Perforated nonwoven fabrics
AssigneeKimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc.
InventorsRuth Lisa Levy, Henry Louis Griesbach, III, Jay Sheldon Shultz, La-Donna Lynn McCullar Bishop Brown
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Abstract
The invention provides a perforated nonwoven web fabricated from a bonded thermoplastic polymer web. The perforated nonwoven web contains a multitude of self-sustaining sustaining perforations that are substantially free of melt-fused edges and can be characterized as stretch-opened perforations. The invention further provides a process for producing the perforated nonwoven web.
Claims10
A process for producing a fluid permeable perforated nonwoven web of a thermoplastic polymer comprising the steps of slitting a bonded nonwoven web in a predetermined pattern, heating said web to a temperature between the softening temperature and about the onset of melting at a liquid fraction of 5% of said thermoplastic polymer, tensioning said web in at least one planar direction of said web to form apertures, and cooling the apertured web while maintaining the tension, wherein said perforation process imparts permanently opened and self sustaining apertures without melt-fusing the fibers at the edge of said apertures.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.