Method of forming a web of melt blown layered fibers

A method for forming a nonwoven web of melt-blown microfibers comprising the steps of

• a) providing at least two streams of flowable polymeric materials
• b) dividing at least one stream of the at least two streams into two or more separate streams,
• c) combining said at least two streams, with at least one stream divided into said separate streams, as layers in a layered, combined rectilinear flowstream, the layers being parallel each to the other,
• d) forming the combined rectilinear flowstream in a laminar manner into a flowstream having an overall height of about 50 mils or less while maintaining the parallel layers,
• e) extruding the combined rectilinear flowstream through a die containing multiple side-by-side orifices to form a plurality of side-by-side flowstreams,
• f) attenuating the extruded side-by-side flowstreams with two high-velocity gaseous streams located at each side of the die face to form microfibers, and
• g) collecting the microfibers on a collecting surface as an entangled melt-blown web formed of melt-blown microfibers having at least three continuous layers.