JP2013085541A - Tile mat for pet - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a tile mat for pet, which can be machine washed and is lightweight and excellent in shape stability.SOLUTION: The mat 10 is formed by integrating a facing material 11 having facing piles 11b of polypropylene fiber planted in a base cloth 11a and a lining material 12 of polyolefin resin foam through an adhesive layer 13 of thermoplastic resin. Since the lining material 12 is formed from the polyolefin resin foam and lightweight, the mat can be machine washed and has appropriate bending resistance such that it is hardly wrinkled even when bent.

Description

  The present invention relates to a pet tile mat that has moderate bending resistance, can be washed in a washing machine, and has excellent shape stability.

  In recent years, with the declining birthrate and aging population, an increase in single-person households, and increased social stress, pets are treated like companion animals (companion animals) in the same way as families, and there is an increasing tendency for pets to seek healing. In particular, there are an increasing number of lovers who live with pets indoors, but with normal flooring, carpets, mats, etc. are used as flooring for reasons such as pets slipping their feet or damaging their homes due to pet nail marks. It is becoming more common. In this case, the most problematic is the excrement of pets, and many flooring materials having a deodorizing function have been proposed. (See Patent Documents 1 and 2)

In addition, those characterized by drainage of the mat surface and prevention of leakage to the floor have been proposed. (See Patent Document 3)
However, it is sufficient to wipe off the pet immediately after excretion on the mat. However, after the passage of time, these proposals cause a health problem. Therefore, as a function of the pet tile mat, it is essential that it can be washed. In particular, in consideration of the convenience, those that can be washed in a home washing machine are preferable.
On the other hand, there is a proposal of a tile carpet which can be cut into a base fabric and folded from the cut portion and can be washed with a washing machine. (See Patent Document 4)
In this case, filth accumulates from the cut portion, which may be unsanitary.
There is a strong demand for pet tile mats that combine hygiene and laundry convenience, and the development of such mats is urgent.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-238761 JP 2008-229235 A JP 2006-223206 A JP-A-9-276117

  Therefore, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a pet tile mat that has an appropriate bending resistance, can be washed in a washing machine, and is excellent in form stability.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the pet tile mat of the present invention has a skin pile made of polypropylene fiber and a backing made of polyolefin resin foam, and has a bending resistance of not less than 170 mm and not more than 250 mm by a 45 ° cantilever method. The configuration was adopted.
The bulkiness is preferably 2.8 cm ³ / g or more. It is preferred that the pile is a cut pile.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the tile mat for pets which can be washed in a washing machine and was excellent in form stability can be obtained.

Cross-sectional schematic diagram of pet tile mat of embodiment

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the pet tile mat 10 according to the embodiment is formed by thermally bonding a skin material 11 and a backing material 12 with an adhesive layer 13 and integrating them.

The pet tile mat 10 of the present invention has a bending resistance by a 45 ° cantilever method of 170 mm or more and 250 mm or less.
When the bending resistance is 250 mm or less, the mat can be easily rolled to a size that can be inserted into a washing machine. If the bending resistance is greater than 250 mm, it cannot be inserted into the washing machine, and if it is forced to round, it will cause creases.
On the other hand, even when the bending resistance is less than 170 mm, it is not preferable because there is no stiffness and wrinkles are likely to occur in paper-like.
Specifically, the skin material 11 is a general pile fabric formed by tufting the skin pile 11b on the base fabric 11a, and the back surface of the base fabric 11a is made of rubber to prevent the pile 11b from coming off. A retaining layer 11c is laminated.

Here, the material of the base fabric 11a is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include polyester, polypropylene, nylon, and acrylic.
The material of the skin pile yarn 11b is polypropylene fiber from the viewpoint of light weight and hydrophobicity. Although the mode is not particularly limited, a filament yarn is preferable for suppressing hair migration, and it is more preferable to use BCF in view of prevention of falling over hair, elasticity, and bulkiness.
Further, the fineness of the skin pile yarn 11b is not particularly limited, but 900 to 4000 decitex and a pile weight per unit area of 200 to 2500 g / m ² are common.
Moreover, the skin pile yarn 11b is not particularly limited, but a cut pile is preferable from the viewpoint of preventing catching by a pet's claw.

On the other hand, the backing 12 is a polyolefin resin foam that is a mixture of a polyolefin resin and a gas.
Since the backing 12 is a resin foam, it has a high frictional resistance and also has good adhesion to the floor surface due to the suction cup effect, so that the mat 10 is provided with a good anti-slip performance.

The production method is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include an extrusion foaming method, a normal pressure foaming method, and a press foaming method.
Although the thickness of the backing 12 is not particularly limited, the smaller the thickness, the lighter and the smaller the size can be achieved. On the other hand, if the thickness is too small, the cushioning property is inferior. Is more preferable.

  Furthermore, the surface of the backing 12 facing the floor is embossed to form irregularities 12a. Since the frictional resistance of the backing 12 is further increased by the unevenness 12a, the anti-slip effect is further improved.

