Fabric finishing
AssigneeVelcro Industries B.V.
InventorsPaul R. Erickson, David Villeneuve
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fabric, such as a loop fastener material, is finished by applying a foam to a surface of the fabric, the foam containing both a liquid binder and a powder. The binder is allowed to flow into pores of the fabric and coat fiber interstices of the fabric as the foam collapses, and is dried to stabilize the fabric. The powder is of a particle size selected to cause most of the powder to remain on the surface of the fabric while the binder is dried to bond the powder to the fabric surface. The powder, as bonded to the fabric surface, is activatable, such as by heat or RF or UV energy, to adhere the stabilized fabric to another surface or to provide a desired surface property.
Claims20
A method of finishing a fabric, the method comprising
- applying a foam to a surface of a fabric, the foam comprising a liquid binder and a powder;
- allowing the liquid binder to flow into pores of the fabric and coat fiber interstices of the fabric as the foam collapses;
- and
- drying the binder coating the fiber interstices, so as to stabilize the fabric;
- wherein the powder is of a particle size selected to cause most of the powder to remain on the surface of the fabric while the binder is dried to bond the powder to the fabric surface, and
- wherein the powder, as bonded to the fabric surface, is activatable to alter a surface property of the fabric upon activation.
A method of finishing a fastener loop fabric, the method comprising
- applying a coating to a surface of a fastener loop fabric opposite hook-engageable loops of the fabric, the coating comprising a liquid binder and a suspended, activatable powder;
- allowing the liquid binder of the coating to flow into the loop fabric and coat fiber interstices of the loop fabric;
- and then
- drying the flowed binder to anchor loop fibers of the loop fabric;
- wherein a sufficient amount of the activatable powder remains on the surface of the loop fabric after the binder is dried, to form an activatable surface adhesive for bonding the loop fabric to another surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.