Meltblown Nonwoven Advanced Materials Patent Landscape 2026
- Filing has cooled since its 2017 peak of 10 families, with the 2022 midpoint at just 3 — this is a mature, not a growing, filing wave.
- D04H nonwoven structure claims cover 55 of 58 families, while D01D spinning-process claims sit at only 5 — process-side claim space is comparatively open.
- China leads receiving offices with 15 filings, ahead of Europe at 11 and the United States at 10, marking a geographic shift in where protection is sought.
Filing growth compares 2021 (5 records) with 2024 (0) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field.
What this landscape covers
This landscape tracks patent families at the intersection of meltblown nonwoven and melt-blown fabric claims with polypropylene resin, biodegradable polymer, bicomponent fiber and electret material subject matter, scoped to the core nonwoven, fiber-spinning and polymer-composition IPC classes. It spans filings from 2015 through the 2026 data cut-off, drawing on 58 published families.
Because publication typically lags filing by around eighteen months, the last one to two years in any trend chart will always look thinner than they eventually turn out to be. Treat the most recent year as a floor, not a ceiling.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 58-family corpus: how filing activity has moved year over year, and how it splits across the IPC subclasses that define the technology.
A peak that has not been retested
Filings hit 10 in 2017, fell toward a midpoint of 3 by 2022, and have not returned to peak levels since. Read alongside the publication lag, this points to a technology where the core claim positions were staked out early rather than one still building momentum.
Concentrated in structure, thinner in process
D04H nonwoven-structure claims appear in 55 of 58 families and B32B laminate claims in 29, showing that most protection is written around the finished fabric and its layering. D01F fiber-feature claims also reach 29, while D01D spinning-process claims trail at 5 and C08K additive claims at 6 — narrower bands where fewer parties have staked positions.
Shares are the percentage of the 58 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Meltblown Nonwoven Advanced Materials with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about meltblown nonwoven advanced materials and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this corpus
US20260078245A1 — Polyethylene resin composition, meltblown nonwoven fabric using the same, and electret material
An object of the present invention is to provide a resin composition that can achieve high productivity and a low environmental impact. The resin composition of the present invention includes a polyethylene resin, a polypropylene resin, and a compatibilizer, in which the polyethylene resin contains a plant-derived polyethylene resin.Filed by TOYOBO MC CORPORATION, published 2026-03-19 — one of the most recent entries in the dataset and a marker of where filing activity is currently heading.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5460884A | Soft and strong thermoplastic polymer fibers and nonwoven fabric made therefrom | 107 |
| 2 | US5607798A | Soft and strong thermoplastic polymer and nonwoven fabric laminates | 96 |
| 3 | US5306545A | Melt-blown non-woven fabric and laminated non-woven fabric material using the same | 76 |
| 4 | US6224977B1 | Soft and strong thermoplastic polymer nonwoven fabric | 34 |
| 5 | WO2017198336A1 | Nonwoven laminate fabric comprising meltblown and spundbond layers | 29 |
| 6 | US8129298B2 | Nonwoven laminates and process for producing the same | 19 |
| 7 | CN109914034A | 一种驻极体聚乳酸熔喷非织造材料的制备方法 | 18 |
| 8 | WO2015112844A1 | Meltblown nonwoven web comprising reclaimed polypropylene component and reclaimed sustainable polymer compone… | 18 |
| 9 | US20160333509A1 | Meltblown nonwoven web comprising reclaimed polypropylene component and reclaimed sustainable polymer compone… | 15 |
| 10 | CN113026206A | 水驻极熔喷布的一步法生产工艺 | 14 |
Citation counts reflect influence within this searched set and skew toward older filings; they are not a proxy for current commercial relevance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three read-outs from the trend, IPC split and citation table that matter more than the raw counts on their own.
The wave crested in 2017
Filings peaked at 10 in 2017 and the 2022 midpoint sits at only 3. A flat-to-declining trend over most of a decade suggests the foundational claim positions in this space are largely already staked, and new entrants are filing into occupied ground rather than open ground.
Structure claims dominate the corpus
D04H nonwoven-structure claims appear in 55 of 58 families, with B32B laminate claims close behind at 29. Anyone filing a new structure or laminate claim here is filing into the densest part of the corpus and should expect closely adjacent prior art.
