PPE) has been met with a rapid surge of demands, in part due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. This review aims to critically examine the current state of nonwoven [...] Read more.
While nonwoven fabrics have existed for several decades, their usage in personal protective equipment (PPE) has been met with a rapid surge of demands, in part due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. This review aims to critically examine the current state of nonwoven PPE fabrics by exploring (i) the material constituents and processing steps to produce fibers and bond them, and (ii) how each fabric layer is integrated into a textile, and how the assembled textiles are used as PPE. Firstly, filament fibers are manufactured via dry, wet, and polymer-laid fiber spinning methods. Then the fibers are bonded via chemical, thermal, and mechanical means. Emergent nonwoven processes such as electrospinning and centrifugal spinning to produce unique ultrafine nanofibers are discussed. Nonwoven PPE applications are categorized as filters, medical usage, and protective garments. The role of each nonwoven layer, its role, and textile integration are discussed. Finally, the challenges stemming from the single-use nature of nonwoven PPEs are discussed, especially in the context of growing concerns over sustainability. Then, emerging solutions to address sustainability issues with material and processing innovations are explored. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in High-Performance Functional Nonwovens)
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