JP3193488B2 - Method for producing skin integral foam product and insert used therefor - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for producing a foam product integral with a skin and an insert used therefor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a method of manufacturing a product in which a surface of a foam is covered with a skin material, such as a headrest or an armrest of an automobile, a skin integral foam molding is frequently used.

[0003] In this skin integral foam molding, at least a part of an insert made of a core or the like is inserted into a skin material of a predetermined shape having a bag shape or the like, and a urethane foam material is injected into the skin material. This is a method of forming a urethane foam integrated with a skin material and an insert by foaming. According to this manufacturing method, since the surface of the foam can be covered with the skin simultaneously with the molding of the foam, there is an advantage that the operation of covering the skin with the foam is unnecessary. Further, since the foam is formed in a state of being adhered to the inner surface of the skin material, there is no possibility that the skin material is displaced and unpleasant wrinkles occur when the product is used.

The urethane foam raw material used for the integral skin foam molding comprises a liquid A containing a polyol, a catalyst, a foaming agent and other auxiliaries and a liquid B containing a diisocyanate, and a mixture of the liquid A and the liquid B. To form a foam. This polyurethane foam raw material is in a liquid state having a low viscosity from after mixing until immediately after the start of the reaction, and the viscosity increases with the progress of the reaction to form a foam through a cream state. Since the urethane foam raw material is immediately discharged to the inner surface of the skin material by the foaming injection machine after mixing, it comes into contact with the inner surface of the skin material in a low viscosity state. Therefore, it is necessary to use a non-liquid-permeable material that does not leak or impregnate the liquid urethane foam material as the skin material of the skin-integrated foam product.

As the non-liquid permeable skin material, a plastic skin material has conventionally been used, but in recent years, a fabric material is preferred from the viewpoint of decorativeness and soft touch. It became as to be. The skin material having the fabric as a constituent material has a two-layer structure in which a soft foam sheet is adhered to the back surface, or a soft foam sheet and plastic on the back surface of the fabric in order to prevent the foam raw material from penetrating. It has a three-layer structure with a film attached.

However, even in the case of a skin material having a two-layer structure having the above-mentioned soft foam sheet on the back surface of the fabric, the urethane foam material is impregnated into the soft foam sheet through the continuous air holes of the soft foam sheet, In some cases, it hardened and spoiled the soft feeling of the skin material. By using a flexible foam sheet having a high density, impregnation of the urethane foam raw material can be suppressed to some extent, but an increase in product cost and a decrease in softness are caused.

Incidentally, the skin material needs to be formed in a bag shape or the like in advance according to the use of the product. Therefore, in the case of a skin material including a fabric, a plurality of skin constituent pieces joined by sewing to form a predetermined shape are used. However, since a seam is formed in the sewn skin material, the polyurethane foam raw material may enter the skin material from the seam and harden to impair the soft feeling of the skin material. This was not limited to the skin material having the two-layer structure, but was the same for the skin material having the three-layer structure.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a skin-integrated foamed product using a skin material formed into a predetermined shape by sewing and comprising a fabric as a constituent material. It is intended to provide a manufacturing method that does not penetrate or impregnate the inside and an insert used in the manufacturing method.

[0009]

There are two inventions proposed here, the first invention is a method for producing a skin-integrated foamed product, and the second invention is an insert used in the production method. .

That is, in the first invention, at least a part of an insert is inserted into a skin material which is at least partially made of fabric and formed into a predetermined shape by sewing, and a urethane foam material is injected into the skin material. In the method for producing a skin-integrated foamed product in which the skin material, the insert and the urethane foam are integrated by foaming, the urethane foam raw material is temporarily added to a part of the insert inserted into the skin material. Forming a recess for storing
After the urethane foam material is injected into the recess and temporarily stored therein, the foam is foamed, and the foaming causes the urethane foam material to overflow from the recess of the insert and fill the skin material. The present invention relates to a method for producing an integral foam product.

The second invention relates to the insert used in the first invention, wherein the insert has a concave portion on its surface for storing a urethane foam raw material.

[0012]

[Action] Before the reaction injected into the concave portion of the insert,
Or urethane foam raw material with low viscosity at the beginning of the reaction,
The reaction proceeds in the recess. This urethane foam raw material foams while increasing the viscosity, and increases in volume by the generated foaming gas, and finally overflows from the concave portion of the insert, fills the skin material, and becomes integral with the skin material to form the urethane foam. Form. Therefore, the urethane foam raw material when it comes into contact with the inner surface of the skin material is in a state of increased viscosity,
It does not penetrate into the inner surface of the skin material from the seam or the like and hardens to impair the soft feeling of the skin material.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of an insert used in the method for manufacturing a skin-integrated foamed product of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a molding die showing an example of the manufacturing method of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a sectional view, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing another example of the insert.

According to the present invention, an insert is inserted into a skin material including a fabric and formed into a predetermined shape by sewing, a urethane foam material is injected into the skin material and integrally foamed, and a skin having a predetermined shape is formed. This is for obtaining an integral foam product, and is suitably used for a headrest of a vehicle as described above.

