Loading patent…
AssigneeUnited Technologies Automotive Trim, Inc.
InventorsStanlake A. Mtangi, David H. Fishman
Estimating the term…
An improved method of molding articles from air-laid webs wherein resin is deposited in a dry process onto cellulose fibers prior to air-laying. Cellulose material and a resin-containing airstream are simultaneously fed into a comminuting means such as a hammer mill. The cellulose particles thereby produced have a coating which adheres to the surface of the cellulose particles. The cellulose particles retain substantially all of the dry resin coating when pneumatically conveyed and air-laid into a web. The fiber web produced with the resin-coated particles is suitable for use in a conventional molding process whereby the web is molded under sufficient heat and pressure into a molded article having a uniform resin distribution resulting in improved strength and improved structural integrity.
A method of molding objects from a resin containing cellulose particle fiber web, the fiber web is formed by an air-laying process wherein cellulose particles and resin are pneumatically conveyed and deposited on a surface to form a web, the improvement comprises, producing dry resin-coated cellulose particles by simultaneously feeding cellulose material and a dry resin-containing airstream, wherein the resin particle size is about 1 micron to about 5 microns, into at least one comminuting means and retaining the cellulose and resin in the comminuting means for a sufficient period of time so that the resin is uniformly deposited over the surface of the cellulose particles such that substantially all of the resin adheres to the particles during pneumatic conveying and air-laying to form a web, the web is molded at sufficient temperature and pressure thereby producing a molded article having a uniform distribution of resin such that the molded article has high strength and structural integrity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.