Nonwoven from bulked filament tow
AssigneeCelanese Acetate LLC
InventorsRaymond M. Robertson, Rene B. Neron, Gary E. DeHart
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A nonwoven material has a plurality of randomly oriented and bulked crimped filaments, a plurality of point bonds interconnecting said crimped filaments into a fixed, 3-dimensional structure, and either a surface portion of said fixed, 3-dimensional structure having a greater density than an inner portion of said 3-dimensional structure or an external surface of said fixed, 3-dimensional structure being substantially free of any protruding filaments. The nonwoven material is made by: bulking a filament tow, fixing the bulked tow into a 3-dimensional structure, and calendering the 3-dimensional structure.
Claims11
A method of making a nonwoven material having a plurality of randomly oriented and bulked crimped filaments and a plurality of point bonds interconnecting said crimped filaments into a fixed, 3-dimensional structure, comprising the steps of:
- bulking the filament tow;
- fixing the filaments into the 3-dimensional structure, and
- calendering the 3-dimensional structure by overfeeding the bulked filament tow into a calendar to form a nonwoven material having a surface portion of the fixed, 3-dimensional structure having a greater density than an inner portion of the 3-dimensional structure,
- wherein the ratio of surface portion density to inner portion density is from 10-110:1.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.