Here, the type of polyolefin resin of the backing 12 is not particularly limited, but low density polyethylene, linear polyethylene obtained by copolymerizing ethylene and an α-olefin having 4 to 12 carbon atoms, high density polyethylene, polypropylene, and the like. Can be illustrated.
In order to provide the backing 12 with a non-slip effect, an ethylene / vinyl acetate copolymer, an ethylene / ethyl acrylate copolymer, an ethylene / propylene copolymer, a styrene / butadiene copolymer, an acrylonitrile / butadiene copolymer It is preferable to include at least one of the coalescence. Of these, ethylene / vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) is particularly preferable from the viewpoint of hardness, cost, and the like.

Various crosslinking methods may be used to improve the heat resistance and mechanical strength of the polyolefin resin foam. The crosslinking method is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include an electron beam crosslinking method, a chemical crosslinking method, and a silane crosslinking method. You may use crosslinking adjuvants, such as divinylbenzene and a trimethylol propane trimethacrylate, which improve a crosslinking characteristic as needed.
Various additives may be added as long as the cushioning property and anti-slip property of the polyolefin resin foam are not impaired.

The apparent density of the polyolefin resin foam is preferably 25 to 250 kg / m ^3, more preferably 33 to 200 kg / m ³ .
When the apparent density is less than 25 kg / m ³ , the compression hardness and the thickness recoverability are lowered, and the thickness may become extremely thin due to a long-term load by a figurine or the like, or the thinned thickness may not be recovered and may become a dent. Because.
On the other hand, if the apparent density exceeds 250 kg / m ³ , the rigidity may increase and it may be difficult to impart an appropriate cushioning property.
The apparent density shown here indicates a numerical value measured by a measuring method according to JIS K 7222 (2001 edition). The polyolefin resin foam has a thickness of preferably 0.5 to 20 mm, more preferably 1 to 5 mm. If the thickness is less than 0.5 mm, moderate cushioning due to a feeling of bottoming may be hindered. On the other hand, if the thickness exceeds 20 mm, discomfort may occur due to poor handling due to weight increase or excessive cushioning. This is because it may be considered that the door is hindered from being opened and closed. The thickness shown here indicates a numerical value measured by a measuring method according to JIS K 7222 (2001 edition).

The adhesive layer 13 that bonds the skin material 11 and the backing material 12 is made of a thermoplastic resin.
Since the skin material 11 and the backing material 12 are not directly bonded to each other but are thermally bonded with an adhesive layer 13 made of a thermoplastic resin, good adhesion performance is imparted.

Although the formation aspect of this contact bonding layer 13 is not specifically limited, Extrusion adhesion method and spray adhesion method can be illustrated.
The adhesive layer 13 is preferably formed by applying a thermoplastic resin to the back surface of the skin material 11 and heat setting.
The thickness of the adhesive layer 13 is not particularly limited, but is preferably 0.2 mm to 2.0 mm. Furthermore, for balance between the demand for weight reduction and miniaturization and the guarantee of adhesive performance, the thickness is 0.3 to 0.00. 7 mm is preferred.

  The thermoplastic resin of the adhesive layer 13 is made of ethylene / vinyl acetate copolymer, ethylene / ethyl acrylate copolymer, ethylene / propylene copolymer, styrene / butadiene copolymer, styrene / isoprene copolymer from the viewpoint of thermal adhesion. It preferably contains at least one of a polymer, acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymer, chloroprene, styrene-butadiene copolymer, butadiene, and polyisobutylene.

The pet tile mat of the present invention preferably has a bulkiness of 2.8 cm ³ / g or more. The bulkiness depends on the pile length and basis weight, but if it is less than 2.8 cm ³ / g, it is not possible to obtain a light weight feeling, or a sufficient cushioning property can be obtained such as a feeling of bottoming. Can not.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described more specifically with reference to examples. However, the present invention is not limited to these examples.

<Bending softness by 45 ° cantilever method (mm)>
Samples of 20mm x 300mm are collected in the wale and course directions, respectively, and the short side of the test piece is aligned with the scale base line on a smooth horizontal surface with a 45 ° bevel at one end, with the skin facing up Put like so. Next, the test piece is gently slid in the direction of the slope by an appropriate method, and the position of the other end is read by a scale when the center of one end of the test piece contacts the slope. The bending resistance is indicated by the length (mm) of the movement of the test piece, and is measured five times each in the wale direction and the course direction, and the average value of each is calculated.

<Bulkyness (cm ³ / g)>
This is in accordance with the test method described in “8.5” of JIS-L-1096 (2010) “Fabric and knitted fabric test method”. The number of measurements was set to 2 and the average value was calculated.

