Method of making heteroconstituent and layered nonwoven materials

A method of making a multilayered nonwoven material including a layer of polymer filaments of a first type A and a layer of filaments of a second type B, comprising the steps of:

• extruding filaments of the first type A from a first spinpack;
• extruding filaments of the second type B from a second spinpack;
• quenching the filaments of the first type A and second type B by supplying a first air stream laterally of the type A filaments and a second opposing air stream laterally of the type B filaments;
• the first and second opposing air streams having sufficient velocities and flow rates to bring the type A and type B filaments together in the form of layers resulting in a multilayered nonwoven material.

A method of making a multilayered nonwoven material including at least three nonwoven layers, comprising the steps of:

• extruding a first bundle of filaments from a first spinpack;
• extruding a second bundle of filaments from a second spinpack;
• extruding a third bundle of filaments from a third spinpack located between the first and second spinpacks;
• supplying a first quench air stream laterally of the first bundle of filaments and a second opposing quench air stream laterally of the second bundle of filaments;
• supplying a third quench air stream between the first and third bundles of filaments;
• supplying a fourth quench air stream between the second and third bundles of filaments;
• and
• merging the first, second and third bundles of filaments together in the form of layers resulting in a multilayered nonwoven material.

A method of making a heteroconstituent nonwoven material including a mixture of polymer filaments of a first type A and filaments of a second type B, comprising the steps of:

• extruding filaments of the first type A from a first spinpack;
• extruding filaments of the second type B from a second spinpack;
• quenching the filaments of the first type A and second type B by supplying a first air stream laterally of the type A filaments and a second opposing air stream laterally of the type B filaments;
• the first and second opposing air streams having sufficient velocities and flow rates to bring the type A and type B filaments together and cause at least some mixing of the type A and type B filaments resulting in a heteroconstituent nonwoven material;
• wherein the type A and type B filaments are extruded toward each other at angles of about 1-15 degrees from the vertical.

A method of making a heteroconstituent nonwoven material including a mixture of polymer filaments of a first type A and filaments of a second type B, comprising the steps of:

• extruding filaments of the first type A from a first spinpack;
• extruding filaments of the second type B from a second spinpack;
• quenching the filaments of the first type A and second type B by supplying a first air stream laterally of the type A filaments and a second opposing air stream laterally of the type B filaments;
• the first and second opposing air streams having sufficient velocities and flow rates to bring the type A and type B filaments together and cause at least some mixing of the type A and type B filaments resulting in a heteroconstituent nonwoven material;
• wherein at least one of the type A filaments and type B filaments comprises bicomponent filaments.

A method of making a heteroconstituent nonwoven material including a mixture of polymer filaments of a first type A and filaments of a second type B, comprising the steps of:

• extruding filaments of the first type A from a first spinpack;
• extruding filaments of the second type B from a second spinpack;
• quenching the filaments of the first type A and second type B by supplying a first air stream laterally of the type A filaments and a second opposing air stream laterally of the type B filaments;
• the first and second opposing air streams having sufficient velocities and flow rates to bring the type A and type B filaments together and cause at least some mixing of the type A and type B filaments resulting in a heteroconstituent nonwoven material;
• wherein the type A filaments and type B filaments have different levels of crimping.

A method of making a heteroconstituent nonwoven material including a mixture of polymer filaments of a first type A and filaments of a second type B, comprising the steps of:

• extruding filaments of the first type A from a first spinpack;
• extruding filaments of the second type B from a second spinpack;
• quenching the filaments of the first type A and second type B by supplying a first air stream laterally of the type A filaments and a second opposing air stream laterally of the type B filaments;
• the first and second opposing air streams having sufficient velocities and flow rates to bring the type A and type B filaments together and cause at least some mixing of the type A and type B filaments resulting in a heteroconstituent nonwoven material;
• wherein the type A filaments and type B filaments have different average filament sizes.