EP0960227B1 - Method and device for making textile products and resulting textile products - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for producing a textile with adhered pile involves feeding a fibrous net or layer forward. In a pre-looping stage, the fibres are looped transversely to the feed direction. This may be accompanied by transverse stretching. The fibres and/or filaments, formed parallel to each other as loops, then undergo a stage of confinement. This stage takes place directly onto a support, without intervention from transport devices such as needles. Also claimed is the equipment for producing the textile and the textile so produced.

Description

The present invention relates to a improved process for manufacturing textile products from "topped-glued" type directly from fibers and / or filaments.

The invention also relates to a device for the implementation of the process, as well as the products obtained by said process.

State of the art on which the invention is based

The so-called "coated-glued" products are products which are made from a textile tablecloth, and preferably from a sheet already made up of threads, or possibly from a fibrous web, which is subjected to a succession of folds in order to form folds which can be assimilated in the direction of advance from tablecloth to curls. This folded tablecloth is then simply attached to a support by gluing. We obtain thus a product where the threads and / or fibers do not pass through the support, unlike tufted products, which are in the form of a succession of loops crossing the support.

There are currently essentially two major families of processes intended for carrying out "coated-glued" type textile products.

The first family is the best known and understands processes using a hand-held machine which are fixed blades. A sheet of thread is pushed by these blades successively on a first folder and then on a second folder which is parallel to the first in order to form by folding a succession of loops. Then, these loops are secured to a support, which is preferably previously coated with a glue such as polyvinyl chloride plastisol, on which loops will be dropped, the whole as well constituted by the support and the integral loops being then subjected to a heat treatment, for example a passage through an infrared oven.

According to another embodiment, the loops can be held between two front supports that a hot melt adhesive does not pass through said supports in order to impregnate the bases of the loops.

In any case, we get that with a joining of PVC type or hot melt type, either a curly product looking like a product tufted curly, a product like "sandwich" constituted by loops trapped between two supports that we can consider splitting longitudinally then in order to obtain two velvet type products.

Another alternative is to offer the use of stretched cables to replace the blades mentioned above.

According to the second large family of processes, successive folds are formed by means of a rotary system, pushing the threads and / or fibers of the sheet successively in growths present on a grooved cylinder. The folds are created under the action of a folding organ like a blade or a roller themselves grooved. Then a support, preferably beforehand coated with glue, placed on the succession of loops obtained by folding. Eventually, the whole support / integral loops is subjected to a treatment before they are removed from the grooved cylinder.

• leur vitesse de production reste relativement faible. A titre d'exemple, 120 coups par minute est une vitesse déjà relativement élevée pour un système à bras tel que décrit ci-dessus, dû à la complexité du mouvement produit par les organes à cames;
• la quantité d'adhésif nécessaire à solidariser les boucles au support reste importante, et de ce fait, les produits obtenus sont relativement encore trop coûteux;
• la gamme des produits de type "nappé-collé" réalisables est relativement limitée.

It should be noted that all of these methods have the following drawbacks:

• their production speed remains relatively low. For example, 120 strokes per minute is an already relatively high speed for an arm system as described above, due to the complexity of the movement produced by the cam members;
• the amount of adhesive necessary to secure the loops to the support remains large, and therefore the products obtained are still relatively too expensive;
• the range of achievable "topped-glued" type products is relatively limited.

On the other hand, the Applicant has developed a technique for making textile products directly from fibers and / or filaments, which is called "verticalization technique".

This technique is described in the application patent published under number WO91 / 00382, and allows directly from flowing fibers and / or filaments in the form of a veil, the production of products such as carpet and / or floor coverings.

The technique described consists in subjecting fibers and / or filaments "transverse looping" accompanied by a "stretching" and to obtain an accumulation of fibers and / or filaments in the form of a wavy "pseudo-thread" in which the fibers and / or filaments are parallelized. This step is generally called "step of (pre) looping "and should not be equated with folding.

