Multicomponent apertured nonwoven
First Claim
1. A nonwoven web comprising a plurality of multicomponent fibers, said fibers comprising at least two thermoplastic polymer components arranged in at least first and second separate continuous structured domains, said polymer component of said first domain comprising polyethylene, and a plurality of discrete, spaced-apart, frangible bond sites of fused polymer bonding said fibers to form a coherent extensible nonwoven web, said frangible bond sites being structured and arranged to readily rupture when subjected to tensile stress to form discrete, spaced-apart apertures in the nonwoven fabric, and said web having a peak elongation of at least 200 percent.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A nonwoven web is provided which can be readily converted to an apertured web by stretching. In its initial non-apertured state, the web comprises a plurality of multicomponent fibers comprising at least two thermoplastic polymer components arranged in at least first and second separate continuous structured domains. The polymer component of the first domain comprises polyethylene. Prior to stretch aperturing, the web has a peak elongation of at least 100 percent and is characterized by having a plurality of discrete, spaced-apart, frangible bond sites of polymer bonding the fibers to form a coherent extensible nonwoven web. The frangible bond sites are structured and arranged to readily rupture when subjected to tensile stress to form discrete, spaced-apart apertures in the nonwoven fabric. The web has a total energy absorption in at least one of the machine direction or the cross-machine direction of at least 50 gcm/cm2.
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Citations
45 Claims
- 1. A nonwoven web comprising a plurality of multicomponent fibers, said fibers comprising at least two thermoplastic polymer components arranged in at least first and second separate continuous structured domains, said polymer component of said first domain comprising polyethylene, and a plurality of discrete, spaced-apart, frangible bond sites of fused polymer bonding said fibers to form a coherent extensible nonwoven web, said frangible bond sites being structured and arranged to readily rupture when subjected to tensile stress to form discrete, spaced-apart apertures in the nonwoven fabric, and said web having a peak elongation of at least 200 percent.
- 2. A nonwoven web comprising a plurality of multicomponent fibers, said fibers comprising at least two thermoplastic polymer components arranged in at least first and second separate continuous structured domains, said polymer component of said first domain comprising polyethylene, and a plurality of discrete, spaced-apart, frangible bond sites of fused polymer bonding said fibers to form a coherent extensible nonwoven web, said frangible bond sites being structured and arranged to readily rupture when subjected to tensile stress to form discrete, spaced-apart apertures in the nonwoven fabric, and said web having a peak elongation of at least 100 percent, and wherein the web has a minimum cross-machine direction tensile strength of 300 g.
- 10. A nonwoven web comprising a plurality of multicomponent fibers, said fibers comprising at least two thermoplastic polymer components arranged in at least first and second separate continuous structured domains, said polymer component of said first domain comprising polyethylene, and a plurality of discrete, spaced-apart, frangible bond sites of fused polymer bonding said fibers to form a coherent extensible nonwoven web, said frangible bond sites being structured and arranged to readily rupture when subjected to tensile stress to form discrete, spaced-apart apertures in the nonwoven fabric, and said web having a peak elongation of at least 100 percent, wherein at least one of said first and second domains comprises a multipolymer blend of at least two different polymers, and wherein said first domain comprises a multipolymer blend of polyethylene with at least one additional polymer, said polymers being present as a lower-melting dominant continuous polyethylene phase and at least one higher-melting noncontinuous phase dispersed therein, said lower melting continuous phase forming at least 20% by weight of the polymer blend.
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15. A nonwoven web comprising a plurality of bicomponent fibers, said fibers comprising first and second polymer components arranged in first and second separate continuous structured domains, said polymer component of said first domain comprising polyethylene, and said polymer component of said second domain being selected from the group consisting of polypropylene, polyester and polyamide, and a plurality of discrete, spaced-apart, frangible bond sites of fused polymer bonding said fibers to form a coherent extensible nonwoven web, said frangible bond sites having an aspect ratio of at least 3:
- 1 and being structured and arranged to readily rupture when subjected to tensile stress to form discrete, spaced-apart apertures in the nonwoven fabric, and said web having a peak elongation of at least 100 percent, and wherein the web has a minimum cross-machine direction tensile strength of 300 g.
