The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 05, 2020
Filed:
Dec. 09, 2016
Kimberly-clark Worldwide, Inc., Neenah, WI (US);
Neil T. Scholl, Neenah, WI (US);
Vasily A. Topolkaraev, Appleton, WI (US);
Antonio J. Carrillo Ojeda, Appleton, WI (US);
Ryan J. McEneany, Appleton, WI (US);
Theodore T. Tower, Appleton, WI (US);
Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc., Neenah, WI (US);
Abstract
A method for forming porous fibers is provided. The fibers are formed from a thermoplastic composition containing a continuous phase, which includes a matrix polymer, and a nanoinclusion additive that is at least partially incompatible with the matrix polymer so that it becomes dispersed within the continuous phase as discrete nano-scale phase domains. The method includes traversing a bundle of the fibers through a multi-stage drawing system that includes at least a first fluidic drawing stage and a second fluidic drawing stage. The first drawing stage employs a first fluidic medium having a first temperature and the second drawing stage employs a second fluidic medium having a second temperature. The first and second temperatures are both lower than the melting temperature of the matrix polymer, and the first temperature is greater than the second temperature.