In this document, it is described that the closure transverse accompanied by stretching is carried out for each individual fiber or filament using rotating elements or looper discs, spaced apart and arranged on an axis transverse to the direction of advance of the web and between which are curly fingers. Of this way, each fiber or filament is in principle involved in at least one loop. We thus constitute a pseudo-thread untwisted by the accumulation of various fibers and / or elementary filaments well parallelized, which has a curly shape.

Accumulation of fibers and / or filaments parallelized in the form of the pseudo-wire takes place either in the open eye of needles as described in details in the applicant's publication WO91 / 00382, either in notches provided in elements of transfer as described in document WO96 / 10667 also from the Applicant.

The pseudo-wire is then transported using of these transport components constituted either by the needles, either by the transfer elements, in the form transverse rows of loops, to a support to which the loops are joined.

In publication WO91 / 00382, the joining is effected by passing needles to through this support in order to achieve more specifically a tuft type flooring.

This process has been further improved by proposing the improvements described in the patent application European EP-95870093.2, in which the method is combined described in publication WO91 / 00382 with the use a web stretcher as described in the document EP-A-0520911. In addition, it is proposed to split the looping elements by adding a step called "step undulation "so as to limit the forces on the trees resulting from the use of a veil from a conventional lapper.

In this case, we have at least two sets separate elements: the first set is intended for perform a ripple step using a device constituted by the interpenetration of a first set of inverter discs with a first set of inverter fingers, while the second set is intended to achieve the classic subsequent step called the pre-closing step at using a device made up of interpenetration a second set of discs called looping discs with a second set of fingers called looping fingers, this second assembly being arranged downstream of the corrugation device relative to the direction of advance of the veil. The gauge of ripple device is a multiple of the gauge of the pre-loop device.

The products offered in this document are mainly in the form of products tufted.

At this point, this technique of verticalization was able to truly reach a industrial application. In fact, we were able to control the effort and torque levels even in the case of very large working widths (greater than 4 meters, for example example).

However, although this process is fully achievable industrially, admit that its productivity is still limited. this is mainly due to the presence of transport devices performing a reciprocating movement which arise either in the form of needles, or in the form of elements of transfer as described in document WO96 / 10667.

Indeed, the production speed which can express themselves as the product of the advance by stroke of the substrate (in mm) by the beat rate of the needles (in strokes per minute) reaches an order of magnitude of 1.5 to 4.5 m / min, which is entirely admissible to achieve tufted products but is still too weak in the case of a production comparable to a line needling, the production speed of which can reach an order of 15 m / min.

In addition, and this for obvious reasons of congestion due to the presence of needles or even transfer elements between the looping discs, the gauge of a so-called verticalization device may hardly be less than 1/10 inch, or 2.54 mm, unless it allows the realization of very precise and therefore relatively expensive, and which would deprive the so-called verticalization process of possibility of making inexpensive products.

On the other hand, there is an evolution linked to the consumer taste for fine gauge products. These products are those for which the stroke advance is the lower, and therefore productivity too. Thus, we measure the interest that a process for which very fine gauges would be easily achievable, and this without having to limit the production speed.

Aims of the invention

The present invention aims to provide a solution to existing limitations, and more particularly with regard to productivity, in the processes used in the technique known as verticalization as described in the documents WO91 / 00382 and WO96 / 10667.

The present invention aims more particularly to allow the realization of products so-called "coated-glued" which may have a similar appearance of those known in the state of the art while allowing a very high productivity during the implementation process work.

The present invention aims as complementary to allow the realization of products of type "coated-glued" fine gauge, that is to say having a gauge less than 1/10 of an inch.

Furthermore, the present invention aims to allow the realization of new products that were currently impossible to achieve using the technique described as is in publications of the Applicant, and more particularly in publications WO91 / 00382 and WO96 / 10667.

Main characteristic features of the invention

The present invention relates to a process for producing a textile product of the "topped-glued" type from fibers and / or filaments flowing in the direction of advance in the form of a veil, this process comprising at least one step called the pre-looping step in which the fibers and / or filaments undergo individually looped transversely to advance management, possibly accompanied by a transverse stretching.

As already mentioned previously, the transverse looping accompanied by stretching is carried out for each individual fiber or filament using elements rotary or looper discs spaced apart and arranged on a transverse axis with respect to the direction of advance of the veil and between which are arranged looping fingers. This allows each fiber or filament to be involved in at least one pre-loop step and allows the parallelization of these fibers and / or filaments elementary.

