Stitch-stabilized nonwoven fabric
AssigneeE. I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company
InventorDimitri P. Zafiroglu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A stitchbonded nonwoven fabric which comprises a fibrous layer is reinforced in a first direction with bulkable thread and in a second direction with substantially inextensible thread, the reinforcing directions being at an angle of at least 50 degrees with each other, exhibits superior strength, resistance to splitting and repeated washability.
Claims14
A stitchbonded nonwoven fabric made with two multi-needle stitched thread systems, the first thread system being a bulkable thread and the second thread system being a substantially inextensible thread, the fabric comprising a nonwoven fibrous layer reinforced in a first direction with the bulkable thread forming spaced-apart rows of stitches in the fibrous layer and reinforced in a second direction with the substantially inextensible thread forming spaced-apart rows of stitches in the fibrous layer, the second direction being at an angle of at least 50 degrees with the first direction.
A stitchbonded nonwoven fabric made with two multi-needle thread systems, the first thread system being a bulkable thread and the second thread system being a substantially inextensible thread, the fabric comprising a nonwoven fibrous layer reinforced in a first direction with the bulkable thread forming spaced-apart rows of stitches in the fibrous layer and reinforced in a second direction with the substantially inextensible thread forming spaced-apart rows of stitches, the second direction being at an angle of at least 50 degrees with first direction and the reinforcement in the second direction being provided by inlay stitches.
A process for making a stitchbonded nonwoven fabric comprising
- feeding a fibrous layer, weighing in the range of 15 to 150 grams per square meter, to a multi-needle stitching machine equipped with two thread systems,
- supplying the first thread system with a bulkable thread,
- multi-needle stitching the bulkable thread into the fibrous layer in parallel rows of stitches at a spacing in the range of 2 to 8 rows per centimeter and with the stitches within each row at a spacing in the range of 1 to 7 stitches per centimeter, the bulkable thread being stitched under sufficient tension to maintain the bulkable thread straight during the stitching, to reinforce the fabric in a first direction, and
- supplying the second thread system with a substantially inextensible thread,
- multi-needle stitching the inextensible thread with the fibrous layer to form parallel rows of stitches at a spacing in the range of 2 to 8 rows per centimeter and with stitches within each row at a spacing in the range of 1 to 7 stitches per centimeter, to reinforce the fabric in a second direction, the second direction forming an angle of at least 50 degrees with the first reinforcing direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.