Unitika Ltd.

Japan Absorbent Technology Institute

Koichi Nagaoka

Fumio Matsuoka

Yoshiki Miyahara

Eiichi Kubo

Shigemitsu Murase

Yasunobu Mishima

Syunichi Kiriyama

Hiroshi Nishimura

Naoji Ichise

Yoshihiro Kammuri

Takeshi Kitahara

Migaku Suzuki

Hiroaki Fukui

Shigetaka Nishimura

Yasuhiro Yonezawa

Keiko Sakota

Michiyo Iimi

Yoshihiko Mineda

A formable biodegradable filament nonwoven fabric and a production method therefor are provided. A biodegradable polymer comprising a thermoplastic aliphatic polyester as its principal component is melted and extruded through a spinneret into filaments. While being quenched with quench air blow, the extruded filaments are drafted at a drafting speed of 1,000 to 2,500 m/min by means of a suction device disposed below the spinneret. The drafted filaments are spread and accumulated on a movable collector surface thereby to be formed into a web, which is then treated for formation of a nonwoven fabric. The constituent filaments of the nonwoven fabric has a polymer supercool index of 0.3 to 0.6.

Biodegradable formable filament nonwoven fabric and method of producing the same

A nonwoven fabric of superior uniaxial elasticity is provided. The nonwoven fabric comprises of conjugate filaments each of which is about concentric sheath-core type. Core component is composed of polyester and sheath component is composed of polyolefine. In the nonwoven fabric, heat bonded areas are interspersed by heat bonding the conjugate filaments one another by softening or melting the sheath component. The nonwoven fabric satisfies following four properties concurrently: (i) breaking elongation in cross direction is 150% or more, (ii) ratio of breaking elongation in cross direction to breaking elongation in machine direction is 5 or more, (iii) percentage of elastic recovery at the time of extending the nonwoven fabric by 50% in cross direction is 60% or more, and (iv) percentage of elastic recovery at the time of extending the nonwoven fabric by 100% in cross direction is 50% or more. A heat is partially applied to a filamentous web, thereby obtaining a filamentous fleece. The filamentous fleece is extended in cross direction and a heat drawing is applied to the filamentous fleece at a drawing ratio of 10 to 80% in machine direction, and a heat setting is applied to the filamentous fleece, thereby an elastic nonwoven fabric is obtained.

Uniaxially elastic nonwoven fabric

The present invention relates to a nonwoven fabric including a fine denier filament having a plexifilamentary structure in which the disadvantages of polyolefins and of polyesters are offset each other while advantages of them are well utilized with a fine fibrillated structure comprising said filament. The filament comprises a mixture which is at least composed of polyolefin and polyester which are immiscible with each other and has a plexifilamentary structure. The filament is so highly fibrillated that the fibril has not been available yet and, in addition, the filament is with high strength and modulus and exhibits a good dyeing ability. The above-mentioned nonwoven fabric contains the filaments having a plexifilamentary structure in which a mixture of polyolefin and polyester which are immiscible with each other in a mixing ratio within a range of from 5/95 to 95/5 by weight and said filaments are entirely or partially bonded. Said nonwoven fabric is with excellent strength, moisture permeability and waterproof pressure and exhibits a dyeing ability.

Filament having plexifilamentary structure, nonwoven fabric comprising

The present invention provides a nonwoven fabric made of fine denier filaments of superior bulkiness, heat insulation property and tensile strength, and a production method thereof. This nonwoven fabric is made of fine denier filaments produced by first preparing. First a thermoplastic polymer component 'A', then another thermoplastic polymer component 'B' which is insoluble in the component 'A' and of which the melting point is higher than that of the component 'A' by 30.degree. to 180.degree. C. Adopting a bicomponent melt spinning method employing the component 'A' and the component 'B', the bicomponent conjugate filaments, on which surface at least component 'A' is exposed, are obtained. By accumulating these bicomponent conjugate filaments, a web is formed. Then heat is applied to the predetermined areas on the web throughout its entire thickness, whereby only the component A is softened or molten, and the bicomponent conjugate filaments are heat bonded to one another, thus a fleece is obtained. The predetermined areas are shaped like dots or lattices and distributed with a certain space between them. After obtaining the fleece, a wrinkling action is applied to the fleece.

Nonwoven fabric made of fine denier filaments and a production method

A biodegradable filament nonwoven fabric comprising a nonwoven web made up of filaments, each filament comprising a high melting point component composed of a first aliphatic polyester having biodegradability and a low melting point component composed of a second aliphatic polyester having biodegradability with a melting point lower than that of the high melting point component, the nonwoven web processed to a predetermined nonwoven fabric configuration. At least one of the high melting point component and the low melting point component is arranged in a plurality of divisions within the cross section of the filament. Both the high melting point component and the low melting point component extend continuously in the axial direction of the filament and are exposed on the surface of the filament. A method for manufacturing the biodegradable filament nonwoven fabric is also disclosed herein.

Biodegradable filament nonwoven fabrics and method of manufacturing the

A nonwoven fabric formed of highly spinnable heat bonded continuous filaments which is strong and soft and is superior in hand. The nonwoven fabric is formed by heat-bonding filaments of linear low density polyethylene so that the number of defects is not more than 0.01/kg, the weight is 10-100 g/m.sup.2, the percentage bond area is 7-20% and the total hand value is 4-300 g. The nonwoven fabric is produced by melt-extruding the above-mentioned linear low density polyethylene to form filaments which are drawn by air guns at a high speed so that they are deposited on a moving collection belt to form a web which is then heat treated at a temperature 15.degree.-30.degree. C. lower than the melting point of the filaments. The nonwoven fabric an be formed of filaments of hollow or flat cross section. It is also possible to utilize bicomponent filaments having a sheath component made of linear low density polyethylene and a core component made of polyethylene terephthalate.

Polyolefin-type nonwoven fabric and method of producing the same

A nonwoven fabric formed of highly spinnable heat bonded continuous filaments which is strong and soft and is superior in hand. The nonwoven fabric is formed by heat-bonding filaments of linear low density polyethylene so that the number of defects is not more than 0.01/kg, the weight is 10-100 g/m.sup.2, the percentage bond area is 7-20% and the total hand value is 4-300 g. The nonwoven fabric is produced by melt-extruding the above-mentioned linear low density polyethylene to form filaments which are drawn by air guns at a high speed so that they are deposited on a moving collection belt to form a web which is then heat treated at a temperature 15.degree.-30.degree. l C. lower than the melting point of the filaments. The nonwoven fabric an be formed of filaments of hollow or flat cross section. It is also possible to utilize bicomponent filaments having a sheath component made of linear low density polyethylene and a core component made of polyethylene terephalate.

A biconstituent fiber having good spinnability, a binder fiber made thereof, and a nonwoven fabric produced therefrom and which has high tensile strength and comfortable soft touch are provided. The biconstituent fiber is composed of linear low-density polyethylene and crystalline polypropylene and may be hollow or flat in cross section. A binder fiber may be produced from a bicomponent structure in which the biconstituent fiber serves as a sheath component and polyethylene terephthalate as a core component.

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Kyoto, Japan

Koichi Nagaoka