CA1059279A - Embossed suede material and method of preparing same - Google Patents
Embossed suede material and method of preparing sameInfo
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- CA1059279A CA1059279A CA224,043A CA224043A CA1059279A CA 1059279 A CA1059279 A CA 1059279A CA 224043 A CA224043 A CA 224043A CA 1059279 A CA1059279 A CA 1059279A
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Abstract
ABSTRACT OF THE INVENTION
An embossed plastic suede material, which material is prepared by the method of embossing under heat and pressure parti-cular areas of a layer of a cellular plastic material characterized by a suede-like surface to provide an embossed surface composed o valley areas and peak areas, the peak areas characterized by a suede-like surface, the cellular structure beneath the valley areas differing from the cellular structure beneath the peak areas and characterized by a higher cell density.
An embossed plastic suede material, which material is prepared by the method of embossing under heat and pressure parti-cular areas of a layer of a cellular plastic material characterized by a suede-like surface to provide an embossed surface composed o valley areas and peak areas, the peak areas characterized by a suede-like surface, the cellular structure beneath the valley areas differing from the cellular structure beneath the peak areas and characterized by a higher cell density.
Description
iO55~Z79 BACKGRO'JND OF THE INVENTION
Plastic material having a suede-like surface has been prepared by a number of techniques. One process employed to prepare commercial imitatlon suede material comprises the mech-anical abrasion of the surface of a supported cellular plastic layer (see U.S. Patent 3,041,193). Another process comprises delaminating a cellular plastic layer along a section of the cellular layer, such as along a plane of tensile discontinuity between two foam layers, or by creating a plane of tensile continuity through employing a temperature gradient, or by the compounding of resins within a particular foam layer. This latter process is described more particularly in U.S. Patent 3,709,752, issued January 9, 1973. Although these and other processes have been employed to provide a suede-like material suitable for use in belts, handbags, shoes and articles of apparel, such as coats, vests, jackets, etc., such techniques do not provide for the preparation of suede material in an easy, efficient and economical manner, which material has an embossed surface design thereon. A plastic material which has, in whole or in part, a suede-like surface and which also has an embossed design thereon, and is produced in an efficient and economic manner, would be quite useful to provide different design pat-terns and material, such as, for example, imitation corduroy-like material.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
our invention concerns an improved suede-like material composed of a layer of cellular plastic having both a suede-like surface thereon and an embossed surface thereon, and the method of , ~S~3'~9 preparing such materials. In particular, our invention relates to an embossed suede-like plastic material comprising a layer of cellular plastic composed of valley and peak areas and a predetermined surface design thereon, with -the peak areas having a suede-like surface, and with the density of the cells beneath the valley areas being greater than the density of the cells beneath the peak areas.
We have discovered a rnethod of preparing a unique embossed suede-like plastic material, which method comprises embossing under heat and pressure particular areas of a layer of a cellular plastic material characterized by a suede-like surface thereon. The embossing step is carried out to provide an embossed surface in the layer of the wholly cellular plastic composed of valley areas and peak areas which represent the in-dentations and compressions of the cellular layer made by the embossing roll or plate In our technique, the peak areas of the resulting suede-like material are characterized by the original suede-like surface, so that the cellular structure beneath the peak areas is essentially the cellular structure prior to the embossing step The valley areas differ in cellular structure and cell density beneath the valley areas due to the compression of the areas in the embossing step. The valley areas are, therefore, characterized by a slightly compressed cell-type structure, such as an oval-type cell, and/or of a higher cell density directly beneath the valley areas For example, the cell density of the cells of the plastic layer directly beneath the valley areas may be from about 50 to 200% greater in cell density than the cell density beneath the peak areas. Of course, the change of density is related to the amount of pressure and heat employed in the embossing step, and may be varied as desired. However, the heat and pressure employed ~ .~35~
in the embossing step should not be sufficient to change -the cellular layer such as to compress completely and destroy sub-stantially the cells which would change the area beneath the valley areas in-to a solid, less flexible layer, By employing an embossing step such that -the cellular nature of the layer of cellular plas-tic is retained, the suede-like material, supported or unsupported, continues to be very flexible like natural suede, while unusual design and imitative surface effects can be obtained. Of course, it is also par-t of our invention that the suede-like surface material may have a number of varying peak and valley areas of differing height in order to impart varying design effects, so that the cell density and cell structure beneath each area would vary, de-pending upon the embossing step, the nature of the plastic and the original nature of the cellular structure; that is, whether open or closed and cell size.
