Journal of Electrostatics 51}52 (2001) 232}238

Electret properties of polypropylene fabrics

Bozena |owkis, Edmund Motyl* 
Institute of Electrical Engineering Fundamentals (I}7), Wroc!aw University of Technology, WybrzezR e Wyspianskiego 27, 50-370 Wroc!aw, Poland &

Abstract Results of investigations on electret properties of polypropylene (PP) fabrics formed by high voltage corona are presented here. The equivalent voltage of samples was measured in function of temperature that was increasing linearly in time. The half decay temperature and lifetime of stored charges were estimated. The "ltration index of PP fabrics in function of surface charge was investigated. The pictures of the structure of PP fabrics using scanning electron microscope were also shown. 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Polypropylene; Fabrics; Electret "lter; Lifetime; Filtration index

1. Introduction Wide investigation on applications of electrets to aerosol "lters was done by van Turnhout [1}4]. The electrical forces attracting the aerosol particles as well as mechanical forces condition work of such kind of "lters. The charged particles are drifting in the electric "eld generated by electret "bres. The neutral particles are polarized and move in gradient of the electric "eld. Both kinds of forces are very e!ective. Considerable large diameter of "bres gives low gradient of pressure along the "lter, and high "lter e$ciency is maintained. The fact that submicron particles can be easily catched is advantageous for electret "lters in comparison to mechanical constructions in which "ne nets with submicron meshes have to be used. The e!ective "ltration of the submicron particles is of great importance, because such kind of particles constitute a threat against health. Although electret "lters are produced in a large way, new realizations are searched for improvements in collecting dust particles.

* Corresponding author. E-mail address: motyl@elektryk.ie.pwr.wroc.pl (E. Motyl). 0304-3886/01/$ - see front matter 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 3 0 4 - 3 8 8 6 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 0 5 3 - 5

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In this paper, the results of investigations with two kinds of PP fabrics (MALEN PF-401), P1 and P2 are presented. Fabrics were formed with corona from high voltage string electrode under potential#25 kV. The lifetimes of formed fabrics were estimated and compared using the thermally stimulated equivalent voltage characteristics. An attempt was made to obtain a relation between the equivalent surface charge q and the "ltration index K . The results were complemented by observation of  fabrics in scanning electron microscopy.

2. Samples Rectangular samples (10 cm;10 cm) were cut from randomly selected places of electret fabrics P1 and P2. The surface equivalent charge q at samples is nonuniform.  The positive equivalent charges q from 100 to 1600 pC/cm were measured on the  side faced to the charging positive corona electrode in P1 samples. Negative equivalent charges q from!2500 to!750 pC/cm were observed from the opposite sides.  Samples selected from P2 fabric have also nonuniform surface charge distribution with the negative equivalent charges q from!1000 to!100 pC/cm at both surfa ces. Investigated fabrics have chaotically distributed "bres. Fibres of P2 fabric are thinner in comparison to P1, which makes the fabric more nappy. Microscopic pictures of surface and cross-section of P1 fabric are shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Diameters of "bres are between 3 and 20 m. Thicknesses of fabrics were estimated as 1 and 1.6 mm for P1 and P2, respectively.

Fig. 1. Surface of P1 fabric, magni"cation ;250.

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Fig. 2. Cross-section of P1 fabric, magni"cation ;650.

3. Results 3.1. Investigation of PP fabrics lifetimes Thermally stimulated equivalent surface voltages were measured at linear heating rate b"2 K/min in a temperature range from 293 to 390 K. Temperature runs of equivalent voltages ; () are shown in Figs. 3 and 4, respectively for fabrics P1  and P2. Decay of homocharge, during thermally stimulated discharge at linear rate can be approximated according to the following equation [5]: k = q2 R ()
q exp ! exp ! , (1)   b= k  where q is the initial equivalent surface homocharge density, = is the activation  energy, k is the Boltzmann constant, is a preexponential factor in relaxation time  and is temperature. At temperature , the thermally stimulated run of q2 R () has   a bending point, which can be used to calculate activation energy, using the equation k dq2 R (t)   ="! . q ( ) d    22 The lifetime at temperature was estimated from k = 1 1 ()+ exp ! , b= k

(2)

(3)

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Fig. 3. Temperature run of equivalent voltage for P1 electret fabric.

Fig. 4. Temperature run of equivalent voltage for P2 electret fabric.