The following foams were prepared as polyolefin resin foams used for the mat backing of the examples.
Low-density polyethylene resin (Tosoh Corp .: Petrocene 342) 65.5%, ethylene / vinyl acetate copolymer (Mitsui / DuPont Polychemical Co., Ltd .: Everflex V421) 28%, foaming agent azodicarbonamide (Eiwa Chemical) Kogyo Co., Ltd .: VINYHALL AC # 3) 3.5% and antioxidant (BASF Co., Ltd .: IRGANOX 1010) 3% were melt-kneaded with a pressure kneader heated to 170 ° C. and then pelleted through an extruder. Shaped chips were obtained. This chip was extruded at a temperature of 150 ° C. using a 45 mφ vent type single screw extruder provided with a T die to obtain a sheet-like composition having a thickness of 1 mm. The sheet-like composition is crosslinked by irradiation with 40 kGy ionization, then foamed in a hot air oven heated to 240 ° C., smoothed with a cooling roll, and used for the backing material of the example. Foam thickness 1.5 mm, apparent density 140 kg / M ³ , a foam having an independent foam ratio of 87% was obtained (hereinafter referred to as the above-mentioned foam).

[Example 1]
Polyester non-woven fabric as the base fabric, 1375 decitex polypropylene BCF (manufactured by Fujii Twisted Co., Ltd.) as the skin pile, two twisted at 180 T / m in the Z direction and steam set at 125 ° C. for 10 minutes, 1/10 Using a gauge tuft machine, a cut pile skin material having a pile height of 5.0 mm and a basis weight of 700 g / m ² was prepared.

A mat was prepared by thermally bonding an adhesive layer made of a thermoplastic resin between the obtained skin material and the foam. About thermal bonding, a styrene / butadiene copolymer, a mixture of styrene / isoprene copolymer, and an extrusion bonding method with a resin amount of 230 to 320 g / m ² are used.

The mat was cut into a length of 84 cm and a width of 42 cm to obtain a pet tile mat.
Table 1 shows the bending resistance and bulkiness of the obtained pet tile mat by the 45 ° cantilever method.

[Example 2]
The skin material and the above foam were the same as in Example 1, and only the bonding method was changed to the following to create a mat. For thermal bonding, a styrene / butadiene copolymer, a mixture of styrene / isoprene copolymer, and a spray bonding method with a resin amount of 160 to 190 g / m ² are used.
The mat was cut into a length of 84 cm and a width of 42 cm in the same manner as in Example 1 to obtain a pet tile mat.

  Table 1 shows the bending resistance and bulkiness of the obtained pet tile mat by the 45 ° cantilever method.

[Example 3]
Polyester nonwoven fabric as the base fabric, 1375 decitex polypropylene BCF (manufactured by Fujii Twisted Co., Ltd.) as the skin pile, three twisted at 145 T / m in the Z direction and steam set at 125 ° C. for 10 minutes, 1/10 Using a gauge tuft machine, a cut pile skin material having a pile height of 5.0 mm and a basis weight of 840 g / m ² was prepared.

The foam and the thermal bonding method were carried out in the same manner as in Example 1 to produce a mat.
The obtained mat was cut into a length of 84 cm and a width of 42 cm in the same manner as in Example 1 to obtain a pet tile mat.

  Table 1 shows the bending resistance and bulkiness of the obtained pet tile mat by the 45 ° cantilever method.

[Comparative Example 1]
The same skin material as in Example 1 was used, and a mat using a polyethylene foam sheet laminated on a polyethylene foam sheet as a backing was prepared.
The obtained mat was cut into a length of 84 cm and a width of 42 cm in the same manner as in Example 1 to obtain a pet tile mat.

  Table 1 shows the bending resistance and bulkiness of the obtained pet tile mat by the 45 ° cantilever method.

[Comparative Example 2]
The same skin material as in Example 1 was used, and a mat using a back surface of a nonwoven fabric sprayed with an appropriate amount of acrylic resin was prepared.
The obtained mat was cut into a length of 84 cm and a width of 42 cm in the same manner as in Example 1 to obtain a pet tile mat.

  Table 1 shows the bending resistance and bulkiness of the obtained pet tile mat by the 45 ° cantilever method.

[Comparative Example 3]
A mat was prepared under exactly the same conditions as in Example 1 except that the foam thickness of the foam was changed to 2.5 mm.
The obtained mat was cut into a length of 84 cm and a width of 42 cm in the same manner as in Example 1 to obtain a pet tile mat.

  Table 1 shows the bending resistance and bulkiness of the obtained pet tile mat by the 45 ° cantilever method.

10 Mat 11 Embodiment Skin material 11a Base fabric 11b Skin pile 11c Retaining layer 12 Backing material 12a Concavity and convexity 13 Adhesive layer

Claims (3)

  A pet tile mat in which the skin pile is made of polypropylene fiber, the backing is made of polyolefin resin foam, and the bending resistance by the 45 ° cantilever method is 170 mm or more and 250 mm or less. The pet tile mat according to claim 1, wherein the bulkiness is 2.8 cm ³ / g or more.   The pet tile mat according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the pile is a cut pile.

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