JP7088669B2 - Non-woven wiper and its manufacturing method, manufacturing equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a spunlace-type non-woven fabric wiper obtained by water-flow entanglement of a water-absorbing natural fiber web made of natural fibers such as pulp and regenerated cellulose fibers and a synthetic fiber web such as polypropylene.

A spunlace-type non-woven fabric containing a natural fiber web and a synthetic fiber web is a non-woven fabric that has both strength and water absorption (also referred to as liquid absorption), and therefore is an industrial wiper such as a waste cloth or an industrial wiper. It is widely used for various purposes as a wiper for interpersonal use such as hand wipes and towels.

As disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example, as described in Patent Document 1, a spunlace-type non-woven fabric as described above is subjected to a water flow entanglement treatment by spraying a high-pressure water jet (water flow) after stacking a natural fiber web and a synthetic fiber web. It can be obtained by binding the fibers together. The composite non-woven fabric formed by the natural fiber web and the synthetic fiber web has the advantages of the natural fiber web having good absorption to both water-based and oil-based liquids and the synthetic fiber web having excellent strength. It is offered to consumers as an excellent wiper that also has.

Japanese Patent No. 25333260

However, in the conventional spunlace type non-woven fabric wiper, if the dirt adhering to the surface to be wiped (wiping surface) is strong or the dirt is fine, there is a residue left on the wiper. It could occur and there was room for improvement.

Therefore, a main object of the present invention is to provide a spunlace type non-woven fabric wiper having improved dirt wiping performance.

The above object is a spunlace type non-woven fabric wiper integrally formed by water flow entanglement treatment in a state where a natural fiber web having water absorption is laminated on a synthetic fiber web, and the natural fiber. The web contains microfiber ,
A part of the fiber of the natural fiber web and a part of the microfiber penetrate the synthetic fiber web and protrude from the surface of the synthetic fiber web, and the surface on the natural fiber web side and the said. Both the surface on the synthetic fiber web side are wiped surfaces,
The microfiber is blended in an amount of 20 to 60% by weight based on 80 to 40% by weight of the natural fiber web.
The microfibers are formed of at least one selected fiber from the group consisting of nylon and polyethylene terephthalate, having a fiber diameter of 10 μm or less and a fiber length of 5 to 30 mm.
The fiber diameter of the microfiber is 1/5 to 1/20 of the fiber diameter of the natural fiber.
This can be achieved with a non-woven wiper characterized by this.

The above object is the method for manufacturing a nonwoven fabric wiper described above .
A high-pressure water flow in a state where the microfiber-blended natural fiber web obtained in the mixing step is laminated on the synthetic fiber web and the mixing step in which the microfiber is uniformly dispersed and blended in the natural fiber having water absorption. It is also achieved by a method for producing a nonwoven fabric wiper, which comprises a water flow entanglement treatment step of entwining and integrating the fibers.
Here, in the mixing step, the natural fiber and the microfiber may be mixed in an air-laid hopper.

The above-mentioned purpose is a manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing the above-mentioned non- woven fabric wiper.
A high-pressure water flow in a state where a mixing device in which microfibers are uniformly dispersed and blended in a natural fiber having water absorption and a natural fiber web containing microfibers obtained in the mixing device are laminated on a synthetic fiber web. It is also achieved by a non-woven fabric wiper manufacturing apparatus comprising, at least, a water flow entanglement treatment apparatus that entangles and integrates the fibers.
Here, the mixing device can be an air-laid hopper that mixes the natural fiber and the microfiber.

Since the non-woven fabric of the present invention contains microfibers in a natural fiber web, it is possible to scrape (scrap) and entangle strong stains and fine stains adhering to the wiping surface with microfibers. can. And the natural fiber web is excellent in water absorption. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a spunlace type non-woven fabric wiper having improved wiping performance, which can surely wipe off dirt on the wiping surface.

It is a figure which showed schematically the cross-sectional structure of the span lace type non-woven fabric wiper which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the manufacturing process performed using the manufacturing apparatus suitable for manufacturing the nonwoven fabric wiper which concerns on this invention. It is a figure shown for demonstrating two steps which can be adopted for mixing microfibers.

Hereinafter, the spunlace type nonwoven fabric wiper WP according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is an enlarged view of a part of the non-woven fabric wiper WP to schematically show a cross-sectional structure. In FIG. 1, the synthetic fiber web SW is located on the lower side, and the natural fiber web NW is arranged on the synthetic fiber web SW. Microfiber MF is blended in this natural fiber web NW.

