At the recent Dornbirn Manmade Fibres Conference in Austria, Elke Schmalz of the Saxon Textile Research Institute (STFI) introduced Hycospun.

This is a new process developed at the STFI for manufacturing hydrodynamically bonded spunbond and meltblown composites with fine fibre layers (less than 10µm), in a project commissioned by the air filtration industry.

“The spunbond and hydrontanglement processes are not combined that often and at STFI we are in the unique position of having both a Reicofil 4 bicomponent line and all bonding technologies,” said Ms Schmalz. “The key was to develop a method of lamination by hydroentanglement without destroying the effectiveness of the fine fibre layers.”

A variety of bonding methods was employed, including needlepunching and calendering, as well as corona plasma treatment, in the development of the Hycospun products.

“Incorporating the nanofibres is not possible on conventional equipment,” Ms Schmalz said. “Hycospun Type V2802 incorporates nanofibres on its surface to achieve excellent surface filtration. This media, while expensive, can’t be achieved by other means right now,” Ms Schmalz concluded.