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US3616180A - Short-fibered nonwoven fabrics - Google Patents

Short-fibered nonwoven fabrics Download PDF

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Publication number
US3616180A
US3616180A US3616180DA US3616180A US 3616180 A US3616180 A US 3616180A US 3616180D A US3616180D A US 3616180DA US 3616180 A US3616180 A US 3616180A
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US
United States
Prior art keywords
fibers
ultrashort
length
fleece
textile
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
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English (en)
Inventor
Nicholas Newman
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Fiber Technology Corp
Original Assignee
Kendall Co
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
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Application granted granted Critical
Publication of US3616180A publication Critical patent/US3616180A/en
Assigned to FIBER TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION reassignment FIBER TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST. Assignors: KENDALL COMPANY, THE
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
    • D04—BRAIDING; LACE-MAKING; KNITTING; TRIMMINGS; NON-WOVEN FABRICS
    • D04H—MAKING TEXTILE FABRICS, e.g. FROM FIBRES OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL; FABRICS MADE BY SUCH PROCESSES OR APPARATUS, e.g. FELTS, NON-WOVEN FABRICS; COTTON-WOOL; WADDING ; NON-WOVEN FABRICS FROM STAPLE FIBRES, FILAMENTS OR YARNS, BONDED WITH AT LEAST ONE WEB-LIKE MATERIAL DURING THEIR CONSOLIDATION
    • D04H1/00—Non-woven fabrics formed wholly or mainly of staple fibres or like relatively short fibres
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
    • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
    • Y10T428/00—Stock material or miscellaneous articles
    • Y10T428/29—Coated or structually defined flake, particle, cell, strand, strand portion, rod, filament, macroscopic fiber or mass thereof
    • Y10T428/2904—Staple length fiber
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
    • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
    • Y10T428/00—Stock material or miscellaneous articles
    • Y10T428/29—Coated or structually defined flake, particle, cell, strand, strand portion, rod, filament, macroscopic fiber or mass thereof
    • Y10T428/2904—Staple length fiber
    • Y10T428/2907—Staple length fiber with coating or impregnation
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
    • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
    • Y10T442/00—Fabric [woven, knitted, or nonwoven textile or cloth, etc.]
    • Y10T442/60—Nonwoven fabric [i.e., nonwoven strand or fiber material]
    • Y10T442/608—Including strand or fiber material which is of specific structural definition
    • Y10T442/614—Strand or fiber material specified as having microdimensions [i.e., microfiber]
    • Y10T442/619—Including other strand or fiber material in the same layer not specified as having microdimensions

