| US 7,455,800 B2 | ||
| Hydroentanglement of continuous polymer filaments | ||
| Richard Ferencz, Isle of Palms, S.C. (US); Michael Putnam, Charlotte, N.C. (US); and Jian Weng, Charlotte, N.C. (US) | ||
| Assigned to Polymer Group, Inc., Charlotte, N.C. (US) | ||
| Filed on Apr. 07, 2005, as Appl. No. 11/101,829. | ||
| Application 11/101829 is a division of application No. 09/287673, filed on Apr. 07, 1999, granted, now 7,091,140. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2005/0215156 A1, Sep. 29, 2005 | ||
| Int. Cl. D01D 5/08 (2006.01); D04H 3/10 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 264—103 [28/104; 28/105; 264/210.2; 264/211.14] | 20 Claims |
| 1. A method for producing a nonwoven fabric, said method comprising the steps of:
(a) continuously melt extruding a thermoplastic polymer into a plurality of endless thermoplastic polymer filaments having
a denier of between about 0.5 to 3.0 to provide an unbonded web of filaments; and
(b) thermally bonding said unbonded web of filaments to provide a thermally bonded web of filaments; and
(c) continuously and without interruption, supporting said thermally bonded web of filaments on a moving porous support while
subjecting said thermally bonded web of filaments to hydraulic entangling by at least one successive water jet station comprising
a plurality of water jets directed at said thermally bonded web of filaments at successively higher hydraulic pressure to
produce a fabric comprising a bonded hydroentangled continuous web of a packed interengaged loop configuration of filaments
substantially free from knotting, wrapping, loose filament ends and breaking, and said bonded continuous web exhibiting a
cross direction elongation value in excess of 90%, wherein said looped configuration of filaments disengage and filaments
straighten and elongate under a load.
|