Fiber mat for battery plate reinforcement

A lead-acid battery comprising:

• a grid of lead alloy material;
• a paste of an active material applied to the grid of lead alloy material;
• and
• a nonwoven fiber mat disposed on a surface of the paste of the active material, wherein the nonwoven fiber mat comprises a tensile strength in a machine direction of at least 20 lbs/3 inch and a tensile strength of at least 10 lbs/3 inch in a cross-machine direction, wherein the nonwoven fiber mat comprises a mat thickness of about 0.009 inches or less, and wherein the fibers of the nonwoven fiber mat are composed entirely of a blend of coarse glass fibers having average fiber diameters of between 6 μm and 20 μm including:
• a plurality of first coarse glass fibers having fiber diameters between about 6 μm and about 11 μm;
• and
• a plurality of second coarse glass fibers having fiber diameters between about 13 μm and about 20 μm.