The natural fiber web NW is on the front surface side (upper side in FIG. 1), and this surface is the main wiping surface suitable for wiping the non-woven fabric wiper WP. However, in the spunlace type non-woven wiper WP, as described later, the fibers of the natural fiber web NW located on the upper side by injecting a high-pressure water flow (water flow confounding treatment) are located on the lower side. It is integrated by entering (entwining) the synthetic fiber web SW.
During the above water flow entanglement treatment, some of the fibers of the natural fiber web NW penetrate the synthetic fiber web SW and protrude to the surface on the opposite side (back surface side, lower side in FIG. 1) (that is, that is). It becomes a state where the face is exposed). Therefore, even on the synthetic fiber web SW side, which is the back side, since it has a function of wiping dirt, it can be a wiping surface.
In FIG. 1, this situation is also illustrated, and a part of the protruding fiber (fiber portion in which natural fiber and microfiber are mixed) is indicated by a code (NW + MF).

As the synthetic fiber web SW, a spunbond web can be suitably adopted (hereinafter, referred to as a spunbond web SW). The spunbond web SW is a web produced by a known spunbond method of a synthetic resin such as polypropylene (PP) or polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Since the spunbond web SW is formed of resin fibers that are relatively long compared to natural fibers, it has predetermined rigidity and strength, and fulfills the function of maintaining the shape of the nonwoven fabric wiper.

As the fiber constituting the natural fiber web NW, a pulp-based fiber having water absorption or a regenerated cellulose fiber can be used.
As the pulp-based fiber, coniferous bleached kraft pulp selected from radiata pine, slush pine, southern pine, lodge pole pine, spruce and Douglas-firs can be preferably used. The regenerated cellulose fiber is preferably selected from rayon, cupra, lyocell and polynosic.
One or more of the pulp-based fibers and the regenerated cellulose fibers can be selected to form the natural fiber web NW.

As the microfiber MF mixed with the natural fiber web NW, at least one of nylon and polyethylene terephthalate can be selected and adopted. Then, it is preferable to use a fiber having a fiber diameter of, for example, 10 μm or less and a fiber length of 5 to 30 mm.
The fiber diameter of the above-mentioned natural fiber is 20 to 80 μm, and the fiber length is about 5 to 30 mm. The fiber diameter of the microfiber MF is preferably 1/5 to 1/20 of the fiber diameter of the natural fiber.
Further, it is preferable that the microfiber MF is blended in an amount of 20 to 60% by weight with respect to the natural fiber web NW of 80 to 40% by weight.

The microfiber is obtained as a fiber spun by injecting a resin such as polyester from a nozzle in a molten and melted state. Since such microfibers are commercially available and available, they can be appropriately selected and used.

In the above-mentioned non-woven fabric wiper WP according to the present invention, the microfiber MF is blended with the natural fiber web NW having excellent water absorption (liquid absorption). The microfiber MF is dispersed almost uniformly in the natural fiber web NW, and is also present on the surface of the non-woven fabric wiper WP.
By mixing the relatively thin microfiber MF, it becomes possible to scrape off the conventional strong stains that were difficult to scrape off with the relatively thick natural fiber. In addition, fine microfiber MF can be used to entangle fine dirt (such as fine dust) that was difficult to capture in the past. Since the natural fiber web NW has excellent water absorption, dirt on the wiping surface can be reliably removed together with moisture.

The fiber length of pulp fiber is relatively shorter than that of regenerated fiber. Therefore, when pulp fibers are included in the natural fiber web, the shortened pulp fibers may become paper powder and pollute the surroundings. On the other hand, since the fiber length of the microfiber MF is relatively longer than that of the pulp fiber, it is possible to prevent the paper dust, which is a staple fiber, from being physically entangled and dropped off, thereby suppressing the generation of the paper dust. can do.
Furthermore, compared to webs made only of natural fibers, when microfibers are included, hydrogen bonds between cellulose fibers can be suppressed, so the rigidity of the sheet is reduced and the texture is good. It can be a non-woven wiper.

Hereinafter, a method for manufacturing the above-mentioned nonwoven fabric wiper of the present invention will be described using the suitable manufacturing apparatus exemplified in FIG. 2.

