Abstract
Textile niter sleeves for industrial dust-collection purposes are traditionally manufactured from woven and needlefelt constructions. Knitted fabrics have not been seriously considered for use as filter media because of their high extensibility and anisotropy when subjected to the forces that are involved during filtration.
This paper is concerned with the development and evaluation of a number of novel single-jersey circular-knitted structures for dust-filtration applications, with particular reference to their performance with regard to the pressure drop, pressure-drop stabilisation, dust-emission level, and filtration efficiency. The mechanical and filtration properties of these single-jersey structures are studied and compared with those of similar woven and needlefelt filter fabrics. It is demonstrated that the physical as well as the filtration characteristics of these structures are comparable with those of woven and needlefelt fabrics, with added benefits of lower production costs and the fact that these filter sleeves can be produced to the required shape and dimensions during knitting.