The present process is characterized by that we carry out a confinement of the material under form of loops formed by fibers and / or filaments particularly well parallelized and that this confinement is produced directly on a support without there intervention of transport devices such as needles or transfer elements.

This confinement is obtained after a first transitional stage linked to the start of a product line and during which the first loops obtained by the pre-looping step of the fibers and / or filaments individual randomly form a stop. The containment comes in the form of an accumulation of loops, made up of fibers and / or filaments one behind the other.

The positioning of successive loops takes place essentially vertically using a detaching element, which guides the material to the support while holding it by tie-down.

The support can be directly the substrate end of the product we want to make, and in fact consisting of a fiber mat, a plastic film, a PVC type backing, ....

Possibly, instead of being directly deposited on the substrate of the final product, the material confined could be seized by an intermediate element such as a spiked mat, a brush, or a stand velcro ®, whose role is to maintain the wavy shape loops while the free end of the material is secured to a substrate.

This attachment to the substrate is done at using an adhesive whose viscosity is designed to allow a drive of fibers and / or filaments material with the substrate while performing an effective bonding.

In general, one can use either plastisols, i.e. resins (acrylics, isocyanates, styrene-butanian, phenolic, etc.), or thermoplastics in the form of hot melt, film or powder (polyesters, polypropylene, EVA PVC, etc.), i.e. foams (PVC, acrylics, etc.), either by performing a direct adhesion by fusion of the verticalized fiber on the substrate. The means used to provide calories necessary for this are preferably brought by an oven infrared, a calender or a heating drum or heating blades which are in the form of flat metal parts with resistors electrical or heat transfer fluid conduits.

The substrate feed rate can either be uniform, or be done in spurts, so that we obtain a containment of the textile material more marked on this support.

Brief description of the figures

La figure 1

décrit de manière schématique le dispositif de verticalisation tel qu'utilisé dans le présent procédé.

Les figures 2

décrivent les étapes successives de la préparation de la matière textile, de la verticalisation des fibres et/ou filaments constituant cette matière, de leur parallélisation ainsi que de leur confinement.

La figure 3

décrit un dispositif qui permet la réalisation d'un produit textile sous forme de produit nappé-collé de type sandwich selon une première forme d'exécution du procédé selon la présente invention.

La figure 4

décrit un dispositif qui permet la réalisation d'un produit textile contenant de la poudre de bentonite selon une autre forme d'exécution du procédé selon la présente invention.

The present invention will be described in more detail using the following figures:

Figure 1

schematically describes the verticalization device as used in the present method.

Figures 2

describe the successive stages of the preparation of the textile material, the verticalization of the fibers and / or filaments constituting this material, their parallelization as well as their confinement.

Figure 3

describes a device which allows the production of a textile product in the form of a sandwich-topped-glued product according to a first embodiment of the method according to the present invention.

Figure 4

describes a device which allows the production of a textile product containing bentonite powder according to another embodiment of the method according to the present invention.

Description of several preferred embodiments of the invention

Conventionally, a veil of fibers and / or filaments with position conditions fibers and / or filaments within the veil and weight as described in previous publications of the Applicant is brought to the level of the verticalization described in figure 1.

This device essentially includes a game of discs called "looping discs" marked 11 and carried on a transverse common axis 13 driven in continuous rotation at a peripheral speed preferably equal to the speed of entry of the web 0. The discs looper 11 are provided on their periphery with a toothing 15 having an appropriate angle to the tangent and which allows the training of the entry veil. Between each of the discs are arranged with sulking fingers 21 the end of which is essentially so tangential to the discs. This device allows to carry out the so-called "pre-looping step", which consists in subjecting the fibers and / or filaments individually a transverse looping accompanied by a stretching, in order to parallelize them correctly.

In order to better understand the process basis of the present invention, reference should be made in the different figures 2a to 2e, which describe the steps successive stages of the preparation of the textile material intended for the production of specific type products topped laminated.