The non-woven fabric wiper manufacturing device 1 shown in FIG. 2 is provided with an air-laid device 2, a spunbond web (synthetic fiber web) supply device 3, and a suction device 4 on the upstream side. The suction device 4 is arranged so as to face the lower side of the air raid device 2.
In the transport direction TD, a water flow injection (water jet) device 5 and a drying device 6 for performing water flow entanglement processing are arranged in order from the upstream side downstream of these devices 2, 3 and 4. Downstream of the drying device 6, a winding device 7 for winding a continuously manufactured nonwoven fabric wiper WP is further provided.

The air-laid device 2 is provided with a defibrating machine 21 for defibrating raw pulp RP in which fibers are densely packed into a sheet, and a blower (not shown), and defibrated pulp fiber PF to the air-laid hopper 23. It has a duct 22 for carrying the pulp. Here, a case where the pulp fiber PF is used as the natural fiber to form the natural fiber web NW will be described.
In the middle of the duct 22, a microfiber input duct 25 for charging the microfiber MF in the defibrated state is additionally deployed so as to join the flow of the defibrated pulp fiber PF.
It should be noted that the blending ratio (% by weight) of the pulp fiber PF and the microfiber MF can be arbitrarily adjusted by a sensor, a measuring instrument or the like (not shown).

Further, the air-laid hopper 23 is arranged on the downstream side of the duct 22. Inside the air-laid hopper (mixing device) 23, the above two types of fibers in a defibrated state are designed to descend while being dispersed and mixed, and to be gradually stacked at the stacking position 24 set on the lower surface. As a result, a microfiber-blended natural fiber web MW (hereinafter, simply, a microfiber-blended web) in which the microfiber MF is uniformly mixed with the pulp fiber PF is formed (mixing step).
A suction device 4 is arranged opposite to the lower side of the stacking position 24. More specifically, the suction device 4 has a suction portion 42 on the upper surface of the device main body 41, and the suction portion 42 has a suction force (negative pressure) on the microfiber-blended web MW with respect to the stacking position 24. It is set.

Further, a transport wire 43 for web transport is arranged around the suction device 4. The transfer wire 43 is arranged so that a microfiber-blended web MW can be placed at the stacking position 24 and the transfer wire 43 is conveyed to the downstream side. However, the microfiber-blended web MW is not placed directly on the transport wire 43. This will become clear in the explanation below.
The transport wire 43 is formed in an opening form (mesh) so that the suction force of the suction portion 42 extends to the opposite side (upper side).

The spunbond web supply device 3 is arranged on the lower side of the air-laid device 2 and on the upstream side of the suction device 4. A spunbond web SW prepared in advance is set in the spunbond web supply device 3 in a roll shape. The spunbond web SW is pulled out from the spunbond web supply device 3 and is transported to the stacking position 24 on the transport wire 43 described above. As the spunbond web SW, it is preferable to use a web of continuous filaments of synthetic resin formed by the spunbond method.

The above-mentioned microfiber-blended web MW is placed on the spunbond web SW located at the stacking position 24. At that time, at the laminated position 24, the suction force by the suction portion 42 of the suction device 4 passes through the transport wire 43 and acts on the spunbond web SW and the microfiber-blended web MW on the transfer wire 43. Therefore, the preliminary laminated body PWeb in which the spunbond web SW and the microfiber-blended web MW are laminated is transported to the downstream side.

The above-mentioned preliminary laminated body PWeb is maintained in a laminated state by being suction-compressed by the suction force of the suction device 4. At this time, the upper microfiber-blended web MW is in a state where two types of fibers are densely packed. However, if the preliminary laminated body PWeb is conveyed and thrown into the water flow injection device 5 on the downstream side as it is, there is a possibility that a part of the pulp fiber PF and the microfiber MF may fly up due to the water flow (water jet).
Therefore, in the present manufacturing apparatus 1, the holding roller 28 for stabilizing the placement state of the microfiber-blended web MW on the spunbond web SW by sandwiching the preliminary laminated body PWeb from above and below, and the water flow injection device 5 A pre-wet device 30 for imparting water to prevent fiber scattering is provided on the upstream side. The pre-wet device 30 preferably applies suction force from the spray nozzle 31 that sprays water mist from above the preliminary laminated body PWeb and the lower side of the preliminary laminated body PWeb (that is, the lower surface of the spunbond web SW). It is configured to include a suction device 32.

