MULTIPLE-LAYER, MULTIPLE-DENIER NONWOVEN FIBER BATT
A nonwoven fiber product comprises a coarse fiber web comprising a plurality of coarse fibers and substantially free of any fine fibers, and a fine fiber web comprising a plurality of the fine fibers and substantially free of any of the coarse fibers, wherein the coarse fiber web is positioned adjacent to the fine fiber web. A method of making a nonwoven fiber product comprises blending a plurality of coarse fibers into a coarse fiber blend that is substantially free of fine fibers, blending a plurality of fine fibers into a fine fiber blend that is substantially free of coarse fibers, forming the coarse fiber blend into a coarse fiber web, and forming the fine fiber blend into a fine fiber web, wherein the fine fiber web is formed adjacent to the coarse fiber web.
1 . A nonwoven fiber product comprising:
a coarse fiber web comprising a plurality of coarse fibers and being substantially free of any fine fibers; and
a fine fiber web comprising a plurality of fine fibers and being substantially free of any coarse fibers;
wherein the coarse fiber web is positioned adjacent to the fine fiber web.
2 . The nonwoven fiber product of claim 1 wherein the coarse fiber web and the fine fiber web each comprise substantially flat surfaces.
3 . The nonwoven fiber product of claim 1:
wherein the plurality of coarse fibers comprises one or more coarse fiber types; and
wherein the plurality of fine fibers comprises one or more fine fiber types.
4 . The nonwoven fiber product of claim 1 wherein the coarse fibers have a weight per unit length of at least about 30 denier.
5 . The nonwoven fiber product of claim 1 wherein the coarse fibers have a weight per unit length of between about 50 denier and about 200 denier.
6 . The nonwoven fiber product of claim 1 wherein the coarse fibers have a weight per unit length of between about 75 denier and about 125 denier.
7 . The nonwoven fiber product of claim 1 wherein the fine fibers have a weight per unit length of at most about 30 denier.
8 . The nonwoven fiber product of claim 1 wherein the fine fibers have a weight per unit length of between about 0.1 denier and about 20 denier.
9 . The nonwoven fiber product of claim 1 wherein the fine fibers have a weight per unit length of between about 1 denier and about 8 denier.
10 . The nonwoven fiber product of claim 1 wherein the amount of fibers in the coarse fiber web is between about 10 percent and about 100 percent of the amount of fibers in the fine fiber web.
11 . The nonwoven fiber product of claim 1 wherein the nonwoven fiber product has a fiber denier gradient.
12 . A filtration media comprising the nonwoven fiber product of claim 1 .
13 . The filtration media of claim 12 wherein the filtration efficiency of the nonwoven fiber product is at least about 99 percent.
14 . A method of making a nonwoven fiber product, the method comprising:
blending a plurality of coarse fibers into a coarse fiber blend that is substantially free of fine fibers;
blending a plurality of fine fibers into a fine fiber blend that is substantially free of coarse fibers;
forming the coarse fiber blend into a coarse fiber web; and
forming the fine fiber blend into a fine fiber web;
wherein the fine fiber web is formed adjacent to the coarse fiber web.
15 . The method of claim 14:
wherein the plurality of coarse fibers comprises one or more coarse fiber types; and
wherein the plurality of fine fibers comprises one or more fine fiber types.
16 . The method of claim 14 further comprising:
bonding the coarse fibers in the coarse fiber web; and
bonding the fine fibers in the fine fiber web.
17 . The method of claim 16 wherein bonding comprises resin bonding, mechanical bonding or thermal bonding.
18 . The method of claim 16 further comprising bonding at least a portion of the coarse fiber web to at least a portion of the fine fiber web.
19 . The method of claim 16 further comprising compressing the coarse fiber web and the fine fiber web together.
20 . A method for filtering a fluid, the method comprising:
passing a fluid comprising a plurality of particles through a coarse fiber web; and
passing the fluid through a fine fiber web positioned adjacent to the coarse fiber web;
wherein the coarse fiber web and the fine fiber web collectively remove at least about 99 percent of the particles from the fluid.