Non-woven fabric with wick action
AssigneeCarl Freudenberg
InventorsLudwig Hartmann, Ivo Ruzek
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A surface treated, non-woven fabric covering for absorbent cellulose materials, and a method for its manufacture, wherein polymer fibers are coated with an effective amount of a wetting agent which can be chemisorbed on cellulose; the addition of the wetting agent taking place before extrusion in the spinning process, or at any point of manufacture including after the non-woven fabric covering has been finished; the wetting agent being, in the preferred embodiment, a cationic surfactant.
Claims5
A non-woven fabric covering for absorbent cellulose material which comprises a surface-treated non-woven fabric, having a wick action, made up from synthetic fibers which are surface treated with an effective amount of a wetting agent, said wetting agent being capable of being chemisorbed on cellulose, said wetting agent being a cationic surfactant which causes a rapid transport of liquid to the absorbent cellulose materials while substantially blocking the return of the liquid to the fabric covering, said cationic surfactant having the formula:
- ##STR3## wherein R.sub.1 to R.sub.4 are chosen from the group consisting of alkyl of 1 to 20 carbon atoms, aryl, alkylaryl having 1 to 20 carbon atoms in the alkyl group, ethoxy, alkylethoxy having 1 to 20 carbon atoms in the alkyl group, arylethoxy, or alkylarylethoxy having 1 to 20 carbon atoms in the alkyl group, and A is an anion.
A process for manufacturing a surface-treated, non-woven fabric covering for absorbent cellulose materials which comprises:
- (a) adding a cationic surfactant to a polymer melt to form a surfactant and polymer mix, said surfactant being characterized by the ability to cause a rapid transport of liquid to the absorbent cellulose materials while substantially blocking the return of the liquid to the fabric covering, said cationic surfactant having the formula:
- ##STR4## wherein R.sub.1 to R.sub.4 are chosen from the group consisting of alkyl of 1 to 20 carbon atoms, aryl, alkylaryl having 1 to 20 carbon atoms in the alkyl group, ethoxy, alkylethoxy having 1 to 20 carbon atoms in the alkyl group, arylethoxy, or alkylarylethoxy having 1 to 20 carbon atoms in the alkyl group, and A is an anion;
- (b) extruding the surfactant and polymer mix using a conventional polymer fiber spinning and drawing means;
- (c) solidifying the extruded surfactant and polymer mix by cooling to form filaments;
- (d) laying down the filaments to form a non-woven mesh;
- (e) bonding the filaments in the mesh to form a non-woven fabric.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.