Nippon Nozzle Co., Ltd., Kobe, Japan recently installed a new, state of the art melt blown system at Kochi Prefecture, Paper Industrial Center for producing nonwoven fabrics with filaments from 1~5 microns in diameter. This technology was developed at Nippon Nozzle over a period of years and is expected to be used to produce nonwoven fabrics for a variety of applications requiring micro denier fibers. Among them are medical, high tech battery separators, industrial high performance filters, etc.
Nonwoven fabrics can be made of polyethylene, polypropylene, etc. which are melted under high temperature 250~350 degree centigrade. Melt blown fibers are air quenched, drawn and blown at a speed of 100 meters per minute onto a conveyer belt from a 60 cm wide spinneret with 1200 micro holes at 100 meters per minute. Lines up to two meters wide can be made.