Surface Observation and Pore Size Analyses of Polypropylene/Low-Melting Point Polyester Filter Materials: Influences of Heat Treatment

¹ Laboratory of Fiber Application and Manufacturing, Department of Fiber and Composite Materials, Feng Chia University, Taichung City 40724, Taiwan
² School of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung City 40402, Taiwan
³ Department of Fashion Design, Asia University, Taichung City 41354, Taiwan
⁴ School of Textiles, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Tianjin 300387, China
⁵ Tianjin and Education Ministry Key Laboratory of Advanced Textile Composite Materials, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Tianjin 300387, China
⁶ Department of Materials and Textiles, Oriental Institute of Technology, New Taipei City 22061, Taiwan
⁷ Department of Fiber and Composite Materials, Feng Chia University, Taichung City 40724, Taiwan
⁸ Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science, Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taichung 40601, Taiwan

^a cwlou@ctust.edu.tw
^b tingtingli@tjpu.edu.cn
^* Corresponding author: cwlou@ctust.edu.tw

Abstract

This study proposes making filter materials with polypropylene (PP) and low-melting point (LPET) fibers. The influences of temperatures and times of heat treatment on the morphology of thermal bonding points and average pore size of the PP/LPET filter materials. The test results indicate that the morphology of thermal bonding points is highly correlated with the average pore size. When the temperature of heat treatment is increased, the fibers are joined first with the thermal bonding points, and then with the large thermal bonding areas, thereby decreasing the average pore size of the PP/LPET filter materials. A heat treatment of 110 °C for 60 seconds can decrease the pore size from 39.6 μm to 12.0 μm.