What else can meltblown PP nonwoven fabric be used for besides face masks?

Recently, many companies have launched meltblown production lines to meet the soaring demand for face masks. Following the outbreak, a significant portion of these newly installed meltblown facilities will likely be shut down—particularly small-scale units that cannot be scaled up, equipment that is difficult to repurpose for other products, or machinery whose quality is hard to improve. With so much capacity remaining, beyond mask‑grade meltblown fabric, what else can we produce? This is where everyone’s “Handbook of Spunbond and Meltblown Nonwovens” comes into play.

(1) Overview of Meltblown Nonwoven Fabric

Meltblown nonwoven fabric is a type of nonwoven fabric produced via the meltblowing process and is also classified as a product directly manufactured through melt spinning. The process flow for meltblown nonwoven fabric is illustrated in the figure.

In the 1960s, Exxon Corporation of the United States initiated research on meltblowing technology and obtained its first patent. This process remains the mainstream manufacturing method widely used in the meltblown nonwoven fabric industry.

The production process of meltblown nonwoven fabric uses polymer pellets with a high melt flow index (MFI). After extrusion and heating, these pellets are melted into a high‑temperature melt with excellent flow properties. A hot, high‑velocity stream of air is then directed through the melt to form fine filaments. The thin molten streams ejected from the spinneret are blown into extremely fine fibers, which collect on a receiving device—such as a web‑forming machine—and bond together via their own residual heat to form a continuous web. We can take a look at a video showcasing Yanshan Petrochemical’s meltblown fabric production:

It features a short processing flow—taking only about ten minutes from material feeding to product formation—simple equipment—for example, standard production lines typically do not require equipment for consolidating fiber webs—and fine fibers with diameters at the micrometer or even sub-nanometer scale, along with diversified product performance.

Meltblowing is an essential process for producing fine filtration materials and high-barrier‑performance films. It also serves as a method for manufacturing nanomaterials and remains a rapidly evolving technology. The first letter of “meltblowing” in English is “M,” which is why meltblown fabrics are often referred to as “M,” and meltblowing systems are likewise called “M”—sometimes even “MB” systems. Typically, most standalone meltblown nonwoven production lines feature a single spinning system; however, depending on market demand, two or more meltblowing systems can be integrated into a single line, creating MM or MMM production lines.

In SMS production lines, the MB system is a critical component that significantly influences product performance—specifically, its breathability and barrier properties. To enhance both production capacity and product quality, each line is typically equipped with multiple MB systems.

Due to the low molecular weight of meltblown fibers, insufficient crystallinity, weak orientation, and a limited number of stress‑bearing molecules, meltblown fibers exhibit relatively low strength. However, meltblown nonwoven fabrics are formed through self‑bonding induced by residual heat; the primary reason for their low strength lies in the weak bonding at the fiber–fiber junctions, which tend to delaminate rather than in the intrinsic weakness of the fibers themselves. Consequently, failure in meltblown fabrics results not from fiber breakage but from the rupture of these interfiber bonding points.

To address the low strength and poor abrasion resistance of meltblown nonwoven fabrics, they are often laminated with spunbond and needle-punched nonwovens to form composite materials, thereby enhancing their overall performance. Currently, the most widely used composites include SM and SMS laminates combined with spunbond fabrics, as well as SMS breathable membrane–based composites.

(2) Applications of Meltblown Nonwoven Fabric

Meltblown nonwoven fabrics are primarily used as composite materials, filtration media, thermal insulation materials, hygiene products, oil‑absorbent materials, cleaning cloths (wet wipes), battery separators, and more, with widespread applications in healthcare, the automotive industry, filtration, environmental protection, and other fields.

Abroad, meltblown nonwovens are primarily used as two‑layer SMS materials, as well as in medical and hygienic applications and for covering materials. In addition, they also find important uses in wiping and absorbent products, as well as in filtration and barrier materials.

1. Medical protective equipment

Materials composed of meltblown and spunbond nonwovens exhibit high hydrostatic pressure resistance, excellent air permeability, and superior filtration performance. In particular, those laminated with a membrane demonstrate outstanding barrier properties against non‑oil‑based particles, with filtration efficiencies exceeding 99%.

For example, medical protective garments made from composite materials with a basis weight of 60–100 g/m² can effectively block microorganisms, particulates, and fluids, and exhibit strong resistance against viruses such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus (45 nm in size) and HIV (90 nm in size).

2. Air filtration materials

Electrostatically charged meltblown composite materials feature low initial resistance, high dust-holding capacity, and excellent filtration efficiency when used for air filtration—achieving a filtration efficiency of up to 99.9% for 0.3 μm particles at a flow rate of 32 L/min, while withstanding a pressure drop of only 117.7 Pa (12 mm water column). These characteristics make them widely applicable for air purification in settings such as electronics manufacturing, food and beverage production, the chemical industry, airports, hotels, and more.