Method for producing fibers and materials having enhanced characteristics

Abstract

A method and apparatus for forming artificial fibers and a non-woven web therefrom includes means for generating a substantially continuous fluid stream along a primary axis, at least one extrusion die located adjacent to the continuous fluid stream for extruding a liquified resin into fibers, means for injecting the fibers into the primary fluid stream, and perturbation means for selectively perturbing the flow of fluid in the fluid stream by varying the fluid pressure on either side of the primary axis to produce crimped fibers for forming the non-woven web. The inventive manufacturing method finely tunes non-woven web material characteristics such as tensile strength, porosity, barrier properties, absorbance, and softness by varying the fluid stream perturbation frequency and amplitude. Finally, the inventive method and apparatus may be implemented in combination with melt-blown, spunbond and coform techniques for producing non-woven webs.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.