Delamination-resistant bulky needle-punched structures
AssigneeEngineered Floors LLC
InventorsDimitri Zafiroglu, Stephen Tsiarkezos, John Joseph Matthews Rees
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Stabilizing a textile sheet structure was achieved by forming a plurality of discrete fiber tufts extending from a first face of a fibrous layer of the textile sheet structure, through the fibrous layer and beyond a second face opposite the first face. Each discrete fiber tuft included a plurality discrete fibers. Each discrete fiber tuft was anchored to the first face and the second face of the fibrous layer by joining together the plurality of each discrete fiber tuft at the first face and the second face and bonding the joined plurality of discrete fiber tuft to the first face and the second face.
Claims23
A method for stabilizing a textile sheet structure, the method comprising:
- forming in a fibrous layer comprising adhesively un-bonded fibrous faces comprising a first face and a second face opposite the first face, a plurality of discrete fiber tufts extending beyond the second face, each discrete fiber tuft comprising a plurality of discrete fibers, each discrete fiber in the plurality of discrete fibers continuously extending along the first face of a fibrous layer of the textile sheet structure, through the fibrous layer, and beyond the second face opposite the first face, the first face comprising adhesively un-bonded fibers laying along the first face and the second face comprising fibers laying along the second face;
- and
- anchoring the plurality of discrete fibers extending along the first face to the first face of the fibrous layer and the discrete fibers in each discrete fiber tuft to the second face of the fibrous layer by:
- collapsing portions of the fiber tufts protruding beyond the second face against the second face to
- place the discrete fibers in the portions of the collapsed fiber tufts against the second face;
- and
- adhesively bonding the plurality of discrete fibers extending along the first face to fibers laying along the first face and the discrete fibers in the portions of the fiber tufts collapsed and placed against the second face to fibers laying along the second face.
A stabilized textile sheet structure made by the process of:
- forming a fibrous layer comprising fibrous faces comprising a first face and a second face opposite the first face, the first face comprising fibers laying along the first face and the second face comprising un-bonded fibers laying along the second face, and
- a plurality of discrete fiber tufts, each discrete fiber tuft comprising a plurality of discrete fibers and each discrete fiber in the plurality of discrete fibers continuously extending along the first face, through the fibrous layer and beyond the second face;
- collapsing portions of the fiber tufts protruding beyond the second face against the second face to place individual discrete fibers in the plurality of discrete fiber tufts collapsed against the second face;
- and adhesively bonding the plurality of discrete fibers extending along the first face to otherwise adhesively un-bonded fibers laying along the first face and in the portions of the fiber tufts collapsed and placed against the second face to otherwise adhesively un-bonded fibers laying along the second face to anchor each discrete fiber extending along the first face to the first face of the fibrous layer and each discrete fiber tuft to the second face of the fibrous layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.