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16. A nonwoven web comprising a plurality of multicomponent fibers, said fibers comprising at least two thermoplastic polymer components arranged in at least first and second separate continuous structured domains, said polymer component of said first domain comprising polyethylene, and said polymer component of said second domain having a higher modulus than that of said polymer component of said first domain, a first plurality of discrete, spaced-apart, frangible bond sites of fused polymer bonding said fibers to form a coherent extensible nonwoven webs said frangible bond sites being structured and arranged to readily rupture when subjected to tensile stress to form discrete, spaced-apart apertures in the nonwoven fabric, and a second plurality of discrete, spaced-apart, non-frangible bond sites bonding said fibers, said non-frangible bond sites being structured and arranged to maintain their integrity when subjected to tensile stress to impart strength and integrity to the web, and said web having a peak elongation of at least 100 percent, and wherein the web has a minimum cross-machine direction tensile strength of 300 g.
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17. A nonwoven web comprising a plurality of bicomponent fibers, said fibers comprising first and second polymer components arranged in first and second separate continuous structured domains, said polymer component of said first domain comprising polyethylene, and said polymer component of said second domain being selected from the group consisting of polypropylene, polyester and polyamide, a first plurality of discrete, spaced-apart, frangible bond sites of fused polymer bonding said fibers to form a coherent extensible nonwoven web, said frangible bond sites having an aspect ratio of at least 3:
- 1 and being structured and arranged to readily rupture when subjected to tensile stress to form discrete, spaced-apart apertures in the nonwoven fabric, and a second plurality of discrete, spaced-apart, non-frangible bond sites bonding said fibers, said non-frangible bond sites having an aspect ratio of no more than 2;
1 and being structured and arranged to maintain their integrity when subjected to tensile stress to impart strength and integrity to the web, and said web having a peak elongation of at least 100 percent, and wherein the web has a minimum cross-machine direction tensile strength of 300 g.
- 1 and being structured and arranged to readily rupture when subjected to tensile stress to form discrete, spaced-apart apertures in the nonwoven fabric, and a second plurality of discrete, spaced-apart, non-frangible bond sites bonding said fibers, said non-frangible bond sites having an aspect ratio of no more than 2;
- 18. An apertured nonwoven web comprising a plurality of multicomponent fibers, said fibers comprising at least two thermoplastic polymer components arranged in at least first and second separate continuous structured domains, said polymer component of said first domain comprising polyethylene, a plurality of discrete, spaced-apart, apertures formed in said web, and a region of fused polyethylene present along peripheral portions of at least some of said apertures, said fused polyethylene bonding said fibers to form a coherent extensible nonwoven web, and wherein the web has a total energy absorption in at least one of the machine direction or the cross-machine direction of at least 50 gcm/cm2.
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20. An apertured nonwoven web comprising a plurality of multicomponent fibers, said fibers comprising at least two thermoplastic polymer components arranged in at least first and second separate continuous structured domains, said polymer component of said first domain comprising polyethylene, a plurality of discrete, spaced-apart, apertures formed in said web, and a region of fused polyethylene present along peripheral portions of at least some of said apertures, said fused polyethylene bonding said fibers to form a coherent extensible nonwoven web, and wherein the web has a strip tensile strength in at least one of the machine direction or the cross-machine direction of at least 300 g.
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23. An apertured nonwoven web comprising a plurality of multicomponent fibers, said fibers comprising at least two thermoplastic polymer components arranged in at least first and second separate continuous structured domains, said polymer component of said first domain comprising polyethylene, a plurality of discrete, spaced-apart, apertures formed in said web, and a region of fused polyethylene present along peripheral portions of at least some of said apertures, said fused polyethylene bonding said fibers to form a coherent extensible nonwoven web, and wherein at least one of said first and second domains comprises a multipolymer blend of at least two different polymers.
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24. An apertured nonwoven web comprising a plurality of multicomponent fibers, said fibers comprising at least two thermoplastic polymer components arranged in at least first and second separate continuous structured domains, said polymer component of said first domain comprising polyethylene, a plurality of discrete, spaced-apart, apertures formed in said web, and a region of fused polyethylene present along peripheral portions of at least some of said apertures, said fused polyethylene bonding said fibers to form a coherent extensible nonwoven web, and wherein said plurality of multicomponent fibers include a first plurality of fibers in which said polymer component of said first domain comprises from about 40% to about 60% by weight of the fiber and a second plurality of fibers in which said polymer component of said first domain comprises from about 70% to about 90% by weight of the fiber.
