[54] POROUS FILTER STRUCTURE AND PROCESS FOR THE MANUFACTURE THEREOF
[75] Inventors: Wei-Chih Chen, Meriden; Ronald V.
Repetti, Guilford, both of Conn.; Jack
Slovak, Incline Village, Nev.
[73] Assignee: Cuno, Incorporated, Meriden, Conn.
[21] Appl. No.: 08/969,919 [22] Filed: Nov. 13, 1997
Related U.S. Application Data
[62] Division of application No. 08/711,500, Sep. 10, 1996.
[51] Int. CI.6 B29C 43/02; B29C 67/00
1521 U.S. CI 264/113; 264/122; 264/126;
264/913
[58] Field of Search 264/113, 118,
264/122, 126, DIG. 48, 913
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FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
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Primary Examiner—Mary Lynn Theisen
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Renner, Kenner, Greive, Bobak,
Taylor & Weber
[57] ABSTRACT
A process for the manufacture of porous structures comprises forming a dry mixture comprising a component providing primary separation capability, a component providing green strength reinforcement capability and, a component providing binding capability and selected from the group consisting of thermoplastic and thermosetting polymers; delivering the mixture to a suitable surface and building a desired thickness thereof; densifying the mixture into tile form desired for the porous structure; removing the densified porous structure from the surface; binding the component providing the primary separation capability by melting the mixture to a temperature of up to about 20° C. higher than the melting point of any thermoplastic component providing binding capability. Porous structures (100, 110, 120, 125, 140, 175) according to the present invention comprise from about 70 to about 90 parts by weight of a component providing primary separation capability (61, 62); from about one to about 15 parts by weight of a component providing green strength reinforcement capability (64, 65); and, from about eight to about 20 parts by weight of a component providing binding capability (67, 68) and selected from the group consisting of thermoplastic and thermosetting polymers.
31 Claims, 13 Drawing Sheets
