AIR PERMEABILITY OF POLYESTER NONWOVEN FABRICS

Air permeability is one of the most important properties of non-woven fabrics in many applications. This paper aims to investigate the effects of thickness, porosity and density on the air permeability of needle-punched non-woven fabrics and compare the experimental values with two models which are based on hydraulic radius theory and drag theory, respectively. The air permeability of the samples was measured by an air permeability tester FX3300. The results showed that the air permeability of non-woven fabrics decreased with the increase in thickness and density of samples, increased with the increase of porosity, and the air permeability was not directly proportional to the pressure gradient. Meanwhile, the prediction model based on hydraulic radius theory had a better agreement with experimental values than the model based on drag theory, but the values were much higher than the experimental results, especially for higher porosity and higher pressure gradient.