In our process, the suede-like material to be embossed may comprise any suede-like material which is composed of a layer of a cellular plastic having a suede-like surface appear-ance. Typically, the suede-like sheet material would comprise a fibrous material, such as a woven fabric like cotton fabric, having secured thereto a layer of cellular plastic with the suede-like surface appearance. The plastic can typically be composed of any plastic or polymeric material or resin which is capable of forming a cellular layer and which is thermo-plastic when subject to deformation during the embossing step.
However, the preferred material is a vinyl-halide resin, such as polyvinyl chloride and vinyl chloride/vinyl-acetate resins and similar types of vinyl-chloride resins which are plasticized and cast or formed onto a supporting sheet. ~uring the em-bossing step, the valley areas produced by the embossing are altered in appearance and are less or nonsuede-like in appear-7~ ~ ~
ance after such embossing; therefore, providing a contrast ;
between the raised suede-like surface of -the peak areas and the nonsuede-like or smoother embossed surface of -the valley ~ `
- areas. Of course, if desired, the valley or peak areas, or both, may be coated or printed to accentuate the differences between the two areas to provide unusual design effects.
`` In our process, -the type and character of -the emboss-!, ing plate or roll used may not have all of the mechanical supports and requirements of typical embossing rolls and plates, since the embossing is done under very li-ttle pressure;
i.e., merely sufficient pressure to compress -the valley areas of a layer of cellular foam, if cellular foam under heat is thermoplastic, so that the pressure may be little more than con-tac-ting pressure in comparison to typical embossing opera-.: .
~ -tions where much higher pressure and heat are required. For ;~ example, the usual steel-engraved embossing roll may be em-ployed or a design placed on the surface of a hard rubber roll.
-.. - :
Our technique will be described in particular as an improvement of the processes and products described in U.S `;~
; 20 Patent 3,709,7~2 wherein a suede-like plastic material is made with a cellular surface composed of an undulating, irregular surface composed of tensile-ruptured cells with short plastic ;~
fibrils on the surface -thereof, but which provides ~or a surface having a suede-like appearance of or approaching that of natural suede leather.
According to a broad aspect of the presen-t invention, --there is provided an embossed flexible plastic suede-like -- material which comprises a layer of a cellular plastic material secured to a substrate sheet material. The cellular material is characterized by a surface composed of embossed valley areas and unembossed peak areas The peak areas are characterized by a suede-like surface composed of tensile-ruptured cells. The . ` .
'"'' ., ',~' .
~( )5~3~'7~3 cellular structure beneath the valley areas differs from the cellular structure beneath the peak areas, and characterized by a higher cell density, the valley areas having a smooth skin surface layer formed of the embossed ceilular resin.
According to a further broad aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of preparing an embossed suede-like plastic material, which method comprises embossing under heat and only sufficient contacting pressure, particular surface areas of a supported layer of a flexible cellular plastic material characterized by a suede-like surface to provide a sur-face composed of embossed valley areas and non-embossed peak areas, the peak areas characterized by the original suede-like surface, the cellular structure beneath the valley areas dif-fering from the cellular structure beneath the peak areas, and characterized by a higher cell density and the embossed valley areas having a smooth surface skin layer formed of the plastic by the embossing step.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. l is a schematic representation of a method for preparing our suede-like plastic material.
Fig 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional and illustra-tive view of a prior art sheet material used in the method of Fig. l.
