Heat activated adhesive tapes for joining fabric segments

A method of manufacturing a heat activated adhesive tape for stitchless joining of fabric sections, comprising steps of

• (i) providing an aqueous dispersion of aliphatic polyurethanes, and a crosslinker selected from the group consisting of polycarbodiimides, melamine formaldehydes, epoxies, and aziridines;
• (ii) homogenizing said polyurethanes and said crosslinker at ambient temperature, to obtain a raw liquid latex;
• (iii) layering said raw liquid latex onto the surface of a thermostable liner;
• (iv) drying said liner with said raw latex in a high-efficient drying tunnel at a temperature lower than 100° C., thereby obtaining a liner film coated with a layer of dry latex;
• (v) cooling said film with said dry latex;
• and
• (vi) cutting the film with said dry latex to obtain bands of said adhesive tape of a desired width and length, and folding the bands to obtain rolls of said tape, or folding the film of a desired length to a film roll and cutting the film roll at a desired width to obtain rolls of said tape;
• thereby obtaining rolls of said heat activated adhesive tape for stitchless joining fabric sections, stable at storage and ready for future use.

A method of joining two fabric sections in a stitchless way, comprising steps of

• (i) placing a heat activated adhesive tape comprising a thermostable liner, and a layer of dry latex of polyurethane with a polycarbodiimide crosslinker on a first fabric section with the latex facing the fabric and the liner upside, and pressing the tape against said fabric at a releasing temperature of 110° C. or more, at a pressure of 2 bars or more for a time of 2 s or more, thereby releasing said latex onto the surface of said first fabric section and defining a bonding area;
• (ii) removing the liner from said bonding area;
• (iii) placing a second fabric section on said first fabric section at said bonding area and pressing the two fabric sections to each other at said bonding area at a bonding temperature of 165° C. or more, at a pressure of 2 bars or more for a time of 5 s or more;
• thereby bonding said two fabric sections in a stitchless way at said bonding area, wherein said bonding is stable during repeated laundry.