Table 1 Activation energies and lifetimes at 293 K of two kinds of PP fabrics P1 and P2 Kind of fabric P1 P2 (K)  376 377 ; (V)  390 465 = (eV) 2.03 2.16 (s) 4.2;10 8.36;10 (yrs) 1.3 2.7

where, at the surface equivalent charge equals q /e and e"2.7182 is the radix of  natural logarithm. The calculated values of activation energies and lifetimes at 293 K for two kinds of PP fabrics P1 and P2 are shown in Table 1. Results are averages from eight measurements. As it can be seen from Table 1, the lifetime for P2 fabric is considerably longer than for P1 fabric. 3.2. Ewect of humidity on electret properties of xltering fabrics Filtering fabrics change their properties in environmental surroundings. High humidity a!ects the value of equivalent surface charges. It can be seen from Fig. 5 for

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Fig. 5. Decay of equivalent surface charge in humid atmosphere and its recovery after the samples P1 were exposed to atmospheric conditions. 1,2,3: three di!erent specimens.

Fig. 6. Decay of equivalent surface charge in humid atmosphere and its recovery after the P2 samples were exposed to atmospheric conditions. 1,2,3: three di!erent specimens.

negative charged samples. The P1 fabrics were placed in a high humidity chamber (100%) and surface equivalent voltage was measured. Equivalent voltage decays slowly in time of storage in the chamber. After 14 days samples were taken out of the humidity chamber and remained at atmospheric conditions. After that the partial recovery of equivalent voltage was observed. Similar behaviour has been observed for P2 fabric samples (Fig. 6). In case of P2 samples, the voltage decays more slowly (14%) than in case of P1 samples (30%). 3.3. Filtration index The "ltration index was measured with the use of aerosol particles of sodium chloride. The photometric method of measurement was applied. Solid particles of sodium chloride were obtained from dispersed solution of NaCl by evaporation of

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water using compressed air. A stream of aerosol particles NaCl is burned to a cinder in a hydrogen #ame. The fumes are conducted through a PP fabric electret sample. The intensity of yellow fumes was measured behind and before fabric sample. The "ltration index was calculated according to the relation I !I  100%, K"  (4) I !I   where I is the self-indication of the photometer (mV), I is the indication of the   photometer that corresponds to the aerosol concentration input of the sample (mV) and I is the indication of the photometer that corresponds to the aerosol concentra tion behind the sample (mV). It was found that "ltration index for P1 samples changes from 4% to 7% and practically does not depend on surface charge of the sample. The "ltration index is lower than 2% in case of P2 fabric.

4. Conclusions The average value of equivalent surface charge density is not related to the "ltration index. However, it cannot be concluded that charges have no in#uence on the "ltration process. Filtration e$ciency depends on local "elds between charged "bres. Higher e$ciency of P2 fabric in comparison to P1 is probably connected not only with electrostatic charges, but with lower diameter of "bres, higher nappiness of the P2 fabric and its greater thickness. Fibres with lower diameters have greater surfaces for dust collecting. Electrical "eld is higher with higher gradient, which favours the catching of the noncharged particles. The charge storage in humid atmosphere depends on fabric structure. The nappy materials are more humidity resistant, but recovery of charge after removal of the sample to normal atmospheric condition is slower. The presented results are consistent with those published by van Turnhout [6], who was pioneering in construction of new generation of electret "lters using thin "bres. The lifetime of PP electret charges depends on the kind of woven and is above two times longer for P2 in comparison to P1.

Acknowledgements This work was carried out as a statutory project supported by the State Committee for Scienti"c Research (KBN), Warsaw, Poland.

References
[1] J. van Turnhout, C. Van Bachove, J. van Veldhuizen, Electret "bres for high-e$ciency "ltration of polluted gases, Sonderdruck aus Staub-Reinhaltung der Luft 36 (1) (1976) 36}39.

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[2] J. van Turnhout, J.H.M. Albers, W.J. Hoeneveld, J.W.C. Adams, L.M. van Rossen, Non-woven electret "bre: a new "ltering medium of high e$ciency, Proc. 5th Int. Conf. on Static Electri"cation, London, 1979, Inst. Phys. Conf. Ser., No. 48, 1979, pp. 337}349. [3] P.H. de Haan, J. van Turnhout, K.E.D. Wapenaar, IEEE Trans. Electrical Insul. EI-21 (1986) 465}472. [4] J. van Turnhout, P.J. Droppert, M. Wubbenhorst, PP-based blends for electret "lters-an appraisal, VIII International Symposium of Electrets, Paris, 7}9 September 1994, pp. 961}966. [5] J. van Turnhout, P.H. Ong, Proceedings of the International Conference on the Investigation of Solid Dielectrics and Methods of their Testing, Wroc"aw, 1977, pp. 133}140. [6] J. van Turnhout, W.J. Hoeneveld, J.W.C. Adams, M. van Rossen, IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl. IA-17 (1981) 240}248.