JPH01195035A - Preparation of gel paced buffer material - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent overpressure at the time of the heat-welding of a coating layer, by using a layer composed of a nonwoven fabric obtained by connecting and bonding thermoplastic fibers as one of front and back coating layers and melting, cooling and solidifying the nonwoven fabric to form split stripes. CONSTITUTION:Nonwoven fabrics 2 as coating layers are laminated to the front and back of a thin plate-shape gel like substance 1 formed of a gel like substance having a needle penetration of 50-200 to form a three-layer structure consisting of the nonwoven fabric, the gel like substance and the nonwoven fabric and, subsequently, this three-layer structure is set to a high frequency welding machine and a press plate is allowed to fall to split the gel like substance by the welding surface 31 of a mold 3 and the front and back nonwoven fabrics 2 are pressurized to a proper degree to be superposed each other. Heat is collectively generated at the leading end of the mold when high frequency is applied and the front and back nonwoven fabrics are melted each other and become leaf like split stripes 5 upon cooling. The gel like substance position on the welding surface is escaped in the peripheral recessed part 32 to slightly expand this section. By this method, it is prevented that the thickness of the welded stripes becomes excessively thin by overpressure and the thick welded stripes can be formed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a method for producing a gel-filled cushioning material that can be used as a cushioning material, a vibration isolating material, a cushioning material, and an outer cover material having vibration damping performance.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Recently, pads filled with a gel-like substance have been embedded in athletic shoes and supporters in order to cushion the impact upon landing.

For this gel-like substance, JIS K 2530-19
Penetration measured by 76-(50g load) is 50~
200, and due to its stability as a material, silicone gel, or a composite silicone gel made by mixing microscopic hollow spheres into it, is exclusively used, but generally gel-like substances with a penetration degree of this order has low tensile strength and surface hardness, and high adhesiveness.

For this reason, the above-mentioned bat is made by covering the front and back of the bat with a heat-fusible covering material made of a thin plate-like gel-like material, and changing the outer shape of the bat by the method shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6'2-161524. The covering material is heat-welded and molded, and at the same time, the inside of the pad is subdivided into independent sections. Conventionally, the covering material used is polyvinyl chloride or polyurethane. Film is normal.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, the plasticizer contained in polyvinyl chloride film may migrate or fly off, resulting in the coating layer becoming hard, and the coating layer may become hard when used as is on the surface of the product. As a material, it had poor physical properties. In addition, polyurethane films have excellent physical properties such as strength and aging resistance, and can be used directly on the surface of products, but their heat weldability is not as good as that of polyvinyl chloride, and they often There are problems in that the welding strength is low, and the appropriate conditions for welding are narrow, making it easy to produce defects.

In addition, if the covering material is in the form of a film, it is not breathable, so it may get stuffy, and the inside of the cushioning material may become airtight, acting as an air cushion. In some cases, it may not be possible to say for sure. Furthermore, if the covering material is only a film, it itself has poor cushioning properties, lacks bulkiness, and poor coloring properties, so it lacks so-called texture and is difficult to achieve a gorgeous finish. Furthermore, there is also the problem that it is unsuitable for use in areas that come into close contact with the body, such as bending and bending parts.

Structure of the Invention Therefore, the method for producing a gel-filled cushioning material of the present invention involves polymerizing a heat-fusible covering layer on the front and back surfaces of a buffer layer made of a gel-like material with a penetration degree of 50 to 200, and a heat-welding means. The buffer layer is divided from above the covering layer by the dividing means having the above-mentioned dividing means, whereby the buffer layer N is divided by the dividing means to create independent blocks, and almost at the same time, the covering layer of the divided portions is welded by the welding means described in 2. In order to form dividing lines between independent blocks, at least one of the front and back covering layers is made of a layer of nonwoven fabric made by bonding thermoplastic fibers,
It is characterized in that the nonwoven fabric is melted, cooled and solidified to form split streaks, and further characterized in that the nonwoven fabric is formed by joining long fibers of urethane fibers.

Function: Since the nonwoven fabric used for at least one of the coating layers is made by bonding thermoplastic fibers, the required pressure for the gel-like substance to be divided by the dividing means when the dividing lines are formed by the welding means. In addition, since there is a thickness corresponding to the overlap of the fibers, it prevents excessive pressure during heat welding of the front and back coating layers and prevents the thickness of the weld line from becoming too thin.
The fibers that make up the nonwoven fabric melt themselves and are directly involved in the formation of split streaks.