Influence sits with legacy filings
The most-cited record in the set dates from the 1990s and still leads citation counts by a wide margin over newer entries. That reflects how citation counts favour older, well-indexed documents inside a searched corpus, not that soft-and-strong fiber claims are still the active frontier.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to meltblown nonwoven advanced materials, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| Fibertex Personal Care A/S | Reifenhäuser GmbH & Co. KG Maschinenfabrik | 9 |
| BBA Simpsonville, Inc. | BBA Germany GmbH | 6 |
Co-assignment is rare in this corpus — only two pairs recur, the strongest linking a personal-care fabric maker with a machinery supplier, suggesting most protection is filed solo rather than through joint development programmes.
Who holds the ground, and who is still moving
Ranking by family count shows where filing has concentrated; recent-year momentum shows who is still active versus who has gone quiet.
China now leads the filing venues
China accounts for 15 filings in this corpus, ahead of the European Patent Office at 11 and the United States at 10. Read together with WIPO's 5 PCT filings, protection strategy in this field has shifted noticeably toward Asian venues.
Momentum has gone quiet across the board
Among the tracked assignees, only one recorded a filing in the latest year; the rest — including the largest historical filers — show zero. That is consistent with the corpus-wide decline from the 2017 peak rather than any single company stepping back.
Collaboration is the exception, not the rule
Only two co-assignee pairs recur in this dataset. The strongest links a personal-care fabric producer with a machinery manufacturer at 9 shared families, pointing to equipment-and-material co-development as the one collaborative pattern worth tracking.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Fibertex Personal Care A/S | 1 | — |
| Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Reifenhäuser GmbH & Co. KG Maschinenfabrik | 0 | — |
| BBA Simpsonville, Inc. | 0 | — |
| BBA Germany GmbH | 0 | — |
| Dow Global Technologies LLC | 0 | — |
| Kimberly-Clark Corporation | 0 | — |
| Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a mature, structure-claim-heavy field with a few narrow process bands still open. These next steps turn that reading into action.
Map the D01D and C08K gap
Spinning-process and additive-formulation claims are far thinner than nonwoven-structure claims. Before filing, check whether a process- or additive-level claim can be drafted around the dense D04H and B32B prior art.
Explore process claims in Eureka →Track the China filing shift
With China now ahead of Europe and the US in receiving-office counts, competitive monitoring built around US and EPO filings alone will miss where new activity is concentrating.
Set up jurisdiction alerts in Eureka →Watch the single active filer
Only one assignee in this corpus recorded a filing in the latest year. Understanding what that filer is protecting gives an early read on where the next wave, if any, will start.
Run an assignee watch in Eureka →Common questions about meltblown nonwoven patents
The core class is D04H, covering nonwovens and felts, which appears in 55 of the 58 families in this corpus. B32B (layered products and laminates) and D01F (chemical filament and fibre features) each appear in 29 families, reflecting how often nonwoven claims are bundled with laminate structure or fiber-composition claims. Narrower supporting classes include C08L for polymer compositions, C08K for additives, and D01D for the spinning process itself. A search limited to D04H alone will miss laminate- and fiber-level claims that sit in the adjacent classes.
Filing in this corpus reached its high point of 10 families in 2017 and has not returned to that level since, with the 2022 midpoint at only 3. That pattern typically means the foundational structure and laminate claims were staked out relatively early, after which later entrants faced denser prior art and narrower room to file. It does not mean interest in the underlying materials has disappeared — commercial use of meltblown fabrics has continued to grow — only that the rate of new patent filing has not kept pace.
Family counts in this corpus are concentrated at the top, with a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants behind the leading assignees. Co-assignment is uncommon; only two pairs recur, the strongest linking a personal-care fabric producer with a machinery manufacturer across 9 shared families. Recent-year activity has slowed across nearly all tracked assignees, with only one recording a filing in the latest year, so historical family count and current momentum tell different stories and should be checked separately.
US20260078245A1, filed by TOYOBO MC CORPORATION and published 2026-03-19, claims a polyethylene-and-polypropylene resin composition with a plant-derived polyethylene component, used to make a meltblown nonwoven fabric and electret material. It sits at the newer end of the corpus and signals continued interest in biodegradable-polymer routes to electret-grade nonwovens. Anyone developing a similar plant-derived or compatibilizer-based resin blend for electret nonwovens should review this filing's claim scope directly rather than relying on the abstract, since compatibilizer chemistry and resin ratios are the likely points of contention.
The clearest under-claimed bands sit in D01D spinning-process claims (5 families) and C08K additive-package claims (6 families), both far thinner than the 55-family D04H structure core. Implant-grade nonwoven media under A61F is also lightly claimed at 3 families. These thinner bands mean fewer existing blocking claims, but they also come with less established precedent, so a freedom-to-operate check is still the right first step before drafting.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.