More particularly, FIG. 2a describes the step in which the veil 0 consisting of fibers and / or individual 10 filaments have just been introduced between looping discs 11 and looping fingers 21. The fibers and / or filaments 10 individually undergo the step of pre-loop already described and which corresponds to a loop individual transversal possibly accompanied by drawing. Next, the fibers and / or filaments 10 parallelized are brought to the fingertips looper 21.

According to the method of the present invention and due to the absence of transport devices such as needles or transfer elements that undergo a reciprocating, we are not limited in the dimensioning, and therefore the efforts received may be much larger. This means also that the efforts undergone by the tree could be more important, which leaves more leeway in the orientation of the fibers and / or filaments at the entrance of the sail.

Figure 2b shows that the fibers and / or filaments 10 which continue to be entrained by the rotating looper discs 11 are next blocked by the presence of detaching feet 31 against which they start to accumulate behind each others in order to form a stop (or "plug") 20. In this case, the fibers and / or filaments are strongly inclined and can even appear, at the limit, almost horizontal.

Figure 2c shows that this stop or "plug" 20 tends to expand downward direction of a substrate 100.

FIG. 2d shows that the "plug" 20 consisting of the accumulation of fibers and / or filaments parallelized and wavy ends up reaching such a volume that it comes into contact naturally with the substrate 100 placed just under the looping fingers 21. In this case, the fibers and / or filaments originating directly from the pre-loop stage condense during a step called "containment step", this time vertically, against the obstacle constituted by the "plug".

Figure 2e shows that the "plug" 20 is driven by substrate 100, aided in this by rotation looping discs 11 and by the pressure exerted by the fibers and / or filaments 10 parallelized which continue to come from looping fingers 21. This phase shows that the fibers and / or filaments are then deposited regularly on the substrate 100 without there being any more of accumulation in the form of a "plug". In this case, these fibers and / or filaments are arranged so essentially vertical.

According to a particular embodiment preferred, provision has been made for the detaching feet 31 to have a particular form to facilitate this step. The detaching feet are arranged so that they can be made a funnel 41 between said feet and the substrate 100 which continues to flow.

In this last step, the feet detachers 31 no longer have the function of detaching the fibers and / or filaments of the looping fingers, but rather the function of promoting the joining of said fibers and / or filaments on the substrate. The rounded part of detaching feet will also guide the fibers and / or filaments confined to the substrate, while its oblique part, located at a distance from the substrate slightly less than the looping height, will exert a pressure of the fibers and / or filaments parallelized so to force them to adhere to the support.

The tension present within the fibers and / or filaments by the time they are confined to the feet detachers is less than that prevailing within the material undergoing the pre-looping step, which allows easy training of parallel fibers and / or filaments with the substrate. Indeed, if the tension undergone by fibers and / or filaments at the end of the looping fingers during the pre-loop step was less than the reaction pressure exerted by the "plug" or stop in the funnel formed by the detaching feet 31 and the substrate 100, the fibers and / or filaments 10 would start then to accumulate between the looping discs 11 and the looper fingers 21, and this until the entry of the veil. Of this fact, there would be no automatic training of the material with the substrate.

This tension mainly depends on the orientation of the fibers and / or filaments in the veil the entrance to the verticalization device.

The existence of this tension within fibers and / or filaments allows the assembly to function as a "non-return valve" avoiding that the fibers and / or filaments do not accumulate on the sulky fingers.

It should be noted that although there is not, as described in previous publications of the Applicant, a real creation of a thread or pseudo-thread, all the same, the fibers and / or filaments are obtained are perfectly parallelized. The density of the loops is also adjustable by varying the speed ratio of the substrate ahead of the speed disc drive.

In order to realize the type products coated-glued, it is preferable that the substrate 100 be previously coated with an adhesive whose viscosity has been chosen so as to allow the entrainment of fibers and / or filaments 10 with the substrate while producing a effective bonding.

Possibly, it is conceivable to provide means for activating the adhesive in order to react when fibers and / or filaments are deposited on the substrate. Examples of glues such as plastisol, acrylic or other glues can be good heard contemplated. Activation devices and methods can be chosen from the devices or processes by contact, such as calenders, heating blades, etc., devices or processes working with hot air such as ovens, forced air devices, etc., or possibly the devices or processes working by irradiating, infrared energy, ....

