Napped nonwoven fabric having high bulk and absorbency
AssigneeJohnson & Johnson Medical, Inc.
InventorsJohn Dyer, Grace Mathews, Matthew M. Major
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A soft, bulky light weight fabric having good absorbency and suitable for use as a wound dressing is prepared from a hydroentangled nonwoven fabric comprising a plurality of parallel spaced apart ribs interconnected by loose fiber bundles extending between adjacent ribs. The ribs comprise high density, highly entangled masses of fibers and contain at least about 60 percent by weight of the fiber in the fabric. The fabric is napped ina direction perpendicular to the ribs to obtain the soft, bulky fabric without tearing or disrupting the integrity of the fabric.
Claims8
A nonwoven fabric, having a basis weight of from about 1.2 to 2.5 oz/yd.sup.2, and comprising entangled staple fibers arranged in a repeating pattern of spaced, parallel ribs extending in one direction, with a plurality of spaced parallel fiber bundles extending between and interconnecting adjacent ribs, said fiber bundles being substantially perpendicular to said fibrous ribs, each of said ribs comprising a napped, bulky, highly entangled, dense, fibrous mass, and each of said fiber bundles comprising a loosely arranged group of substantially parallel staple fibers, whereby the ratio of four-ply bulk--measured in inches--to basis weight--in ounces per square yard--is greater than about 0.06.
A wound dressing comprising a nonwoven fabric having a basis weight of from about 1.2 to 2.5 oz/yd.sup.2, and comprising entangled staple fibers arranged in a repeating pattern of spaced, parallel ribs extending in one direction, with a plurality of spaced parallel fiber bundles extending between the interconnecting adjacent ribs, said fiber bundles being substantially perpendicular to said fibrous ribs, each of said ribs comprising a napped, bulky highly entangled, sense, fibrous mass, and each of said fiber bundles comprising a loosely arranged group of substantially parallel staple fibers, whereby the ratio of four-ply bulk--measured in inches--to basis weight--in ounces per square yard--is greater than about 0.06.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.