An Investigation into Hydraulic Permeability of Fibrous Membranes with Nonwoven Random and Quasi-Parallel Structures

Fibrous membranes with a nonwoven random structure and a quasi-parallel fibrous structure can be fabricated by the electrospinning technique. The membranes with different structures exhibited different behaviors to a hydraulic flow passing through the membranes. This work presents the effects of the fiber arrangement, fiber diameter, and deformations of the fibers on the hydraulic permeability. The results showed that the hydraulic flow can generate an extrusion pressure which affects the porosity and pore structure of the fibrous membranes. The quasi-parallel fibrous membranes and nonwoven membranes exhibited similar variation tendencies to the change of the experimental variables. However, the quasi-parallel fibrous membranes exhibited a higher sensibility to the change of the hydraulic flow rate. The hydraulic permeability of the quasi-parallel fibrous membranes was further analyzed with packing state models in this work.

Experimental Study on the Sound Absorption Properties of Finger Millet Straw, Darbha, and Ripe Bulrush Fibers

Nowadays, emerging noise pollution by external factors causes harmful diseases in human beings. The development of a bio-based filler or panel will help to eliminate some unwanted noise in working places and living rooms. This work aimed to develop an ecowaste fiber (leftover after harvesting)-based sound absorber and analyze its capabilities for sound absorption. The ecowaste fibers are collected by the gleaning process, i.e., the process of collecting leftovers from fields. The sound absorption capabilities of three natural fibers extracted from Eleusine coracana (Finger millet) straw, Desmostachya bipinnata (Darbha), and Typha domingensis (Ripe bulrush) plants are investigated in this study, both individually and in hybrid combinations. The sound absorption property mainly depends on factors such as porosity, flow resistivity, thickness, density, and tortuosity. Fiber length and fiber type play a significant role when fibers are arranged individually or in hybrid combinations. The stacking effect on the sound absorption coefficient of hybridized fiber arrangement was experimentally analyzed. The sound absorption coefficient (α) was found to be lower in the range of 1000 Hz–2500 Hz for all the combinations. As a homogenous fiber arrangement, the darbha fiber exhibited the better NRC (noise reduction coefficient) of 0.86 for 50 mm thickness among three different fibers and as a hybrid composition, ripe bulrush and darbha fibers exhibited NRC of 0.90 which is more capable of absorbing sound in the critical frequency range of 500 to 2000 Hz. These types of natural fiber fillers are highly capable of better sound absorbing and used in the applications such as classrooms, sound recording rooms, and theatres.

Simulation on the fiber arrangement and distribution in the drafting zone

Roller drafting is an indispensable and fundamental procedure in attenuating the sliver to an adequate linear density during the spinning process. In this study, the drafting dynamic process was reflected in the arrangement containing hooked fibers and straight fibers, and the fiber straightness in the drafting zone in real-time. The drafting process was implemented from the initiation of the sliver head moving into the drafting zone to the achievement of the straightening process for all fibers in the sliver. The developed model demonstrated that the simulated weight distributions of various fibers, including the total fibers, back fibers, front fibers and floating fibers, were more in line with the actual results than the simulative ones based on the previous drafting model with the simulation of the straight fiber arrangement in the sliver. In conclusion, the drafting model with the application of the hooked fiber arrangement was effective and precise in quantizing the drafting process of a sliver with many hooked fibers, such as a cotton card sliver. Moreover, the drafting model can offer the theoretical foundation for setting the drafting parameters from the perspective of the distributions of slow-floating fibers and fast-floating fibers.

Simulation of drawing process based on fiber arrangement in the sliver with straightness and separation degree

Sliver irregularity, straightness and separation degree of fibers are three crucial factors in sliver quality. Considering the straightness and separation degree, the drafting model based on the fiber arrangement in the sliver was applied to simulate the drawing process. First, the fiber arrangement in the carding sliver was developed. Then, the drafting process was divided into the low-velocity stage, straightening stage and high-velocity stage to carry out the redistribution of the fiber arrangement so that the sliver quality after drafting can be recalculated from the new fiber arrangement after the drafting procedure. Combining the doubling procedure, the simulated sliver quality of each drawing process was demonstrated to be close to the actual values, taking the straightness and separation degree into consideration. The relative errors between the simulated straightness and percentage of separated fibers and the tested one were all less than 10%. The prediction accuracy of sliver irregularity was raised by about 40%. In addition, the simulated results strongly confirmed the theory that the drawing process has an influence on straightening the hooked fibers, separating the fiber in the assembly and improving the sliver evenness, which cannot be reflected in previous models.