Figure 3 shows an embodiment preferred for the implementation of the method according to the present invention with a view to producing coated-glued products of sandwich type.

This figure shows a disc looper 11 on which a looper finger 21 is superimposed in the extension of which is placed a detaching foot 31. A veil 0 of adequately oriented fibers is driven by a succession of looping discs 11.

The pre-loop and containment process material directly on a support which advances is performed as described in Figures 2a to 2e.

According to the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, a plastisol deposition is carried out using a doctor blade 51 in order to secure the loops made up of fibers and / or filaments from the pre-looping stage and from the step of confinement to the substrate 100. Then, the product obtained is subjected to a heat treatment at using hot plates 54 in order to obtain a plastisol gelation. A second substrate 102 also coated with a plastisol deposited using a doctor blade 52 is then deposited on the product constituted by the first substrate 100 and the loops secured in order to create a sandwich product 60. This sandwich product 60 is again heat treated with plates heaters 56 in order to obtain the gelation of plastisol present on the second substrate 102. Finally, a blade 58 split the sandwich product 60 in two by slitting so to obtain two velvet type products 70 and 80.

The present invention enables a series of products which it was not possible to obtain in using the methods and / or devices as described in the Applicant's previous requests.

Three main families of textile products are achievable by the method according to the present invention.

A first large family includes the floor, wall or automobile coverings. In particular, it is possible to realize a product akin to curly tuft or velvet for which the the most common gauges are 5/64 "to 5/32". In that case, the glues used will mainly be plastisols, PVC or acrylic while the substrates can be woven, non-woven or glass mats (in the specific case of the slab).

It is also possible to carry out homogeneous products with low density of velvet vertical needled type for which the gauges will go from 1/16 "to 5/64".

Finally, low-rise products but high density of flocked type velvet can be also made for gauges less than 1/16 ". In this case, the adhesives used are preferably thermoplastics.

Advantageously, it is observed that the device used for implementing the method according to the present invention does not include any sensitive organ such as needles or transfer elements which perform reciprocating movements. Therefore, we can even use coarse natural fibers.

These different products are of interest intrinsic economic and functional aspects interesting things like the low sensitivity to humidity, ease of maintenance, etc.

The second large family includes upholstery such as seat upholstery, hangings, etc. In this case the gauges are particularly weak, of the order of 1/32 ", and the preferably very fine fibers used. The use of microfibers is even possible.

In particular for obtaining an appearance suede, we use an adhesive that has the property of expand until completely filling the space between two substrates of a sandwich product, such as PVC, acrylic or polyurethane foam type adhesive to trap the fibers. The suede aspect is simply obtained by slitting then emery-making.

The third large family relates to technical textiles which have a structure in form sandwich and which are therefore not split.

Among these textiles, mention may be made of geotextiles that can be used as a structure draining or as a structure with inclusion of powders bentonite type. We can also cite the structures panels, the rigidity of which is provided by the shape sandwich, and in which the space between the two substrates is filled with a resin or foam.

To better illustrate the latter family of products, we will refer to figure 4, which describes how to produce a product more precisely composite geotextile with inclusion of clay powder bentonite type.

According to a preferred embodiment shown in Figure 4, is carried out according to this invention a pre-looping step using discs looper 11 between which fingers are present looper 21 and in the extension of which are provided detaching feet 31. A device is introduced into this device veil made in the present case of fibers of a title high, for example greater than 80 dtex, possibly mixed with finer fibers, for example a title of 17 dtex which aim to facilitate the carding the veil. The veil 0 is entrained between the succession of discs 11 and pouting fingers 21 with a view to carry out the pre-looping and containment stages as as described in more detail in Figure 2.

A substrate 104 is brought to the point of stain removal of fibers using a heating blade 61. The substrate is preferably made of fibers having a melting point higher than the melting point of the fibers present in the loops from the pre-looping steps and containment. This heating blade 61 allows reach a temperature that is higher than the melting temperature of the loops, which by contact adhere directly to substrate 104 in order to obtain a product 60.

