Classifications

• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D03—WEAVING
  • D03D—WOVEN FABRICS; METHODS OF WEAVING; LOOMS
  • D03D1/00—Woven fabrics designed to make specified articles
  • D03D1/0005—Woven fabrics for safety belts
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D10—INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBLASSES OF SECTION D, RELATING TO TEXTILES
  • D10B—INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBLASSES OF SECTION D, RELATING TO TEXTILES
  • D10B2401/00—Physical properties
  • D10B2401/04—Heat-responsive characteristics
  • D10B2401/041—Heat-responsive characteristics thermoplastic; thermosetting

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a woven seat belt with threads in the warp direction and in the weft direction.
• Woven seat belt straps or belt straps and methods for their production are known for example from WO 01/48285 A1. They usually consist of multifilaments in the warp direction. In the weft direction, monofilaments or a combination of multifilaments and monofilaments are used for the purpose of stiffening. Such stiffening in the transverse direction in fabrics for seat belts is necessary so that the belt does not fold, which would impair its function. In particular, this measure prevents the seat belt from being obstructed by the guide holders and during winding.
• fabrics are flat structures that consist of two or more thread systems, warp and weft crossing at right angles, and are produced on a loom or a weaving machine.
• weft means the entirety of the threads required for producing a fabric and running from edge to edge in the finished fabric, that is to say in the transverse direction or weft direction. Thread is to be understood to mean those linear textile structures which can consist of both multifilaments and monofilaments.
• monofilaments as weft threads also has disadvantages.
• polyester threads with diameters in the range of 0.2 to 0.3 mm are used as monofilaments in fabrics for seat belts.
• the high stiffness of these monofilaments on the one hand leads to problems during the weaving process, in addition, the fabrics and thus the seat belts made from them also become relatively thick. This increase in thickness due to the introduction of the monofilaments as weft threads in the fabric at least partially nullifies the advantages described above, in particular the running properties of the belt.
• the present invention solves this problem by providing a woven seat belt webbing - as described in the opening paragraph - wherein the multifilaments of the threads in the weft direction predominantly have a bicomponent structure, which structure consists of two polymeric components with different melting points, the lower melting component at least that Surface of the individual filaments forms.
• the seat belt according to the present invention consequently contains a multifilament as weft thread, which has a bicomponent structure.
• Bikompo- Element structures are well known to the person skilled in the art. As a rule, these are filaments that are composed of two polymeric components. Such filaments are also referred to as heterofilaments, conjugated fibers or filaments or as composite fibers or filaments.
• the structure of these bicomponent structures can be quite different and is also known to the person skilled in the art. For example, bicomponent structures are present as “side-by-side” structures or also as “skin-core” structures or “core-shell” structures. A number of other arrangements are known in the art and need not be explained further.
• Multifilaments that contain bicomponent structures are easy to process during the weaving process because, in contrast to the relatively thick monofilaments, they have a significantly lower stiffness. This largely avoids the problems that arise in the prior art when manufacturing the fabric for seat belts.
• the multifilaments in the weft lie between the warp threads in a flattened configuration.
• the seat belt webbing is less thick than one with a monofilament in the weft. This reduced thickness significantly improves the handling of the belt, in particular the winding behavior, which also leads to an increase in safety.
• the bicomponent structure is a core-shell structure, the shell component having a lower melting point than the core component.
• the core component is essentially a polymer which is selected from the group comprising polyesters, polyamides and polyolefins or their copolymers.
• the jacket component also consists essentially of a polymer which is selected from the group comprising polyesters, polyamides and polyolefins.
• the weft thread consist of a core-sheath structure with polyester as the core component and polyamide 6 as the sheath component.
• Combinations between polymers of the same class of compounds, e.g. Polyester as the core and co-polyester as the sheath component or polyamide 6.6 as the core and polyamide 6 as the sheath or polypropylene / co-polypropylene combinations are possible as long as the condition that the core component has a higher melting point than the sheath or skin component is met is.
• the difference in melting temperatures between the two components should not fall below 10 ° C, preferably the difference is greater than about 30 °. Differences in the melting points of the components for the core and sheath of at most about 100 ° C. are generally completely sufficient.
• a particularly preferred embodiment of the seat belt webbing is obtained if the bicomponent structure has a core-sheath structure, the core component consisting essentially of polyethylene terephthalate and the sheath component consisting essentially of polybutylene terephthalate.
• the difference in melting temperatures is about 40 to 50 ° C, with the jacket component having a melting point of about 220 ° C.
• the bicomponent structure has a core-shell structure in which the core component consists of polyethylene terephthalate and the shell component consists of a polyether ester.
• the core component consists of polyethylene terephthalate and the shell component consists of a polyether ester.
• a copolymer of polybutylene terephthalate and polytetrahydrofuran is outstandingly suitable as the polyether ester.
• Such a polyether ester has a melting point between 190 and 200 ° C.
• the ratio of core to shell component in the bicomponent structures used with preference is between 85/15 and 65/35 vol / vol, for example 70/30 vol / vol.
• the multifilaments with a bicomponent structure advantageously have a total titer between 400 and 1700 dtex, preferably between 400 and 700 dtex. In a particularly preferred embodiment, these multifilaments have a titer of 800 dtex.
• the woven seat belt straps are subjected to a thermal treatment such that the sheath component of the multifilaments with bicomponent structure running in the weft direction at least partially melts.
• the temperature for the thermal treatment should be chosen so that the core component is not melted, or is essentially not melted, i.e. the strength of the weft threads essentially achieved by the core component is retained.
• a thermal connection of the multifilaments with bicomponent structure forming the weft threads is then formed in the fabric in the weft direction. In the finished fabric, these multifilaments thus lead to the transverse stiffness of the seat belt, like the monofilaments used in the prior art as weft threads, but without having the disadvantages in the manufacture of the fabric that are caused by the monofilaments.
• Fig. 1 The structure of a woven seat belt webbing, drawn from a microscopic image (in about 30 times magnification), containing a
• Fig. 2 The structure of a woven seat belt webbing, drawn from a microscopic image (in approximately 30 times magnification), containing a
• the woven seat belt webbing shown in FIG. 2 is characterized by a smaller thickness and, at the same time, increased flexural rigidity, as a result of which the thickness of the seat belt webbing can be reduced even further without the mechanical properties being impaired.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Textile Engineering (AREA)
• Woven Fabrics (AREA)
• Emergency Lowering Means (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (2)

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Family Cites Families (2)

• 2001
  • 2001-12-12 DE DE20120160U patent/DE20120160U1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
• 2002
  • 2002-11-21 AU AU2002352079A patent/AU2002352079A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2002-11-21 WO PCT/EP2002/013043 patent/WO2003050337A1/fr active IP Right Grant
  • 2002-11-21 DE DE50211709T patent/DE50211709D1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2002-11-21 AT AT02787751T patent/ATE386146T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2002-11-21 EP EP02787751A patent/EP1458911B1/fr not_active Expired - Lifetime

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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