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US 6,713,415 B2Granted
Uniform stretchable fabric with flat surface appearance
AssigneeE. I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company
InventorKenneth E. Martin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A laundry-durable stretchable composite fabric, based on two nonwoven outer layers and a pre-stretched inner layer of elastomeric fibers of at least 400 decitex and at least eight threadlines/inch, and having a flat surface appearance, is provided.
Claims11
A laundry-durable unitary composite stretchable puckered fabric comprising:
- (a) two outer layers of nonwoven fabric of substantially equal width wherein each layer has an inside surface and an outside surface with respect to the composite fabric;
- (b) a uniform inner layer of elastomeric fibers comprising at least 8 threadlines/inch (3.15 threadlines/cm) wherein the elastomeric fiber is at least 400 decitex and wherein the number of threadlines and fiber decitex are in a relationship such that the retractive force of the stretchable fabric is as least 0.22 lb/inch (38.9 g/cm);
- and
- (c) 10-35% by weight of the composite fabric of an adhesive composition bonding the outer and inner layers, wherein the adhesive only partially covers the inside surface of at least one outer layer and penetrates to the outside of each outer layer to an extent less than about 10% based on the surface area of each outer layer;
- wherein the composite fabric has a calculated flatness factor of not more than 4.4.
2 more elements
A process for manufacturing a laundry-durable unitary composite stretchable puckered fabric comprising the steps of:
- (a) placing between two layers of nonwoven fabric at least eight uniformly tensioned and substantially parallel elastomeric filaments per inch (3.15/cm) of width of fabric spaced substantially equidistant from and parallel to one another and to the edges of the nonwoven fabrics, wherein each layer has an inside surface and an outside surface with respect to the composite fabric, and the filaments are of substantially equal decitex of no less than 400 decitex per filament;
- (b) bonding the two layers of nonwoven fabric and the elastomeric filments by applying 10-35% by weight of the composite fabric of an adhesive composition so that the adhesive only partially covers the inside surface of at least one outer layer and penetrates to the outside of each outer layer to an extent less than about 10% based on the surface area of each outer layer;
- (c) substantially completely removing the tension immediately after the bonding step.
A process for manufacturing a laundry-durable unitary composite stretchable puckered fabric comprising the steps of:
- (a) placing between two layers of nonwoven fabric at least eight uniformly tensioned elastomeric filaments per inch (3.15 per cm) of width of fabric spaced substantially equidistant from and substantially parallel to one another and to the edges of the nonwoven fabric layers, wherein each nonwoven fabric layer has an inside surface and an outside surface with respect to the composite fabric;
- and wherein the filaments are of substantially equal decitex of no less than 400 decitex per filament;
- (b) bonding the two layers of nonwoven fabric and the elastomeric filaments to form the composite stretchable fabric by applying an adhesive composition in amount of fron 10 to 35% by weight of the composite stretchable fabric using an adhesive application method selected from the group consisting of melt blowing and spiral spray, so that the adhesive only partially covers the inside surface of at least one nonwoven fabric layer and penetrates to the outside of each nonwoven fabric layer to an extent less than about 10% based on the surface area of the outside surface of each nonwoven layer;
- and
- (c) substantially completely removing the tension after the bonding step.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.