Fig 3 is an enlarged perspective partially cross-sectional view of the suede-like plastic material prepared by the method of Fig. l employing the material of Fig. 2 DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
Fig 2 shows a prior art cellular laminate, such as the type employed in the process described in U.S. Patent 30 3,709,7~2, to produce a suede-like plastic material, with a suede surface composed essentially of tensile-ruptured cells, which material lO comprises a woven fabric supporting sheet 12, ~5~
a solid plastici~ed vinyl-chloride resin layer 14, a cellular vinyl-chloride resin layer 16 and a thinner cellular vinyl-chloride resin layer 18 and a paper sheet 20 bonded to resin layer 18, In Fig. 1, the laminate sheet material 10 is intro-duced by a pair of opposing rollers 50 and 52 into contact with the surface of a large steam-heated roller 56 heated, for example, to a temperature of 250 to 350F, The woven fabric 12 side is placed against the surface of and is passed around drum 56. Infrared heaters 54 direct infrared heat to the ex-ternal surface o~ paper sheet 20, The paper sheet 20 and a portion of the resin layer 18 adhering thereto is stripped or delaminated from the remaining portion of the laminating material 10 in the stripping or delaminating area 60, The paper sheet 20 with layer 18 containing a tensile-ruptured cell surface thereon moves by roller 58 to form roll 62, If desired, the paper substrate can be replaced by a fibrous sub- -strate as woven sheet 12, and then embossed in the manner set forth hereafter to provide an embossed paper or fabric-supported product as described.
The stripping and delaminating operation provides a plane of tensile discontinuity in the resin layers 16 and 18, and also provides a tensile-ruptured suede surface on layer 16 which gives it a suede-llke appearance, as well as a suede-like surface on layer 18 on sheet 20.
The woven fabric 12, solid layer 14 and the cellular layer 16 with the tensile-ruptured surface is then embossed -on embossing roller 66 which lightly contacts the hot suede-like surface of the cellular layer 16 -to impart a design effect ~;
30 thereon and to create raised peak areas and lower valley areas ;~
in the suede-like cellular layer. A printing roller 68 and printing ink 70 are employed in order to place within the em-, ~
~5~
bossed valley areas a layer of printing ink to enhance the embossed appearance of the finished article. The suede-like article so embossed is -then removed through roller 72 and is shown as a finished embossed material 30 A-t -the time of em-bossing, the surface of the fabric is typically at about 275 to 300F, with the external paper surface at a lower temperature of about 250 to 270F. The cellular layer 16 is adapted to be compressed easily by the design on the embossing roller 66, but little~ if any, pressure is required in the embossing step In the embossing step as illustrated, the embossing roller creates the valley areas, but does not apply any pres-sure to the raised peak areas, leaving these areas with the original suede-like surface, while compressing the cellular layer in the areas beneath the valley areas to form a smooth surface of continuous vinyl resin as a skin layer.
Fig. 3 shows an embossed suede-like material 30 prepared by our process and includes the woven fabric 12, a solid vinyl-chloride plasticized layer 14 and peak surface areas 32 having a tensile-ruptured suede-like surface appear-ance thereon, and valley areas 36, with the thickness betweenthe peak and valley areas shown as 34 In the valley areas, there is a printing ink layer 38 which may be colored or clear.
The cellular structure and cell density directly beneath the peak areas 32 are in their substantially original form of relatively uniform cell structure and original cell density as in the preparation of the cellular layer prior to embossing.
The cellular structure and cell density of the cells 42 direct-ly beneath the valley areas 36 are different from the cell structure and density 40 beneath the peak areas in that such areas, although still cellular, which is important to preserve the flexible nature of our material, have cells which are partially collapsed or compressed due to the embossing step, ~5~'~79 and also contain a grea-ter cell density than the cell density in the areas 40.
The difference in cell density and cell structure, however, does not affect the overall flexibility of the sheet material as might be the case where complete compression and destruction of the cellular areas took place, and a solid layer was formed. In this embodiment illustrated, the emboss-ing roll has been designed to impar-t an embossed corduroy effect on sheet material 20. However, it is recognized that a number of designs may be imparted to the suede-like material to pro-vide various raised peak areas of textured surface throughout the material, such as for the preparation of wall or surface coverings Our process has also been illustrated with the use of an embossing roller; however, embossing plates or other methods of forming the valley areas and the hot layer of the cellular plastic of the suede-like surface may be used. When using rollers as illustrated or plates, since the fabric or supported sheet side of the suede-like material is at a high temperature, the embossing roll should be maintained at a lower temperature in order to prevent sticking and pulling away of the cellular layer of plastic to the embossing roll. Where another layer of cellular plastic which has a suede-like sur-face is employed, such as a mechanically abraded surface, the stripping and delaminating steps may be omitted and the material merely passed about a drum and heated prior to the embossing step.
