Filters comprising anisometric compressed and bonded multilayer knitted wire mesh composites

TLDR: In this article, a filter sheet anisometric compressed and bonded knitted wire mesh composites composed of a plurality of sheets of knitted mesh, superimposed at random orientation with respect to each other, compressed or densified to a voids volume within the range from about 10 to about 90 percent, and bonded together.

Abstract: Filters and filter units are provided which comprise as the filter sheet anisometric compressed and bonded knitted wire mesh composites composed of a plurality of sheets of knitted wire mesh, superimposed at random orientation with respect to each other, compressed or densified to a voids volume within the range from about 10 to about 90 percent, and bonded together The sheets are taken in sufficient number, usually at least five and preferably ten or more, and as much as 1,000 or more, to form a self-supporting relatively non-resilient composite of high tensile strength and high breaking strength having an average pore diameter of less than 200 microns, and preferably less than 100 microns, that is relatively uniform in any unit area of the surface, and having an anisometric porosity, the through pores extending crosswise of the sheet greatly exceeding in number the through pores extending laterally of the sheet, which latter pores can be reduced virtually to zero in a highly compressed composite The composite is formed by superimposing a plurality of knitted wire mesh sheets, annealing the composite to avoid wire breakage during later processing, compressing the composite to the desired density and anisometricity by application of pressure in a direction approximately perpendicular to the plane of the layers of the composite, and bonding the sheet layers and wire filaments of the sheets together at their points of contact and/or crossing The bonding holds the composite at the selected density, prevents relative movement of the wires in the composite, and in conjunction with the multilayer structure imparts the self-supporting nonresilient characteristic, together with high tensile strength and high breaking strength