Example Next, an example of the method for manufacturing the gel-filled cushioning material of the present invention will be described in the first example.
As will be explained with reference to Figures 3 to 3, it is necessary to obtain a thin plate-like gel material. For this, the gel raw materials are kneaded and defoamed manually, poured onto a glass plate, etc., and spread into a uniform layer with a spatula, or covered with upper and lower films and rolled with rolls, and then heated in a heating furnace. Appropriate measures such as gelation are taken. In addition, JISK as a gel-like substance
2530-1976- (50g load), silicone gel with a penetration degree of about 50 to 200, and composite silicone gel made by mixing micro hollow spheres therein, include, for example, silicone gel manufactured by Toray Silicone Co., Ltd. Product name l・-So-called RTV such as Resilicone CF3027
, Phyllite (registered trademark) manufactured by Nippon Phyllite Co., Ltd., and Expancel (registered trademark) sold by Nippon Phyllite Co., Ltd.

In any case, once a thin plate-like gel material is obtained, a non-woven fabric 2 as a covering layer is laminated on the front and back sides of the thin plate-like gel material 1 as shown in FIG. It has three layers.

Here, the non-woven fabric 2 is a non-woven fabric made by bonding thermoplastic fibers, especially long fibers, or a non-woven fabric made by mechanically entangling long fibers of urethane fibers without using a binder to form a sheet. Advantageous, such as M e I t
- Non-woven fabric TAPYRUS (registered trademark) sold by Tonentabils Co., Ltd. is manufactured by self-adhering using the Blowin g method.

Next, this is pressed using a mold as a dividing means so that the heat from the welding means is applied to the non-woven fabric 2 from the welding surface of the mold. use

For example, a high-frequency welding machine has a pressure plate facing above the base that can be raised and lowered using hydraulic pressure, etc., and the object to be welded is placed between the mold attached to the base and the mold attached to the pressure plate, and then After lowering the pressure plate and pressurizing the object to be welded to some extent, high frequency is applied between the base and the mold of the pressure plate to melt the object to be welded between the molds, and then the application of high frequency is stopped. After waiting for the molten part to cool down, the pressure plate is raised and the welded product can be taken out. Also, when applying high frequency, it is possible to apply back pressure to the pressure plate to prevent the welded part from becoming overly pressurized.

The mold in this case has four parts adjacent to the welding surface, the welding surface being a surface that forms the outer shape of the gel-filled cushioning material and, if necessary, a surface that further subdivides the inside into independent sections. It consists of.

The depth of the four parts is made sufficiently deep to ensure a space that does not interfere with the formation of the bulging part filled with the gel-like substance.

Note that this mold may be set as a pair of symmetrical molds, but for example, it is also possible to use this mold for the pressure plate and a flat mold for the base. A gel-filled cushioning material with a bulged negative side is obtained. The figure shows the latter.

Therefore, for example, if the three-layered material is set in a high-frequency welding machine and the pressure plate is lowered, the welding surface 31 of the mold 3 will divide the gel-like material N1 as shown in FIG.
Appropriate pressure is applied to the front and back nonwoven fabrics 2 to overlap them. When a high frequency wave is applied almost simultaneously, heat is generated intensively at the tip of the mold, and as shown in Figure 3, the front and back nonwoven fabrics melt together, and when this is cooled, - leaf-like This becomes dividing line 5.

On the other hand, the gel-like substance located on the welding surface escapes into any of the surrounding recesses 32, causing that section to bulge out a little. In this way, dividing lines defining the outer shape and interior of the gel-filled cushioning material according to the welding surface 31 of the mold 3, and a bulging portion filled with a gel-like substance are formed.

Here, when the welding surface 31 of the mold 3 divides the gel-like material 1, if the nonwoven fabric 2 used as the covering layer is made by joining thermoplastic long fibers, it has a high spreadability and a comparatively It can expand and contract freely throughout the entire body, and can follow the welding surface of the mold in a way that relieves stress.

Furthermore, when the gel-like substance 1 is divided by the mold 3, the non-edge cloth 2 acts like a cushioning underlay,
The required pressing force for dividing the gel-like substance 1 can be reduced. At the same time, since the non-woven fabric 2 has a thickness equivalent to the overlap of the wA fibers, it can remain relatively thick even if it is pressurized to a certain extent. Therefore, due to the low pressure, the upper and lower molds 3 and 4 are relatively far apart during welding, and only a relatively low pressure is applied.

Therefore, even if high frequency is applied and the fibers constituting the nonwoven fabric are melted, the thickness of the split strips 5 will not become excessively thin due to excessive pressure, and a relatively thick weld strip can be formed, and the surrounding area will also stretch. This prevents stress concentration and banking. Therefore, the welding is strong, the appropriate conditions for thermal welding are relaxed, and the defect rate can be reduced.

Note that when the welding surface of the mold divides the gel material, if the nonwoven fabric used as the covering layer is in direct contact with the gel material as in the above example, the surface of the nonwoven fabric will exhibit a rough surface with entangled fibers. Therefore, in order to divide this while putting some gel-like substance into the eye, the gel-like substance may be dispersed and exist in the dividing line 5, and for this reason, the appearance and strength may be slightly different. However, gel-filled cushioning materials manufactured using only non-woven yellow as a covering layer are highly breathable, so
By preventing the interior from becoming airtight, it will be possible to use it to truly take advantage of the properties of the gel-like material.