First, an insert used in the manufacturing method of the present invention will be described. The insert 10 is for a headrest, and includes a main body 11 and a stay 12 as shown in FIG. The main body 11 is formed of a blow molded or injection molded hollow molded product of a synthetic resin, a metal, or the like, and has a concave portion 15 having an appropriate depth on the surface thereof.
The concave portion 15 is for temporarily storing the urethane foam raw material injected into the skin material, and is formed in a concave shape in which the upper surface 13 and the side surface 14 of the main body 11 are depressed in this embodiment. . The recess 15 is formed in a size capable of temporarily storing an amount of urethane foam material necessary for molding the skin-integrated foam product, and is located at a position where a foam injection machine for injecting the urethane foam material. It is preferable to be formed substantially immediately below the nozzle. A sheet material 16 made of urethane slab or the like is attached to an opening of the concave portion 15 on the side surface 14 side. The sheet material 16 constitutes a wall for blocking the urethane foam raw material injected into the recess 15 from flowing down into the skin material before foaming.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show an example of a method for producing a foam-integrated skin product of the present invention using the insert 10. FIG. Reference numeral 20 in the drawing denotes a lower mold 21 and an upper mold 2 which are foam molding dies.
2 and 23, and has a molded product cavity 24 inside. Reference numeral 25 denotes a hinge which is configured to open and close the lower die 21 and the upper dies 22, 23.

First, a skin material 30 is arranged in the cavity 24 of the foaming mold 20. The skin material 30 is formed by sewing a plurality of skin material constituent pieces 31, 31 at least partially made of fabric or the like into a predetermined molded product shape. Reference numeral 32 denotes a sewn portion, and reference numeral 33 denotes a hole for inserting the nozzle N of the foam injection machine. The holes 33 are provided in the upper dies 22,2.
3 is provided at a position corresponding to the nozzle insertion port 26 formed by the nozzle 3.

Next, the main body 11 of the insert 10 is inserted into the skin material 30 and held at a predetermined position, and the mold is closed. The nozzle N of the foaming injection machine is inserted into the skin material 30 from the nozzle insertion port 26. Plugged in. The urethane foam raw material U immediately after mixing the liquid A and the liquid B from the nozzle N
Is discharged into the recess 15 of the insert 10. As shown in the drawing, the urethane foam raw material U has a low viscosity because it is unreacted or in the early stage of the reaction, and is temporarily stored in the concave portion 15 of the insert 10 to advance the foaming reaction in the concave portion 15.

The urethane foam raw material U is provided in the recess 15
It becomes a cream-like polymer whose viscosity gradually increases in the inside, and the volume increases due to the generation of foaming gas.
As shown in the figure, the water overflows from the recess 15 and fills the skin material 30. At this time, as described above, since the urethane foam raw material U is polymerized and the viscosity is increased, even if the urethane foam raw material U comes into contact with the sewn portion 32 or the fabric portion of the skin material 30, the penetration into the interior is small.

FIG. 4 shows another example of the insert. Reference numeral 40 denotes an insert, 41 denotes a main body, and 42 denotes a stay. The insert 40 is provided with a concave portion 45 which is opened on the upper surface of the main body 41. In this example, a wall 44 is formed integrally from the main body 41 instead of providing a wall portion made of a urethane slab.

Incidentally, the insert is not limited to that of the above-described embodiment, and the portion to be inserted into the skin material may be plate-shaped. In the case of an armrest or the like, the entire insert may be inserted into the skin material.

[0022]

As shown and described above, according to the method of manufacturing a skin-integrated foam product of the present invention and the insert used therein, the urethane foam raw material to be injected into the skin material is stored in the recess once formed in the insert. The foaming reaction proceeds in the recess. And, since the foaming increases the volume and overflows from the concave portion to fill the skin material, the urethane foam raw material at the time of overflowing has already undergone the foaming reaction and its viscosity also increases. I have. Therefore, even if it comes into contact with the skin material, it does not impregnate the inside of the skin material or seep out from the sewn portion.
Therefore, not only can the softness of the fabric be maintained, but also the flexibility of selecting a flexible foam sheet to be adhered to the back side of the fabric is increased, and there is a great advantage in terms of cost and work efficiency.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of an insert used in the method for producing a skin-integrated foam product of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a molding die showing an example of the production method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state when the foaming is performed.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing another example of the insert.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Insert 15 Concavity 20 Foaming mold 30 Skin material U Urethane foam raw material

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ identification code FI B29L 31:58 (58) Investigated field (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B29C 39/10 B29C 39/22-39/24 B60N 2 / 48,3 / 00 B60R 21/055

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. At least a part of an insert is inserted into a skin material having at least a part made of fabric and formed into a predetermined shape by sewing, and a urethane foam material is injected into the skin material and foamed. A method for manufacturing a skin-integrated foamed product in which the skin material, the insert, and the urethane foam are integrated, wherein a recess for temporarily storing a urethane foam material is temporarily provided in a portion of the insert inserted into the skin material. After forming and temporarily storing urethane foam raw material in the recess,
A method for producing a foam-integral foam product, wherein the foam material is foamed, and the foam material causes the urethane foam raw material to overflow from the concave portion of the insert to fill the skin material. 2. The insert for use in manufacturing the skin-integrated foam product according to claim 1, wherein the surface has a concave portion for storing a urethane foam raw material.