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US 4,883,707 AGranted
High loft nonwoven fabric
AssigneeJames River Corporation
InventorDavid D. Newkirk
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Abstract
Disclosed are high loft nonwoven fabric composites, suitable for use as coverstock in absorbent personal care articles, that are composed of at least two carded webs of bicomponent thermoplastic resin fibers, wherein the fibers making up at least one web are at least in part flat-crimped bicomponent fibers. Also disclosed is a method of making such laminates by a process that involves thru-air bonding.
Claims14
A nonwoven fabric having a basis weight in the range of 15-40 grams per square yard and suitable for use as coverstock that comprises
- a soft carded web layer consisting essentially of thermoplastic fibers having an average denier of 3 or less, and
- a lofty carded web layer consisting essentially of thermoplastic fibers having an average denier of 3 or greater,
- wherein said webs contain sufficient thermoplastic bicomponent fiber to provide bonding within and between each of said web layers and wherein the thermoplastic bicomponent fiber in said lofty layer is flat-crimped.
A method for making high loft composite that comprises
- forming a first carded web comprising crimped thermoplastic fibers having an average denier of 3 or greater and having a basis weight in the range of from 5 through 20 grams per square yard,
- forming a second carded web comprising thermoplastic fibers having an average denier of 3 or less and having a basis weight in the range of from 5 through 20 grams per square yard,
- wherein each of said webs contains sufficient thermoplastic bicomponent fiber to provide for bonding within each said web layer and between said web layers and wherein the thermoplastic bicomponent fiber in said lofty layer is flat-crimped,
- superimposing said second web onto said first web to form a layered structure,
- contacting said layered structure with a thru-air bonding surface having 25-60% open area, and
- causing heated air to pass through said bonding surface into and through said layered structure in order to effect bonding between the web layers,
- wherein said heated air is passed through said layered structure in the absence of a hold-down wire.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.