Incidentally, the higher the formation density of the holes in the mold, that is, the four parts, the higher the filling effect of gel from the weld lines, the greater the degree of protrusion, and the stronger the three-dimensional effect.

Next, in the above embodiment, the covering layer was a single layer of nonwoven fabric on each of the front and back sides, but in FIG. They are overlapped and welded together. In this way, by using a heat-fusible film as at least one of the coating layers, the gel-like substance 1 can be split completely using the inner polyurethane film as a sliding surface and remain at the weld line. It is possible to make it look beautiful, and also be strong in terms of strength. In this case, a large number of fine holes are provided in the internal polyurethane film, but if one side of the nonwoven fabric 2 is coated with polyurethane to the extent that it is breathable, rather than a polyurethane film, breathability can be ensured to a certain extent. . Here, if the coating layer is only a film, the oil component of the internal gel-like substance will seep out to the surface, causing many problems such as adhesion and slipping. However, according to the present invention, the nonwoven fabric is oily. Surface leaching of components can be suppressed, and these obstacles can also be alleviated.

Further, in FIG. 5, a so-called cloth N7 is further laminated on the covering layer, and a so-called sponge 8 is laminated on the buffer layer instead of only a gel-like substance.

In this case, as shown in the figure, it is desirable that the cloth material be coated with a heat-fusible resin 71 in advance, and it is desirable that the sponge be made of thermoplastic resin. However, this does not necessarily have to be the case, and it is sufficient if the result is a covering layer or a buffer layer that can be thermally welded. In addition, the material for the cloth layer may be selected simply for the purpose of increasing decorativeness, or for example, high-strength cloth such as woven cloth such as Kevlar (registered trademark) may be selected. Since welding has become easier, it has become easier to combine with these materials.

Therefore, due to overpressure ζ, the thickness of the weld line does not become excessively thin and a relatively thick weld line can be formed, and stress concentration can be reduced, so the weld strength is strong.On the other hand, the appropriate conditions for welding are It is easy to manufacture because it is loose. In addition, the breathability of non-woven fabrics makes it possible to use them to truly take advantage of the properties of gel-like materials, and the coating layer itself has cushioning properties.
It is bulky and has a unique texture, feels good on the skin, and prevents stuffiness. In addition, since nonwoven fabrics are generally easier to dye than when the resin is in the form of a film, they are easier to color and can give a gorgeous feel. In addition, at welded lines, the fibers melt, cool, solidify, and become a film, so they are restrained, but in areas where there are no welded lines, the high ductility of the nonwoven fabric is utilized to make it possible to wear it at bent or stretched areas. It can also be made appropriate.

For this reason, Supporter 1 includes gloves for handling vibrating tools, inner gloves such as work gloves, shoes, insoles, headbands for head protection, inner caps, exercise equipment, cameras,
Provided as an excellent mat for various soft cases such as lenses, rider wear, ski wear, and their bats, as well as insulator substitutes for players and speakers, computers and precision equipment, crow products and crow cases, etc. be able to.

Although the present invention has been variously explained with reference to preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, such as the materials of the coating layer and the buffer layer, the laminated state thereof, etc., and there may be no deviation from the spirit of the invention. Of course, many modifications can be made within the scope.

Effects of the Invention Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to form a relatively thick weld line without excessively thinning the wall thickness of the weld line due to excessive pressurization, the weld strength is strong, and it is possible to form an appropriate weld line during thermal welding. Since the conditions are lenient, manufacturing becomes easier and the defective rate can be reduced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 3 are schematic cross-sectional views showing the state during processing to explain an example of the method for manufacturing the gel-filled cushioning material of the present invention, FIG. 4 shows another example, and FIG. 6 is yet another example. 1...Gel-like substance serving as a buffer layer 2...Non-metal fabric serving as a covering layer 3.4...Mold 31...Welding surface 32...
・Concavity 5...Welding streaks 6...Hot melt as a covering layer 7...Fabric layer 8 as a covering layer...Sponge as a buffer layer

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A covering layer having thermal weldability is polymerized on the front and back surfaces of a buffer layer made of a gel-like substance with a penetration degree of 50 to 200, and the buffer layer is coated on top of the covering layer by dividing means having a thermal welding means. As a result, when the buffer layer is divided by the dividing means to create independent blocks, the covering layer of the divided portion is welded by the welding means to form dividing lines between the independent blocks. A method for manufacturing a gel-filled cushioning material, characterized in that at least one of the covering layers is a layer of a nonwoven fabric made by bonding thermoplastic fibers, and the nonwoven fabric is melted, cooled, and solidified to form dividing lines. (2) The method for producing a gel-filled cushioning material according to claim 1, characterized in that the nonwoven fabric is a fabric made by binding long fibers of polyurethane fibers.