Optimisation of mechanical and functional properties of needle-punched nonwoven filter through fibre denier specific carding parameters

Abstract

An attempt has been made to highlight the significance of the carding parameters (feeder speed, cylinder speed and doffer speed) required for fibre of different deniers for regulating the structure and ultimately the properties of the nonwoven fabric. A three-factor three-level Box-Behnken factorial design has been employed to analyse and optimise the carding parameters. The work focuses on the comprehensive exploration of the functional properties in the light of nonwoven fabric structures. Regression models of nonlinear process are developed to establish the relationship between specific properties of nonwoven fabric and structural indices. The optimised carding parameters specific to fibre denier result in improved filtration performance of the nonwoven fabric having lower values of fabric thickness, mean flow pore size and pressure drop, besides acquiring higher filtration efficiency.