Nonwoven thermoplastic elastomer fabric roll and method and apparatus for making same

• US 6,784,125 B1
• Filed: 06/16/2000
• Issued: 08/31/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: KB Seiren, Ltd. (Seiren Company Limited)
• Original Assignee: Kanebo, Ltd. (HOYU Company Limited), Kanebo Gohsen, Ltd.
• Inventors: Teshima, Tsutomu, Tanaka, Yutaka, Yamakawa, Yukio, Furuya, Tadashi
• Primary Examiner(s): Juska, Cheryl A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Salvatore, Lynda
• Application Number:
  US09/595,241
• Time in Patent Office: 1,537 Days
• Field of Search: 442/327, 442/361, 442/328, 442/329, 428/113
• US Class Current: 442/328
• CPC Class Codes: D04H 3/005 Synthetic yarns or filaments D04H3/013 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: D04H 3/14 with bonds between thermoplastic yarns or filaments produced by welding
• CPC Class Codes: D04H 3/16 with bonds between thermoplastic filaments produced in association with filament formation, e.g. immediately following extrusion
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/24124 Fibers
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 442/60 Nonwoven fabric [i.e., nonwoven strand or fiber material]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 442/601 Nonwoven fabric has an elastic quality
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 442/602 Nonwoven fabric comprises an elastic strand or fiber material
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 442/637 Including strand or fiber material which is a monofilament composed of two or more polymeric materials in physically distinct relationship [e.g., sheath-core, side-by-side, islands-in-sea, fibrils-in-matrix, etc.] or composed of physical blend of chemically different polymeric materials or a physical blend of a polymeric material and a filler material
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 442/681 Spun-bonded nonwoven fabric

Abstract

The invention provides a thermoplastic elastomer nonwoven fabric roll that exhibits minimal longitudinal wrinkles and minimal delayed restoration when unrolled, and method and apparatus for producing the same. Thermoplastic elastomer filaments that have been melt-spun are piled on a belt conveyor thereby forming a sheet of nonwoven fabric, that is guided to a rotating roller disposed above the transportation zone of the belt conveyor and peeled off therefrom. Since minimal tension is applied to the nonwoven fabric during processing, the nonwoven fabric can be unrolled with little stretching by applying relatively little tension to the nonwoven fabric. By the method of this invention, a nonwoven fabric roll with unrolling tension of 0.25 g/cm/basis-weight or less can be formed.

Claims

1. A thermoplastic elastomer nonwoven fabric roll made by a process comprising

piling and bonding thermoplastic elastomer filaments onto a belt conveyor so as to form a sheet of nonwoven fabric,

peeling the sheet of nonwoven fabric thus formed from the belt conveyor with a roller,

passing the peeled sheet of nonwoven fabric through tension adjust rolls, and

winding the sheet of nonwoven fabric around a tube thereby forming a nonwoven fabric roll, characterized in that the tension required to unroll the nonwoven fabric from the nonwoven fabric roll is 0.25 g/cm/basis-weight or less.