Horizontal comparison of the preparation technology of non-woven medical protective materials
Spunbond Nonwoven Technology
As a protective material, the strength and comfort performance of spunbond non-woven fabrics meet the requirements, but the barrier performance is relatively weak. In response to this problem, the fine-denier spunbond technology has become a major research hotspot. The two-component spunbond spunlace technology first invented by the German Freudenberg company uses a hollow orange-petal spinning assembly to extrude a thin stream of melt from the spinneret, then cools, blows, and draws. The formed filaments are laid on the web curtain, and then the high-pressure spunlace technology is used to open and fix the web. Its barrier performance is relatively better than ordinary spunbonded or spunlace nonwoven materials, so it can be used as a medical protective material.
Mogul, a Turkish non-woven fabric manufacturer, recently launched a material that can be used for surgical gowns. The fiber after opening is 100 times thinner than hair, which can block microorganisms and has anti-blood and alcohol properties. It also has good moisture absorption, air permeability, and heat insulation. The microporous structure and protective properties of this non-woven material make it an ideal material for medical protective clothing.
Meltblown non-woven fabric technology
The biggest feature of the melt blown method is that the fiber is very thin, the structure is fluffy after self-bonding, the porosity is high, the average pore size is small, and it has very good barrier properties, but the strength and wear resistance of the product are not high. Someone has made improvements on this basis, borrowing from spunbond technology, under the condition that the fiber fineness remains unchanged, the thin stream of melt blown by hot air is cooled and blown for a short distance, and then the net is fixed by thermal bonding. It is found that the strength of the product has been improved, and it can be applied to occasions where the strength requirements are not too high.
Considering the problems of thin meltblown fibers and poor compression resilience, the US 3M company took the lead in developing intercalation meltblown technology, that is, in the process of traditional meltblown production, thick denier is injected into the meltblown fiber stream. Highly crimped hollow elastic staple fiber, under the same weight, the compression resilience of the product is greatly improved, and the structure becomes more fluffy, and the air permeability and moisture permeability are also improved; in addition, the path of the particles in the material is tortuous. Long, thereby increasing the interception effect, so that the particle barrier effect is greatly improved.
Another way that does not change the breathability and moisture permeability of the meltblown non-woven material, but greatly improves the performance of blocking small particles is the electret method. The electret meltblown nonwoven material can capture more particles with the opposite charge through the electrostatic adsorption mechanism, thereby greatly improving its filtration performance.
SMS composite technology
In view of the poor barrier effect of spunbond nonwoven materials and the low strength of meltblown nonwoven materials, some people use the strength and wear resistance of spunbonded fabrics as the surface layer and use the barrier properties of meltblown fabrics The SMS composite non-woven material was prepared by using it as the core layer. In response to the problem that most of the SMS composite protective materials use PP as the raw material and have poor protection against various radioactive substances, Liu Xing and others from Tianjin University of Technology cooperated with a certain navy department to use barium sulfate as a coating on the SMS material. It can prevent the penetration of radioactive materials, so it can be used for medical staff to avoid unnecessary radioactive material interference and cause lesions, which plays a better role in isolation and protection. The coating material can also be made into a slow-release microcapsule shape for coating. When subjected to an external force, the microcapsule ruptures and the protective performance is enhanced.
Spunlace non-woven fabric technology
For non-woven fabrics with short fibers that are carded into a web and then spunlace fixed webs, although they have great advantages in terms of wearability, such as soft skin, moisture absorption and breathability, they can only be used in general due to poor barrier properties. The protective performance of medical materials is not very good. As early as 2009, the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom developed a type of functional spunlace nonwoven material. This material uses a special device in the spunlace process to form a cavity structure in the spunlace nonwoven material. Sustained-release disinfectant capsules can be added to the structure.
This kind of functional spunlace non-woven material with slow-release disinfectant microcapsules can be made into cross-infection protection materials, and placed in the door handles, handrails and other places in contact with the human body in the hospital, when the door is pushed or closed by hand At this time, the sick patient will pass the germs through the hand to the touch handle. At this time, the microcapsule will release the disinfectant under the pressure of the human hand to effectively kill the germs. Other patients or healthy people will not be infected if they touch the handle again. . This kind of non-woven protective material for cross-infection prevention has been applied in some hospitals in the UK, and the effect is very good.
Flash non-woven fabric technology
Compared with SMS, the flash evaporation technology adopts the solution spinning method to form, the solvent is a volatile organic solvent, which is more difficult to recover, and the higher concentration in the air is likely to cause explosion accidents; in addition, in the production process, the fiber It is very difficult to control the spinning speed. At present, this technology is monopolized by the American DuPont company. The protective clothing made of Tyvek, a flash vaporization product, combines protection, durability and comfort. It can protect workers from small particles as small as micrometers, but the cost is relatively low. Higher.