Can PTFE Needle Felt Filter be Washed with Water?

PTFE needle felt filter is a high-precision filter medium formed by three-dimensional needle punching of ultra-fine PTFE fibers. Its core features include microporous mesh structure, intrinsic chemical inertness and surface non-adhesive properties. When cleaning, it is necessary to take into account both pore recovery and fiber integrity protection.

The zero surface energy characteristics of PTFE fibers make it difficult for water-based dirt to penetrate, and the shear force of water flow can remove the surface retention of the filter cavity. However, the impact of high-pressure water columns causes the displacement of the glass fiber reinforced substrate structure in the PTFE needle felt filter, and the microfiber entanglement nodes are irreversibly broken, destroying the uniformity of pore size distribution.

The carbon-fluorine bond of PTFE can resist hydrolysis erosion, and washing with pure water at room temperature will not cause polymer degradation. However, the cleaning solution containing surfactants will destroy the hydrophobicity of the material, and the filter bag after hydrophilic modification will lose its oil mist separation efficiency.

Can the filtration efficiency be fully restored after washing with water?

The removal of surface physical pollution can restore the initial pressure drop of the PTFE needle felt filter, but deeply embedded particles cannot be reversely precipitated. The discretization of pore size distribution caused by water washing reduces the filtration accuracy and the emission concentration may exceed the design critical value.