As illustrated, a variety of embossing designs may be imparted to the suede material If desired, the suede material may be prepared in any manner, stored for a period of time and subsequently embossed by reheating the material and passing it through embossing rollers, although it is preferred, _ 9 _ : ~ '' ' -3g~
for economic reasons, -to carry ou-t the stripping operation and subsequent embossing step in sequence, If desired, the paper sheet 62 or a similarly produced fabric sheet as described from the stripping step may be processed by embossing the suede-like surface of the paper or fabric shee-t after the stripping step, Such embossing may be carried out by the use of an additional steam roller 56 and embossing rollers 66, rather than winding up the material in a roll as illustrated, Thus, from the laminate sheet 10, one or two supported embossed suede-like surfaces may be obtained, For the purposes of illustration, -the embossed material has been shown as a supported thermoplastic material with paper and fabric sheet materials, However, any sheet substrate material may be used and bonded to the single and multiple-layer foam sheet to be delaminated, In addition, the suede material may be passed under heat and contacting pressure through a series of embossing rollers to produce a variety of surface design effects with valley areas of different depth and structure, Other modifications and techniques will be apparent to those skilled in the art from our description and illustra-tion of the invention,
Plastic material having a suede-like surface has been prepared by a number of techniques. One process employed to prepare commercial imitatlon suede material comprises the mech-anical abrasion of the surface of a supported cellular plastic layer (see U.S. Patent 3,041,193). Another process comprises delaminating a cellular plastic layer along a section of the cellular layer, such as along a plane of tensile discontinuity between two foam layers, or by creating a plane of tensile continuity through employing a temperature gradient, or by the compounding of resins within a particular foam layer. This latter process is described more particularly in U.S. Patent 3,709,752, issued January 9, 1973. Although these and other processes have been employed to provide a suede-like material suitable for use in belts, handbags, shoes and articles of apparel, such as coats, vests, jackets, etc., such techniques do not provide for the preparation of suede material in an easy, efficient and economical manner, which material has an embossed surface design thereon. A plastic material which has, in whole or in part, a suede-like surface and which also has an embossed design thereon, and is produced in an efficient and economic manner, would be quite useful to provide different design pat-terns and material, such as, for example, imitation corduroy-like material.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
our invention concerns an improved suede-like material composed of a layer of cellular plastic having both a suede-like surface thereon and an embossed surface thereon, and the method of , ~S~3'~9 preparing such materials. In particular, our invention relates to an embossed suede-like plastic material comprising a layer of cellular plastic composed of valley and peak areas and a predetermined surface design thereon, with -the peak areas having a suede-like surface, and with the density of the cells beneath the valley areas being greater than the density of the cells beneath the peak areas.
We have discovered a rnethod of preparing a unique embossed suede-like plastic material, which method comprises embossing under heat and pressure particular areas of a layer of a cellular plastic material characterized by a suede-like surface thereon. The embossing step is carried out to provide an embossed surface in the layer of the wholly cellular plastic composed of valley areas and peak areas which represent the in-dentations and compressions of the cellular layer made by the embossing roll or plate In our technique, the peak areas of the resulting suede-like material are characterized by the original suede-like surface, so that the cellular structure beneath the peak areas is essentially the cellular structure prior to the embossing step The valley areas differ in cellular structure and cell density beneath the valley areas due to the compression of the areas in the embossing step. The valley areas are, therefore, characterized by a slightly compressed cell-type structure, such as an oval-type cell, and/or of a higher cell density directly beneath the valley areas For example, the cell density of the cells of the plastic layer directly beneath the valley areas may be from about 50 to 200% greater in cell density than the cell density beneath the peak areas. Of course, the change of density is related to the amount of pressure and heat employed in the embossing step, and may be varied as desired. However, the heat and pressure employed ~ .~35~
in the embossing step should not be sufficient to change -the cellular layer such as to compress completely and destroy sub-stantially the cells which would change the area beneath the valley areas in-to a solid, less flexible layer, By employing an embossing step such that -the cellular nature of the layer of cellular plas-tic is retained, the suede-like material, supported or unsupported, continues to be very flexible like natural suede, while unusual design and imitative surface effects can be obtained. Of course, it is also par-t of our invention that the suede-like surface material may have a number of varying peak and valley areas of differing height in order to impart varying design effects, so that the cell density and cell structure beneath each area would vary, de-pending upon the embossing step, the nature of the plastic and the original nature of the cellular structure; that is, whether open or closed and cell size.