Definitions

  • a fluid dispersion of ultrashort fibers of from 50 to 300 microns in length is applied to a preformed fleece of textile-length fibers, to increase the opacity of the assembly when it is formed into a nonwoven fabric.
  • This invention relates to a process for the preparation of bonded nonwoven fabrics, and the products thereof. More particularly, it relates to the preparation of medium or light weight nonwoven fabrics of high capacity, suitable for fashioning into items such as disposable or limited-use garments.
  • Bonded nonwoven fabrics comprising dry-assembled, textile-length unspun and unwoven fibrous webs bonded by polymeric binding materials, are produced by a variety of processes and are staple articles of commerce. In addition to numerous industrial applications, they are finding increasing use in the field of disposable items such as garments, sheets, pillowcases, surgical drapes, and the like. Conventional nonwoven fabrics, however, are planar and uniform, not closely resembling the woven fabrics which they are intended to replace. ⁇ Additionally, and of paramount importance in disposable clothing, conventional nonwoven fabrics ,of a weight range which may economically be used are undesirably translucent, and lack covering orconcealing power.
  • paperrnaking fibers 1,000 microns or more in length
  • papermaking fibers tend to filter out onto a web of textile length fibers without penetrating into the web sufficiently to form a satisfactory interlocking bond.
  • ultra short fibers of shorter length than papermaking fibers preferably in substantially unbeaten and unhydrated condition may be applied to a web of textile-length fibers so as to penetrate into the textile fiber web to an unexpected degree, thus providing a desirable degree of opacification and internal fortification.
  • Such fibers herein termed ultra short, range in average length from 50 to .3 microns, and are discussed more fully herein below.
  • the present invention relates to processes for combining ultra short fibers with fibers of textile length to form bonded nonwoven fabrics.
  • the steps involved in the process comprise:
  • the ultrashort fibers may be applied to the web of textile-length fibers in simple aqueous suspension, with the binder being applied in a subsequent flooding or spraying application.
  • a part of of the ultrashort fiber charge may be applied to the textile fiber web from aqueous suspension, with the balance of the ultrashort fiber being suspended in the binder solution.
  • Engineering considerations will dictate the method of choice: for example, if the binder solution is to be applied by an atomized spray, it is desirable that the ultrashort fibers be combined with the textile-length fibers in an operation separate from the bonding step.
  • FIG. 1 is a schematic representationof an apparatus suitable for the practice of the invention
  • FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional representation of a preferred product of the invention.
  • FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional representation of another embodiment of theinvention.
  • a web of unspun and unwoven textilelength fibers 10 is shown as being delivered from a supply roll 12 to a porous conveyor screen M.
  • the web 10 may be delivered to the screen 14 directly as it is formed on textile cards, garnetts, or air-lay machines.
  • textile-length fibers are meant thosefibers which by virtue of their length may be dry-assembled on textile fiber handling equipment into a coherent, self-sustaining web or fleece.
  • textilelength fibers have a minimum average length of at least one-half inch (12,500 microns), incontrast to conventional paper-making fibers which have an average length of not over l,000-3,000 microns.
  • the fibrous web is advanced by the conveyor screen I4 to pass underneath a flooder box 16, so arranged that a constant fluid sheet of binder solution containing suspended ultrashort fibers is deposited on the web.
  • the flooder box is fed from a supply tank 20, in whichthe ultrashort fibers are .kept in suspension 18 in the binder solution, preferably by means of constant agitation.
  • Therate of feed of the suspension to the flooder box is,controlled by the valve 2.2.
  • ultrashort fibers By ultrashort fibers is meant herein fibers which are. below the lengthof papermaking fibers and which for the purposes of this invention are not beaten, hydrated, or fibrillated to any substantial degree. Suitable fibers average from 50 to 300 microns in length, and may be typified by bleached ground wood pulp which has fibers of varying lengths distributed over that range, or by specially processed ultra short cellulosic fibers known as Solka-Floc, a trademarked namefor fibers supplied bythe Brown Company. In the latter case, thelength of the ultrashort fibers is closely grouped around a mean, and mixtures of such fibers may advantageously be used.
  • the web is advanced to a device which removes excess liquid saturant, leaving substantial amounts if not all of the ultrashort fibers, deposited] partly upon and partly within the fibrous web, as described below.
  • this extraction of excess saturant may be effected by the use of an ordinary suction box 29, the action of which may be supplemented by a set of table rolls '24, as shown.
  • Such rolls as in the paper industry, revolve against the lower surface of the screen 114 which supports the wet web, and thus exert a wiping action or even a gentle suction which removes a preponderance .of the saturant, thus expediting subsequent drying, without dragging out any significant amount of ultrashort fibers.
  • the screen M driven by guide rolls 15, may be washed free of residual binder solution, if desired, by means of a water spray27.
  • Subsequent drying, and the completion of the setting of the binder, may be accomplished by transferring the partially dried web to an auxiliary screen 26, driven by rolls 28 and 30, upon which it passes under infrared heaters 32.
