Fibers and Nonwovens Including a Propylene Random Copolymer, and Processes for Producing the Fibers and Nonwovens

Fibers comprising:

• a polypropylene composition comprising a metallocene random copolymer of propylene and at least one comonomer that is an alpha-olefin different from propylene, wherein said metallocene random copolymer has:
• a comonomer content of from 1.4 wt % to 1.8 wt %, relative to a total weight of said metallocene random copolymer;
• a molecular weight distribution, defined as Mw/Mn and determined by size extrusion chromatography, of at least 1.0 and of at most 4.0, obtained without thermal or chemical degradation;
• a melt flow index of at least 25 dg/min and at most 50 dg/min, determined according to ISO 1133, condition L, at 230° C. and 2.16 kg;
• a melting temperature Tmelt, determined by Differential Scanning calorimetry according to ISO 3146, of at most 135° C.

A process for the production of fibers comprising:

• (a) polymerizing propylene and at least one comonomer in presence of a metallocene-based polymerization catalyst, to obtain a metallocene random copolymer of propylene and at least one comonomer;
• (b) melt-extruding a polypropylene composition comprising the metallocene random copolymer obtained in step (a) to obtain a molten polypropylene stream;
• (c) extruding the molten polypropylene stream of step (c) from capillaries of a spinneret, thus obtaining filaments of molten polypropylene;
• and
• (d) subsequently rapidly reducing a diameter of the filaments to obtain a final diameter;
• wherein said metallocene random copolymer has a comonomer content of from 1.4 wt % to 1.8 wt %, relative to a total weight of said metallocene random copolymer;
• wherein the at least one comonomer is an alpha-olefin different from propylene;
• and
• wherein said metallocene random copolymer has a molecular weight distribution, defined as Mw/Mn and determined by gel permeation chromatography, of from 1.0 to 3.0, obtained without thermal or chemical degradation.