Performance Study of Composite Air Filters Using Heterogeneous Fibers

Abstract

Recently, the worldwide demand for disposable masks has increased due to COVID-19 infections and severe air pollution. Personal masks should reduce breathe resistance while maintaining filtering performance. In this study, a solution blowing process is used to produce composite nanofiber filters to co-spin two polymers at once. The manufacture process of the various fiber diameter filter was designed, and the filtration performance and differential pressure of the prepared filter was investigated. Poly vinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene (PVDF-HFP) and Polylactic acid (PLA) fibers were chosen to be entangled together in a layer with a diameter of 1.05 μm and 0.33 μm. Composite nanofilters showed up to 87% filtration efficiency and 32 Pa differential pressure.