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Assignee3M Innovative Properties Company
InventorsAndrew R. Fox, John D. Stelter, Seyed A. Angadjivand, William T. Fay, Michael R. Berrigan, Douglas C. Sundet
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A pleated filter is made from a monocomponent monolayer nonwoven web of continuous monocomponent meltspun partially crystalline and partially amorphous oriented fibers of the same polymeric composition that are bonded to form a coherent and handleable web having a Gurley Stiffness of at least 100 mg and which further may be softened while retaining orientation and fiber structure. Rows of pleats are formed in the nonwoven web, and the web is cut to a desired size and shape to provide a pleated filter element containing a self-supporting porous monocomponent monolayer matrix of fibers bonded to one another at least some points of fiber intersection and having an average initial submicron efficiency of at least 15% at a 1.52 meters/sec face velocity. The filter element is deformation resistant without requiring stiffening layers, bicomponent fibers, adhesive or other reinforcement in the filter media layer.
A pleated filter comprising a meltspun nonwoven web that is a self-supporting porous monocomponent monolayer matrix of partially crystalline and partially amorphous oriented meltspun polymeric fibers of the same polymeric composition bonded to one another at at least some points of fiber intersection, the meltspun nonwoven web being a quenched web and being formed into rows of folded or corrugated pleats and having an average initial submicron efficiency of at least 15% at a 1.52 meters/sec face velocity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.