Wettable non-woven structures and components thereof
AssigneeExxon Research & Engineering Co.
InventorsBurnett H. Johnson, Terrence Huff
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A nonwoven mat of polyolefin fiber is contacted with a gaseous sulfur dioxide-chlorine mixture to sulfo-chlorinate the surface of the polyolefin fibers to a relatively high sulfur content and then preferably treated with an amine, either after compacting the mat or before compacting the mat to form a structure suitable as a battery separator. The mat can be used for other structures besides battery separators. And it can be separated into individually wettable staple fibers before compaction, i.e. individual separate fibers which are wettable.
Claims15
An improved process for preparing wettable and rewettable polyolefin non-woven mats which comprises:
- contacting a non-wettable non-woven mat of polyolefin fibers having a porosity greater than 40 percent with a gaseous sulfur dioxide-chlorine mixture in the presence of ultraviolet light under conditions to obtain at least 1.0 weight percent sulfur in said mat.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.