  • Final drying may be accomplished by a steam-heated dry can 34, or a plurality thereof.
  • the drying process is not critical, and various other drying expedients may be employed. In general it may be said that for the preservation of maximum softness and drape in the final product, undue pressures should be avoided in the drying step as well as in the other stages of the process.
  • an auxiliary flooder box 17 may be used, shown in dotted lines in FIG. I.
  • the supply tank 21 and control valve 23 correspond to their counterparts and 22 which supply the flooder box 16.
  • the suspension 19 in the supply tank 21 may be a suspension of ultrashort fibers in water, or a suspension of ultrashort fibers of for example 50 microns in length suspended in a binder solution in tank 21 may be supplemented by the application of a second binder suspension from tank 20, said second suspension containing fibers which, though ultrashort, are longer then the fibers in the first flooder box.
  • Conventional water-dispersed binder systems may be em ployed in the process of this invention, including the various commercially available dispersions of polyacrylic binders, polyvinyls, butadiene-styrene polymers, and the like, depending on the particular degree of strength, hand, and elongation which it is desired to realize in the final product. Fire retardants, water repellants, and other finishing auxiliary agents may be compounded with the binder system.
  • the above process is generally applicable to binder systems which contain my preferred range of between 1 percent and 4 percent of ultrashort fibers.
  • the fibers may be substantially all of the same length, for example 50 microns as in Solka-Floc BW 200, or they may vary in length, as in the case of ground wood pulp.
  • the opacified nonwoven fabrics of this invention may be characterized as stratified, with regard to fiber distribution. This is presumably die to the fact that the fleece of textile-length fibers acts as a filter bed, with the shortest of the ultrashort fibers penetrating a substantial distance into the interior of the fleece. As the descending ultrashort fibers are trapped within the fleece, they impede the descent of other ultrashort fibers, so that there is an enrichment of the upper surface of the fleece, with very flew if any ultrashort fibers becoming trapped in the lower surface of the fleece.
  • a nonwoven fabric 40 is shown as composed of a fleece of textile-length fibers 42, with ultrashort 40 micron fibers 44 disposed in generally horizontal alignment with the textile-length fibers, but more heavily concentrated at and near the upper surface of the fleece, where the binder solution ultrashort fiber suspension has been applied.
  • concentrating a stratum of horizontally disposed ultrashort fibers at or near one surface of a nonwoven fabric it has been found that a higher opacifying effect, and less stiffening of the fabric, are observed than when ultrashort fibers are mixed with the textile-length fibers in a dry assembling process.
  • FIG. 2 and 3 are schematic and idealized in the sense that any showing of the binder has been omitted, for clarity. Also, the fiber density in an actual product will be greater, and there will be in most cases a greater degree of fiber intermingling. In FIGS. 2 and 3, the shortest (50 micron) fibers are strippled, the longer ultrashort fibers are cross hatched. The invention will be illustrated by the following examples.
  • a carded fleece of 1.5 denier 1.5 inch rayon weighing 26 grams per square yard was supported on the screen conveyor 14 and was flooded with a suspension of l percent Solka-Floc microns in length in an aqueous dispersion of an 1 L5 percent concentration of acrylic binder.
  • the flooder box supplied 20 gallons of suspension per minute to the 50 inch wide web, and the linear speed was 40 feet per minute.
  • the dried product resembled that of FIG. 2, with the ultrashort fibers concentrated in the upper portion, and particularly near the surface, of the fabric, with the lower surface of the fabric being predominantly composed of textile-length fibers.
  • the product weighed 53 grams per square yard and consisted of approximately 20 percent binder, 40 percent textilelength rayon, and 3 I percent ultashort fibers.
  • the product weighed 58 grams per square yard and consisted of approximately 20 binder, 45 percent textile-length rayon, and 35 percent ultrashort fibers.
  • the degree of opacity desired will vary with the particular end use to which the product is to be put. Considering fiber content only, and neglecting the binder, it is seen that the fabric of example I contained 61 percent textile-length fibers, 39 percent ultrashort fibers. In example II, the corresponding FIGS. are 56 percent and 44 percent: in example III, 50 percent each. It has been found in general that desirable enhancements in opacity may be observed when the ultrashort fibers in fabrics of this invention constitute between 25 percent and 60 percent of the total fiber content.
  • a value is 0.44.
  • values in the range of 0.40-0.45 may be expected.
  • the value was 0.69; for examples ll and Ill, 0.71.
  • a soft conformable bonded nonwoven fabric comprising a fleece of textile-length fibers averaging not less than one-half inch in length and unbeaten unhydrated ultrashort cellulosic fibers of between 50 and 300 microns in length,
  • said ultrashort fibers being intermingled with and bonded to said textile-length fibers throughout at least a portion of the depth of said fleece,
  • said ultrashort fibers being more hightly concentrated at one surface of said fleece than at the other surface of said fleece.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Textile Engineering (AREA)
  • Nonwoven Fabrics (AREA)
US3616180D 1968-11-25 1968-11-25 Short-fibered nonwoven fabrics Expired - Lifetime US3616180A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US77931868A 1968-11-25 1968-11-25
US83156469A 1969-06-09 1969-06-09