In our process, the suede-like material to be embossed may comprise any suede-like material which is composed of a layer of a cellular plastic having a suede-like surface appear-ance. Typically, the suede-like sheet material would comprise a fibrous material, such as a woven fabric like cotton fabric, having secured thereto a layer of cellular plastic with the suede-like surface appearance. The plastic can typically be composed of any plastic or polymeric material or resin which is capable of forming a cellular layer and which is thermo-plastic when subject to deformation during the embossing step.
However, the preferred material is a vinyl-halide resin, such as polyvinyl chloride and vinyl chloride/vinyl-acetate resins and similar types of vinyl-chloride resins which are plasticized and cast or formed onto a supporting sheet. ~uring the em-bossing step, the valley areas produced by the embossing are altered in appearance and are less or nonsuede-like in appear-7~ ~ ~
ance after such embossing; therefore, providing a contrast ;
between the raised suede-like surface of -the peak areas and the nonsuede-like or smoother embossed surface of -the valley ~ `
- areas. Of course, if desired, the valley or peak areas, or both, may be coated or printed to accentuate the differences between the two areas to provide unusual design effects.
`` In our process, -the type and character of -the emboss-!, ing plate or roll used may not have all of the mechanical supports and requirements of typical embossing rolls and plates, since the embossing is done under very li-ttle pressure;
i.e., merely sufficient pressure to compress -the valley areas of a layer of cellular foam, if cellular foam under heat is thermoplastic, so that the pressure may be little more than con-tac-ting pressure in comparison to typical embossing opera-.: .
~ -tions where much higher pressure and heat are required. For ;~ example, the usual steel-engraved embossing roll may be em-ployed or a design placed on the surface of a hard rubber roll.
-.. - :
Our technique will be described in particular as an improvement of the processes and products described in U.S `;~
; 20 Patent 3,709,7~2 wherein a suede-like plastic material is made with a cellular surface composed of an undulating, irregular surface composed of tensile-ruptured cells with short plastic ;~
fibrils on the surface -thereof, but which provides ~or a surface having a suede-like appearance of or approaching that of natural suede leather.
According to a broad aspect of the presen-t invention, --there is provided an embossed flexible plastic suede-like -- material which comprises a layer of a cellular plastic material secured to a substrate sheet material. The cellular material is characterized by a surface composed of embossed valley areas and unembossed peak areas The peak areas are characterized by a suede-like surface composed of tensile-ruptured cells. The . ` .
'"'' ., ',~' .
~( )5~3~'7~3 cellular structure beneath the valley areas differs from the cellular structure beneath the peak areas, and characterized by a higher cell density, the valley areas having a smooth skin surface layer formed of the embossed ceilular resin.
According to a further broad aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of preparing an embossed suede-like plastic material, which method comprises embossing under heat and only sufficient contacting pressure, particular surface areas of a supported layer of a flexible cellular plastic material characterized by a suede-like surface to provide a sur-face composed of embossed valley areas and non-embossed peak areas, the peak areas characterized by the original suede-like surface, the cellular structure beneath the valley areas dif-fering from the cellular structure beneath the peak areas, and characterized by a higher cell density and the embossed valley areas having a smooth surface skin layer formed of the plastic by the embossing step.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. l is a schematic representation of a method for preparing our suede-like plastic material.
Fig 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional and illustra-tive view of a prior art sheet material used in the method of Fig. l.