The water flow injection device 5 promotes entanglement of pulp fibers by spraying a high-pressure water jet on the preliminary laminated body PWeb treated by the pretreatment units 28 and 30. As a result, the integration of the microfiber-blended web MW layer located on the upper side and the spunbond web SW layer located on the lower side is promoted (water flow confounding treatment step).
In the water flow injection device 5 exemplifiedly shown in FIG. 2, water flow injection nozzles 51 are arranged in multiple stages (four stages are exemplified in FIG. 2) along the transport direction TD. By spraying the water flow injection nozzle of the first stage at a low pressure, the pre-wet device 30 described above may be substituted.
In FIG. 2, the state of the nozzles in the direction perpendicular to the transport direction TD (the width direction of the device 1) is not shown, but a plurality of water flow injection nozzles are arranged also in the width direction.

It is desirable to set the water pressure at the time of performing the water flow confounding treatment in consideration of the basis weight of the microfiber-blended web MW and the spunbond web SW. For example, it is preferable to select in the range of 1 to 30 MPa.

The suction device 52 is arranged so as to face the water flow injection nozzle 51. While spraying the high-pressure water jet emitted from the water flow injection nozzle 51 onto the microfiber-blended web MW located on the upper side, the suction force of the suction device 52 is applied to the lower side of the spunbond web SW located on the lower side. .. By the cooperative action of the water flow injection nozzle 51 and the suction device 52, the fibers (pulp fibers and microfibers) on the microfiber-blended web MW side have entered the lower spunbond web SW and penetrated the spunbond web SW. It is presumed that a state (see FIG. 1) that reaches the opposite side is formed. The action promotes the unification of the two layers.

The transfer wire 55 is also arranged in the water flow injection device 5. The transfer wire 55 receives the preliminary laminated body PWeb downstream of the pretreatment units 28 and 30, and transfers the transfer wire 55 into the water flow injection device 5. The transfer wire 55 is arranged so as to pass between the water flow injection nozzle 51 of the water flow injection device 5 and the suction device 52 from the upstream side to the downstream side.
Therefore, the preliminary laminated body PWeb transported on the transport wire 55 is subjected to more water flow entanglement processing as it goes downstream in the transport direction TD, and when it leaves the water flow injection device 5, the upper microfiber is subjected to. Sufficient entanglement processing between the compounded web MW layer and the lower spunbond web SW layer is realized.
Immediately after leaving the water flow injection device 5, the web is in a wet state, and before drying, the bonds between the pulp fibers and the like are not sufficiently established.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, a drying device 6 for drying the laminated body to complete the production of the non-woven fabric wiper WP is provided on the downstream side of the water flow injection device 5. As the drying device 6 adopted here, an air-through dryer, which is a non-compression type dryer, can be preferably adopted.
In FIG. 2, the rotatable dryer body 61 of the air-through dryer is a cylindrical body, and a large number of through holes are provided on the peripheral surface thereof, and hot air heated by a heat source (not shown) is from the outer periphery to the center of the dryer body. It is better to use a configuration that sucks toward the side.
When the web of the non-woven fabric wiper is heated as described above, the resin constituting the microfiber acts to be heat-sealed, which contributes to the improvement of the strength of the non-woven fabric wiper.
The composite non-woven fabric wiper WP continuously manufactured in this way is wound by the roller 71 of the winding device 7 to complete a series of steps.

In the manufacturing process using the manufacturing apparatus 1 described above, the input duct 25 is added to the air-laid hopper 23 in the step of air-transporting the pulp fiber PF (natural fiber), and the natural fiber and micro in the air-laid hopper 23. The non-woven fabric wiper of the present invention can be manufactured by a simple modification of dispersing and mixing fibers with microfibers in a natural fiber web. Therefore, it is possible to manufacture the nonwoven fabric wiper WP at low cost by diverting the existing manufacturing apparatus for the nonwoven fabric wiper.

However, the method of blending the microfiber into the natural fiber web is not limited to the above. For example, a card machine is prepared separately, and microfibers are processed by the card machine to form a sheet-shaped microfiber web. This microfiber web is placed on a natural fiber web and then laminated on a spunbond web (synthetic fiber web) in the same manner as described above. Then, in the same manner as described above, the water flow entanglement treatment may be performed to obtain the non-woven fabric wiper WP. In this case, the mixing step of blending the microfibers into the natural fiber web will be performed together at the time of water flow confounding.