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US3616180A true US3616180A (en) 1971-10-26

Family

ID=27119565

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US3616180D Expired - Lifetime US3616180A (en) 1968-11-25 1968-11-25 Short-fibered nonwoven fabrics

Country Status (13)

Country Link
US (1) US3616180A (es)
JP (1) JPS5428512B1 (es)
BE (1) BE742196A (es)
CH (4) CH587946B5 (es)
DE (1) DE1958978C3 (es)
DK (1) DK132342C (es)
ES (1) ES177264Y (es)
FI (1) FI50803C (es)
FR (1) FR2024159A1 (es)
GB (1) GB1228325A (es)
NL (1) NL6917735A (es)
NO (1) NO129686B (es)
SE (1) SE373615B (es)

Cited By (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3816159A (en) * 1969-06-09 1974-06-11 Kendall & Co Process for applying an aqueous dispersion of short, binder coated fibers to a drylaid nonwoven fabric
US3839139A (en) * 1972-06-26 1974-10-01 Unitika Ltd Light-occluding and water-permeable sheet
US4706338A (en) * 1985-03-12 1987-11-17 Chicopee Apparatus for forming fibre webs
US6641194B2 (en) * 2001-10-02 2003-11-04 Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. Vehicle exterior component
US6689242B2 (en) 2001-03-26 2004-02-10 First Quality Nonwovens, Inc. Acquisition/distribution layer and method of making same
US20080202434A1 (en) * 2007-02-27 2008-08-28 Vickie Arnold Pet comfort composite material
EP3784064B1 (en) 2019-03-18 2021-06-02 Swedish Match North Europe AB A packaging material and an oral pouched nicotine product

Cited By (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3816159A (en) * 1969-06-09 1974-06-11 Kendall & Co Process for applying an aqueous dispersion of short, binder coated fibers to a drylaid nonwoven fabric
US3839139A (en) * 1972-06-26 1974-10-01 Unitika Ltd Light-occluding and water-permeable sheet
US4706338A (en) * 1985-03-12 1987-11-17 Chicopee Apparatus for forming fibre webs
US6689242B2 (en) 2001-03-26 2004-02-10 First Quality Nonwovens, Inc. Acquisition/distribution layer and method of making same
US6641194B2 (en) * 2001-10-02 2003-11-04 Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. Vehicle exterior component
US20080202434A1 (en) * 2007-02-27 2008-08-28 Vickie Arnold Pet comfort composite material
EP3784064B1 (en) 2019-03-18 2021-06-02 Swedish Match North Europe AB A packaging material and an oral pouched nicotine product

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
CH587946B5 (es) 1977-05-13
DE1958978A1 (de) 1970-06-18
CH326776A4 (es) 1977-03-15
DE1958978B2 (de) 1978-08-31
ES177264Y (es) 1973-03-01
CH1753469A4 (es) 1976-09-15
NL6917735A (es) 1970-05-27
GB1228325A (es) 1971-04-15
DK132342B (da) 1975-11-24
CH596369B5 (es) 1978-03-15
NO129686B (es) 1974-05-13
BE742196A (es) 1970-05-25
ES177264U (es) 1972-09-16
FI50803C (fi) 1976-07-12
DK132342C (da) 1976-04-26
SE373615B (sv) 1975-02-10
FI50803B (es) 1976-03-31
FR2024159A1 (es) 1970-08-28
JPS5428512B1 (es) 1979-09-17
DE1958978C3 (de) 1980-04-24

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Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
AS Assignment

Owner name: FIBER TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION,STATELESS

Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:KENDALL COMPANY, THE;REEL/FRAME:004837/0794

Effective date: 19871203

Owner name: FIBER TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION

Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST.;ASSIGNOR:KENDALL COMPANY, THE;REEL/FRAME:004837/0794

Effective date: 19871203