Fig 3 is an enlarged perspective partially cross-sectional view of the suede-like plastic material prepared by the method of Fig. l employing the material of Fig. 2 DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
Fig 2 shows a prior art cellular laminate, such as the type employed in the process described in U.S. Patent 30 3,709,7~2, to produce a suede-like plastic material, with a suede surface composed essentially of tensile-ruptured cells, which material lO comprises a woven fabric supporting sheet 12, ~5~
a solid plastici~ed vinyl-chloride resin layer 14, a cellular vinyl-chloride resin layer 16 and a thinner cellular vinyl-chloride resin layer 18 and a paper sheet 20 bonded to resin layer 18, In Fig. 1, the laminate sheet material 10 is intro-duced by a pair of opposing rollers 50 and 52 into contact with the surface of a large steam-heated roller 56 heated, for example, to a temperature of 250 to 350F, The woven fabric 12 side is placed against the surface of and is passed around drum 56. Infrared heaters 54 direct infrared heat to the ex-ternal surface o~ paper sheet 20, The paper sheet 20 and a portion of the resin layer 18 adhering thereto is stripped or delaminated from the remaining portion of the laminating material 10 in the stripping or delaminating area 60, The paper sheet 20 with layer 18 containing a tensile-ruptured cell surface thereon moves by roller 58 to form roll 62, If desired, the paper substrate can be replaced by a fibrous sub- -strate as woven sheet 12, and then embossed in the manner set forth hereafter to provide an embossed paper or fabric-supported product as described.
The stripping and delaminating operation provides a plane of tensile discontinuity in the resin layers 16 and 18, and also provides a tensile-ruptured suede surface on layer 16 which gives it a suede-llke appearance, as well as a suede-like surface on layer 18 on sheet 20.
The woven fabric 12, solid layer 14 and the cellular layer 16 with the tensile-ruptured surface is then embossed -on embossing roller 66 which lightly contacts the hot suede-like surface of the cellular layer 16 -to impart a design effect ~;
30 thereon and to create raised peak areas and lower valley areas ;~
in the suede-like cellular layer. A printing roller 68 and printing ink 70 are employed in order to place within the em-, ~
~5~
bossed valley areas a layer of printing ink to enhance the embossed appearance of the finished article. The suede-like article so embossed is -then removed through roller 72 and is shown as a finished embossed material 30 A-t -the time of em-bossing, the surface of the fabric is typically at about 275 to 300F, with the external paper surface at a lower temperature of about 250 to 270F. The cellular layer 16 is adapted to be compressed easily by the design on the embossing roller 66, but little~ if any, pressure is required in the embossing step In the embossing step as illustrated, the embossing roller creates the valley areas, but does not apply any pres-sure to the raised peak areas, leaving these areas with the original suede-like surface, while compressing the cellular layer in the areas beneath the valley areas to form a smooth surface of continuous vinyl resin as a skin layer.
Fig. 3 shows an embossed suede-like material 30 prepared by our process and includes the woven fabric 12, a solid vinyl-chloride plasticized layer 14 and peak surface areas 32 having a tensile-ruptured suede-like surface appear-ance thereon, and valley areas 36, with the thickness betweenthe peak and valley areas shown as 34 In the valley areas, there is a printing ink layer 38 which may be colored or clear.
The cellular structure and cell density directly beneath the peak areas 32 are in their substantially original form of relatively uniform cell structure and original cell density as in the preparation of the cellular layer prior to embossing.
The cellular structure and cell density of the cells 42 direct-ly beneath the valley areas 36 are different from the cell structure and density 40 beneath the peak areas in that such areas, although still cellular, which is important to preserve the flexible nature of our material, have cells which are partially collapsed or compressed due to the embossing step, ~5~'~79 and also contain a grea-ter cell density than the cell density in the areas 40.
The difference in cell density and cell structure, however, does not affect the overall flexibility of the sheet material as might be the case where complete compression and destruction of the cellular areas took place, and a solid layer was formed. In this embodiment illustrated, the emboss-ing roll has been designed to impar-t an embossed corduroy effect on sheet material 20. However, it is recognized that a number of designs may be imparted to the suede-like material to pro-vide various raised peak areas of textured surface throughout the material, such as for the preparation of wall or surface coverings Our process has also been illustrated with the use of an embossing roller; however, embossing plates or other methods of forming the valley areas and the hot layer of the cellular plastic of the suede-like surface may be used. When using rollers as illustrated or plates, since the fabric or supported sheet side of the suede-like material is at a high temperature, the embossing roll should be maintained at a lower temperature in order to prevent sticking and pulling away of the cellular layer of plastic to the embossing roll. Where another layer of cellular plastic which has a suede-like sur-face is employed, such as a mechanically abraded surface, the stripping and delaminating steps may be omitted and the material merely passed about a drum and heated prior to the embossing step.