Then bentonite powder is deposited using conventional means 63 on the product 60 constituted by the substrate secured to the loops.

The whole then goes on a table vibrating 65 in order to promote the migration of the powder of bentonite- within product 60 to obtain a the most homogeneous distribution possible. This is in particular possible due to high fiber content present in the loops and their resilience important, which prevents them from being crushed under the powder pressure. The height of the loops is also chosen according to the weight of the powder to be deposited so to get a space on the top of the product which is free of powder, so that it can be deposit with a second heating blade 67 a second substrate 105.

This gives a sandwich structure in which bentonite powder is retained so homogeneous.

These products are generally used in association with geomembranes to ensure seal. Indeed, in the presence of a liquid, the bentonite swells by absorbing it and creating self-sealing the breach.

Claims (17)

1. Method for producing a textile product of the lapped/bonded type from fibres and/or filaments travelling in the direction of feed motion in the form of a web, this method comprising at least one step, called the "prelooping step", in which the fibres and/or filaments individually undergo looping transversely to the direction of feed motion of the web, if appropriate accompanied by transverse drawing, characterized in that it subsequently comprises a step of confining the parallelized fibres and/or filaments in the form of loops, this latter confining step taking place directly on a support by means of a detaching element, without transport members, such as needles or transfer elements, being involved.
2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that, after a first transient step which is associated with the start-up of a line and during which the first loops obtained after the prelooping step form a stop in an arbitrary manner, confinement is obtained in the form of an accumulation of loops one behind the other, the said loops being positioned essentially vertically on the said support.
3. Method according to claim 2, characterized in that the successive loops are positioned by means of a detaching element which makes it possible to guide the material as far as the support, whilst at the same time holding the said material by means of a bar assembly.
4. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the support is the substrate of the final product.
5. Method according to any one of the claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the support is an intermediate element, such as a spiked belt, a brush or else a Velcro ® support, the function of which is to maintain the crimped form of the loops while the free end of the material is being fixed to a substrate.
6. Method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the loops are fixed to the substrate by means of a glue, the viscosity of which makes it possible to drive the loops, together with the substrate, whilst at the same time carrying out efficient bonding.
7. Method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the loops are fixed to the substrate with the aid of heating means, such as a furnace, a calender, a drum or a heating blade, in order to obtain adhesion of the loops to the substrate by melting.
8. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the feed speed of the support is uniform or takes place in bursts.
9. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a second substrate is deposited onto the product comprising the basic substrate and the fixed loops, in order to produce a sandwich product.
10. Method according to claim 9, characterized in that the sandwich product is split in order to obtain two products in the form of pile fabric.
11. Method according to claim 9, characterized in that a powdery material, such as bentonite, chalk or sand, is introduced into the sandwich structure consisting of the two substrates, if appropriate accompanied by solid elements, such as pipes or cables.
12. Device for carrying out the method according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising a set of discs (11) which are carried on a common transverse shaft (13) and are driven in continuous rotation and which are provided, on their periphery, with a toothing (15) which has an angle relative to the tangent and between which are arranged looping fingers (21), the ends of which are presented essentially tangentially relative to the discs, characterized in that it possesses, furthermore, in the extension of each looping finger (21), a detaching foot (31).
13. Product obtained by means of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11 or the device according to claim 12, characterized in that it comprises a first substrate, to which loops of parallelized fibres and/or filaments are fixed, without the said loops passing through the substrate, the loops being capable, if appropriate, of being sheared during a subsequent step, the gauge being less than 1/10th of an inch, preferably less than 1/16th of an inch.
14. Product according to claim 13, characterized in that the gauge is less than 1/32th of an inch.
15. Product according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that the loops are fixed to the substrate either by melting or with the aid of a glue.
16. Product according to any one of the claims 13 to 15, characterized in that a second substrate is arranged on top of the assembly consisting of the first substrate and of the fixed loops, in order to produce a sandwich structure.
17. Product according to claim 16, characterized in that it comprises, in the sandwich structure consisting of the two substrates, a powdery material, such as bentonite, included between the two substrates.

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