Asahi Kasei Kabushiki Kaisha

Hideaki Ishii

Toshirou Nagaoka

Yoshinori Kami

An air bag which is light and pliable to be compactly housed and excellent in durability against a load applied thereto, upon the actuation of air bag, and long term aging, which is formed of two woven fabrics interwoven with each other to be a bag-shaped body, each composed of polyamide type synthetic fiber yarns containing copper compounds in a range from 30 to 200 ppm estimated in term of copper or cut pieces of the fabric sewn together to be a three-dimensional shape, the fabric having a product of a total fineness of warp or weft multiplied by a weave density of 16000 decitex&#xb7;ends/2.54 cm or less, a load at 15% elongation in a range from 3 to 35 N/%/2.54 cm and a tensile work at break in a range from 7000 to 30000 N&#xb7;%/2.54 cm. This air bag may be applicable to a driver's seat, a passenger's seat, and to side impact protection in a vehicle.

Air bag

A silicone coated fabric having a base woven fabric that is formed from a synthetic fiber weaving yarn that has a yarn size of from 100 to 270 dtex, and a weaving size expressed by product calculated by multiplying the yarn size of a weaving yarn and a weave density (ends or picks/2.54 cm) of from 10,000 to 25,000 (dtex&#xb7;ends (or picks)/2.54 cm) in both the warp direction and the weft direction, a silicone being applied to the woven fabric in an amount of from 5 to 25 g/m, and having on one side a uniform silicone coating layer forming part of the silicone mentioned above. The silicone coated fabric is a lightweight coated fabric that shows improved heat resistance, improved flexibility and an improved low coefficient of friction as well as particularly improved burning resistance. The fabric can therefore be used for producing lightweight and compactly storable airbags that suppress bursting starting from a burnt-through-hole, and that shorten a deployment time.

Method for making a silicone coated fabric

An air impermeable coated fabric, characterized in that it comprises a base fabric comprising fibers having a total fineness (yarn size) of 67 to 350 dtex and an elastomer film formed by application on at least one surface thereof, and the coated surface has friction coefficients (MIU) both in the warp direction and in the weft direction of 0.01 to 0.3, as measured according to KES measurement and the difference between the two friction coefficient values of 0.15 or less in an absolute value. The coated fabric has a coated surface having significantly improved sliding characteristics and thus is useful for manufacturing an air bag capable of being developed in a short time and with uniformity.

Coated fabric and airbag

A woven fabric for an air bag formed of a polyamide fiber and having a single filament size of 0.5 to 4.5 dtex and a yarn size of 67 to 250 dtex for its warp and weft, the polyamide fiber containing 1 to 200 ppm of copper as a copper compound; the woven fabric having a product of yarn size of the fiber and weave density of not greater than 20,000, the woven fabric having at least 0.8 wt % of an oiling agent, the oiling agent being applied to the yarn prior to weaving, a Metsuke of 250 g/m , a thickness of not greater than 0.30 mm, a mean bending rigidity (B) of 0.5 to 5 mN&middot;cm , and self-extinguishing properties; and a lightweight air bag produced by the woven fabric that can be compactly folded but hard to unfold to a loosely folded state, yet can smoothly deploy into a designed shape at the time of inflation.

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Ashiya, Japan

Hideaki Ishii