As illustrated, a variety of embossing designs may be imparted to the suede material If desired, the suede material may be prepared in any manner, stored for a period of time and subsequently embossed by reheating the material and passing it through embossing rollers, although it is preferred, _ 9 _ : ~ '' ' -3g~
for economic reasons, -to carry ou-t the stripping operation and subsequent embossing step in sequence, If desired, the paper sheet 62 or a similarly produced fabric sheet as described from the stripping step may be processed by embossing the suede-like surface of the paper or fabric shee-t after the stripping step, Such embossing may be carried out by the use of an additional steam roller 56 and embossing rollers 66, rather than winding up the material in a roll as illustrated, Thus, from the laminate sheet 10, one or two supported embossed suede-like surfaces may be obtained, For the purposes of illustration, -the embossed material has been shown as a supported thermoplastic material with paper and fabric sheet materials, However, any sheet substrate material may be used and bonded to the single and multiple-layer foam sheet to be delaminated, In addition, the suede material may be passed under heat and contacting pressure through a series of embossing rollers to produce a variety of surface design effects with valley areas of different depth and structure, Other modifications and techniques will be apparent to those skilled in the art from our description and illustra-tion of the invention,
Claims (23)
1. An embossed flexible plastic suede-like material which comprises a layer of a cellular plastic material secured to a substrate sheet material, the cellular material characterized by a surface composed of embossed valley areas and unembossed peak areas, the peak areas characterized by a suede-like surface composed of tensile-ruptured cells, the cellular structure beneath the valley areas differing from the cellular structure beneath the peak areas, and characterized by a higher cell densi-ty, the valley areas having a smooth skin surface layer formed of the embossed cellular resin.
2. The material of claim 1 wherein the valley areas include a printing ink layer therein.
3. The material of claim 1 wherein the layer of cellular plastic is secured to a supporting fabric sheet material.
4. The material of claim 1 wherein the layer of cellular plastic is secured to a solid flexible plastic layer which is secured to the substrate.
5. The material of claim 1 wherein the layer of cellular plastic is secured to a solid flexible layer which is secured to a woven fabric sheet.
6. The material of claim 1 wherein the layer of cellular plastic is a plasticized vinyl-chloride resin.
7. The material of claim 1 wherein the embossed surface has a corduroy-like surface design.
8. The material of claim 1 wherein the density of the cells in the cellular structure beneath the embossed valley areas is at least about 50% higher than the density beneath the peak areas.
9. An embossed plastic suede-like material which comprises a cellular layer of a plasticized vinyl-chloride resin and a woven fabric-supporting sheet, and characterized by a surface composed of valley areas and peak areas, the peak areas having a surface layer formed of the embossed cellular resin and characterized by an undulating suede-like surface appearance thereon composed of tensile-ruptured cells, and the valley areas characterized by a nonsuede-like smooth skin surface appearance, the cellular structure beneath the valley areas characterized by being of a greater density than the cellular structure beneath the peak areas, and the peak and valley areas forming a plurality of lengthwise alternating peak and valley areas to form a corduroy-like surface.
10. A method of preparing an embossed suede-like plastic material, which method comprises embossing under heat and only sufficient contacting pressure, particular surface areas of a supported layer of a flexible cellular plastic material char-acterized by a suede-like surface to provide a surface composed of embossed valley areas and non-embossed peak areas, the peak areas characterized by said original suede-like surface, the cellular structure beneath the valley areas differing from the cellular structure beneath the peak areas, and characterized by a higher cell density and the embossed valley areas having a smooth surface skin layer formed of the plastic by the embossing step.
11. The method of claim 10 which includes applying a printing ink layer to the valley areas.
12. The method of claim 10 which includes embossing a corduroy-like design into the surface of the layer of cellular plastic.
