E.i. Dupont De Nemours and Company

Penny C Simpson

Chi-Chang Lee

Larry M Smith

A process is disclosed for hydroentangling continuous polyolefin filament fibers to form a fabric web. The fibers are supported on a 60 to 150 mesh screen and passed under high pressure water jets operating at at least 2000 psi and providing a total impact energy of at least 0.7 MJ-N/Kg to entangle the fibers. Preferably, the hydroentangled web is thereafter passed under finer finishing water jets operating at a pressure of between 300 to 1200 psi to redistribute the fibers. If desired, a finish may be applied to the entangled web. The resulting hydroentangled web has considerably increased visual uniformity, opacity, softness, comfort, strength and barrier properties compared to prior art webs thereby making it particularly useful as a disposable industrial garment.

Hydroentangled polyolefin web

Point-bonding and water-jet-softening of a sheet of flash-spun polyethylene plexifilamentary film-fibril strands provide a nonwoven fabric that is particularly suited for dyeing and use in disposable protective garments. Garments made with the nonwoven fabric are comfortable and provide a good protection against particulate matter, such as air-borne asbestos particles.

Point-bonded jet-softened polyethylene film-fibril sheet

Point-bonding and water-jet-softening of a sheet of flash-spun polyethylene plexifilamentary film-fibril strands provide a nonwoven fabric that is particularly suited for use in disposable protective garments. Garments made with the nonwoven fabric are comfortable and provide a good protection against particulate matter, such as air-borne asbestos particles.

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Derwood, MD, United States of America

Penny C Simpson