When the natural fiber web NW and the microfiber MF are mixed and processed in the air raid hopper 23 of the air raid device 2 in FIG. 1 (in the case of the air raid type), the microfiber MF is made into a sheet by a card machine and then the natural fiber web. FIG. 3 shows a comparison between the case of mixing with NW (in the case of a card machine) and the case of mixing with NW.
The upper side of FIG. 3 shows the preliminary laminated body PWeb (see FIG. 1) before the water flow confounding treatment. The left side is the preliminary laminated body PWeb-1 manufactured by the air-laid method, and the right side is the preliminary laminated body PWeb-2 manufactured when a card machine is used. In the case of this preliminary laminate PWeb-2, the natural fiber web NW is placed on the natural fiber web NW.

Shown at the bottom is a non-woven wiper WP manufactured by water flow confounding treatment. In the case of the preliminary laminate PWeb-2 on the right side, the microfiber MF is only placed on the natural fiber web NW, but the natural fiber web NW and the spunbond web SW are in a water flow. When the entanglement process is performed, the process of dispersing and mixing the microfiber MF is performed together. Therefore, it is possible to manufacture a non-woven fabric wiper WP in which microfiber MF is blended with a natural fiber web NW in either the left or right process.
However, when a card machine is used, a transport device or the like is required in which the card machine is newly purchased and installed, and the sheet-shaped microfibers produced by the card machine are placed on the natural fiber web NW. On the other hand, in the case of the air-laid type, as described above, it is only necessary to make a simple change to the conventional equipment, so that the equipment cost can be suppressed.

Although the description of the embodiment is completed above, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment and can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the gist thereof.

1 Non-woven fabric wiper manufacturing equipment 2 Air-laid equipment 3 Spunbond web supply equipment 4 Suction equipment 5 Water flow injection equipment 6 Drying equipment 7 Winding equipment 21 Defibering machine 22 Duct 23 Air-laid hopper 24 Laminating position 28 Holding roller 30 Pre-wet equipment 31 Spray nozzle 32 Suction device 41 Suction device body 42 Suction part 43 Conveying wire 51 Water flow injection nozzle 52 Suction device 55 Conveying wire SW Synthetic fiber web NW Natural fiber web MF Microfiber PF Pulp fiber (natural fiber)
MW Microfiber Blended Web PWeb Preliminary Laminate WP Nonwoven Wiper

Claims (5)

A spunlace-type non-woven fabric wiper that is integrally formed by water-flow entanglement treatment in a state where a natural fiber web having water absorption is laminated on a synthetic fiber web.
The above natural fiber web contains microfiber ,
A part of the fiber of the natural fiber web and a part of the microfiber penetrate the synthetic fiber web and protrude from the surface of the synthetic fiber web, and the surface on the natural fiber web side and the said. Both the surface on the synthetic fiber web side are wiped surfaces,
The microfiber is blended in an amount of 20 to 60% by weight based on 80 to 40% by weight of the natural fiber web.
The microfibers are formed of at least one selected fiber from the group consisting of nylon and polyethylene terephthalate, having a fiber diameter of 10 μm or less and a fiber length of 5 to 30 mm.
The fiber diameter of the microfiber is 1/5 to 1/20 of the fiber diameter of the natural fiber.
A non-woven wiper that features that. The method for manufacturing a nonwoven fabric wiper according to claim 1 .
A mixing process in which microfibers are uniformly dispersed and blended in water-absorbent natural fibers.
It is characterized by including a water flow entanglement treatment step in which fibers are entangled and integrated by a high-pressure water flow in a state where the microfiber-blended natural fiber web obtained in the mixing step is laminated on the synthetic fiber web. Manufacturing method of non-woven fabric wiper. The method for producing a nonwoven fabric wiper according to claim 2, wherein in the mixing step, the natural fiber and the microfiber are mixed in an air-laid hopper. There is a manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing the nonwoven fabric wiper according to claim 1 .
A mixing device that uniformly disperses and blends microfibers with water-absorbent natural fibers,
It is characterized by including at least a water flow entanglement treatment device in which fibers are entangled and integrated by a high-pressure water flow in a state where a microfiber-blended natural fiber web obtained by the mixing device is laminated on a synthetic fiber web. Non-woven fabric wiper manufacturing equipment. The non-woven fabric wiper manufacturing device according to claim 4, wherein the mixing device is an air-laid hopper that mixes the natural fiber and the microfiber.

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