- 25. An apertured nonwoven web comprising a plurality of multicomponent fibers, said fibers comprising at least two thermoplastic polymer components arranged in at least first and second separate continuous structured domains, said polymer component of said first domain comprising polyethylene, a plurality of discrete, spaced-apart, apertures formed in said web, and a plurality of discrete, spaced-apart point bond sites present at locations between said apertures, said bond sites bonding said fibers to impart strength and integrity to the web, and wherein the web has a minimum cross-machine direction tensile strength of 300 g.
- 29. An apertured nonwoven web comprising a plurality of bicomponent spunbond filaments, said filaments having a sheath comprised of polyethylene and a core comprised of polypropylene, and wherein the sheath constitutes 20 to 90 percent by weight of the filaments, a plurality of discrete, spaced-apart, apertures formed in said web, a region of fused polyethylene present along peripheral portions of said apertures, said fused polyethylene bonding said fibers to form a coherent extensible nonwoven web, and a plurality of discrete, spaced-apart point bond sites present at locations between said apertures, said bond sites bonding said fibers to impart strength and integrity to the web, wherein the web has a total energy absorption in at least one of the machine direction or the cross-machine direction of at least 50 gcm/cm2.
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32. An apertured nonwoven web comprising a plurality of bicomponent spunbond filaments, said filaments having a sheath comprised of polyethylene and a core comprised of polypropylene, and wherein the sheath constitutes 20 to 90 percent by weight of the filaments, a plurality of discrete, spaced-apart, apertures formed in said web, a region of fused polyethylene present along peripheral portions of said apertures, said fused polyethylene bonding said fibers to form a coherent extensible nonwoven web, and a plurality of discrete, spaced-apart point bond sites present at locations between said apertures, said bond sites bonding said fibers to impart strength and integrity to the web, and wherein said plurality of bicomponent fibers include a first plurality of fibers in which said polymer component of said first domain comprises from about 40% to about 60% by weight of the fiber and a second plurality of fibers in which said polymer component of said first domain comprises from about 70% to about 90% by weight of the fiber.
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33. An apertured nonwoven web comprising a plurality of bicomponent spunbond filaments, said filaments having a sheath comprised of polyethylene and a core comprised of polypropylene, and wherein the sheath constitutes 20 to 90 percent by weight of the filaments, a plurality of discrete, spaced-apart, apertures formed in said web, a region of fused polyethylene present along peripheral portions of said apertures, said fused polyethylene bonding said fibers to form a coherent extensible nonwoven web, and a plurality of discrete, spaced-apart point bond sites present at locations between said apertures, said bond sites bonding said fibers to impart strength and integrity to the web, and including a surfactant on said fibers.
- 34. An apertured nonwoven web comprising a plurality of bicomponent spunbond filaments formed of at least two thermoplastic polymer components arranged in first and second separate continuous structured domains, said filaments being disposed in first and second groups of differing composition, said first domain in said first group of filaments comprising from about 40% to about 60% by weight of the filament, and said first domain in said second group of filaments comprising from about 70% to about 90% by weight of the filament, a first plurality of discrete, spaced-apart point bond sites bonding the filaments of said first group, a second plurality of discrete, spaced-apart point bond sites bonding the filaments of said second group, and a plurality of discrete, spaced-apart, apertures formed in said web, and wherein regions of fused polymer are present along peripheral portions of the apertures which bond together the filaments of said first and second groups to form a unitary composite apertured web, and wherein said polymer component of said first domain comprises polyethylene.
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45. An apertured nonwoven web comprising a plurality of bicomponent spunbond filaments formed of at least two thermoplastic polymer components arranged in first and second separate continuous structured domains, said filaments being disposed in first and second groups, a first plurality of discrete, spaced-apart point bond sites bonding the filaments of said first group, a second plurality of discrete, spaced-apart point bond sites bonding the filaments of said second group, and a plurality of discrete, spaced-apart, apertures formed in said web, wherein regions of fused polymer are present along peripheral portions of the apertures which bond together the filaments of said first and second groups to form a unitary composite apertured web, and wherein said polymer component of said first domain comprises polyethylene.
Specification