13. The method of claim 10 wherein the embossing com-presses the layer of cellular plastic only in the valley areas.
14. The method of claim 10 wherein the embossing is carried out at a temperature of the layer of cellular plastic of from about 250 to 350°F.
15. The method of claim 10 wherein the layer of cellular plastic is a plasticized vinyl-chloride resin.
16. The method of claim 10 wherein the peak areas have a surface of tensile-ruptured cells, and the valley areas after embossing have a nonsuede appearance.
17. The method of claim 10 wherein the peak areas are composed of abraded cellular structure.
18. The method of claim 10 wherein the embossing is carried out by passing the layer of cellular plastic between a pair of rollers, the back of the material against the surface of a large roller heated to about 250 to 350°F, and the other roller smaller in diameter and being the embossing roller in contact with the face of the cellular plastic.
19. The method of claim 10 wherein the density of the cells beneath the valley areas is from 50 to 200% greater than beneath the peak areas.
20. The method of claim 10 wherein the embossing is carried out at only a contacting pressure by an embossing roller against the surface of the cellular layer.
21. The method of claim 10 wherein the embossed suede-like material comprises a woven fabric material, a flexible solid layer of plasticized vinyl-chloride resin secured to one surface of the fabric, and a layer of cellular plasticized vinyl-chloride resin secured to the solid layer, the cellular layer having a suede-like surface composed at least in part of tensile-rup-tured cells in the peak areas, and a continuous skin layer of compressed vinyl-chloride resin in the valley areas.
22. A method of preparing an embossed suede-like plastic sheet material, which method comprises:
(a) heating both sides of a laminate sheet material to a temperature of from about 250 to 350°F, the sheet material comprising a paper sheet, at least one layer of a plasticized vinyl-chloride resin foam and a woven fabric;
(b) stripping the paper sheet from the woven fabric to provide a woven fabric with a foam layer having a suede-like surface appearance and composed of tensile-ruptured foam cells; and (c) embossing the suede-like surface of the woven fabric sheet by passing the sheet over an embos-sing roll having a desired design thereon while the fabric sheet is at a temperature of about 250 to 350°F, with only sufficient embossing pressure used to provide an embossed sheet composed of valley and peak areas, the peak areas charac-terized by the original suede-like surface appear-ance prior to embossing, and the areas beneath the valley and peak areas both cellular in nature, but the valley areas having a higher cell density and a smooth skin surface formed by the embossing step.
(a) heating both sides of a laminate sheet material to a temperature of from about 250 to 350°F, the sheet material comprising a paper sheet, at least one layer of a plasticized vinyl-chloride resin foam and a woven fabric;
(b) stripping the paper sheet from the woven fabric to provide a woven fabric with a foam layer having a suede-like surface appearance and composed of tensile-ruptured foam cells; and (c) embossing the suede-like surface of the woven fabric sheet by passing the sheet over an embos-sing roll having a desired design thereon while the fabric sheet is at a temperature of about 250 to 350°F, with only sufficient embossing pressure used to provide an embossed sheet composed of valley and peak areas, the peak areas charac-terized by the original suede-like surface appear-ance prior to embossing, and the areas beneath the valley and peak areas both cellular in nature, but the valley areas having a higher cell density and a smooth skin surface formed by the embossing step.
23. The method of claim 22 wherein the laminate sheet material is heated by passing the material about 180° about a steam-heated roller, and heating the external paper sheet surface with surface infrared heaters prior to stripping, and maintaining the woven fabric with the suede-like surface in contact with the heated roller after stripping and while car-rying out the embossing step.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US06/560,252 US4497136A (en) | 1975-04-08 | 1983-12-09 | Self-adjusting weather strip |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US45864474A | 1974-04-08 | 1974-04-08 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1059279A true CA1059279A (en) | 1979-07-31 |
Family
ID=23821564
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA224,043A Expired CA1059279A (en) | 1974-04-08 | 1975-04-08 | Embossed suede material and method of preparing same |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA1059279A (en) |
-
1975
- 1975-04-08 CA CA224,043A patent/CA1059279A/en not_active Expired
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