CONVERSION OF RECYCLED POLYMERS/FIBERS INTO MELT BLOWN AND SPUNBONDED NONWOVENS Gajanan Bhat, Vasanth Narayanan*, Larry Wadsworth and Maureen Dever Textiles And Nonwovens Development Center The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996 ABSTRACT Melt blowing being a simple one-step process for converting polymer directly into a nonwoven fabric, is ideally suited for processing of several recycled plastics. The process uses hot air to draw the fibers and does not require precise, individual control of each filament as in the conventional fiber sprnning processes. It was demonstrated that recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) can be melt blown into nonwoven webs, but with poorer performance properties, due to the larger diameter of the fibers. Three methods of improving the melt blown processing of post-consumer recycled PET and the performance properties of the melt blown nonwoven webs produced from them were explored. They were, (1) using undried PET instead of dried PET, (2) blending recycled PET with other polymers, and (3) processing recycled PET at a higher temperature. The webs produced with undried PET had smaller fiber diameter, higher tenacity in the machine direction and lower air permeability. The greater drop in intrinsic viscosity indicated that more hydrolytic degradation occurred during processing of the undried PET. The webs produced from blends of recycled-PET/PBT as well as recycled-PET/low IV-PET had smaller fiber diameter, lower air permeability and higher tenacity in machine direction than those of 100% recycled PET webs. There were no * Currently with Techmer PM, #1 Quality Circle, Clinton, TN 37716.