JPH04100958A - Stretchable nonwoven fabric having water-absorptivity and its production - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the subject nonwoven fabric having excellent fittability and useful as a bandage such as dressing material and substrate for poultice by using a fiber, web composed of at least too kinds of materials comprising a specific thermally crimping fiber and a hydrophilic fiber and interlocking the fiber of the web under the action of a fluid. CONSTITUTION:A fiber web composed of a thermally crimping fiber having an areal density of 50-80g/m<2> and a hydrophilic fiber having an areal density of 5-50g/m<2> is subjected to the action of a fluid to effect the interlocking of the fibers. The thermally crimping fiber is crimped with heat to obtain the objective nonwoven fabric. The thermally crimping fiber is e.g. a side-by-side conjugate fiber composed of two kinds of polyester fibers having different melting points and the hydrophilic fiber is e.g. cotton fiber.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a nonwoven fabric that is stretchable and has excellent water absorbency, and a method for producing the same.

(Prior art and its problems) Bandages, triangular mounts, and other bandages used in the medical field and other fields are mainly made of cotton sit, w, or woven fabric of polyester fibers, and some are made of needle punch made of polyester fibers. Non-woven fabric according to the law is used. However, although bandages made of cotton fibers have excellent water and sweat absorption properties, it is well known that they have poor elasticity and poor fit to affected areas of the body. Additionally, bandages made from polyester fibers are generally durable;
Although it is possible to obtain a product with good elasticity, it has poor water and sweat absorption properties, and may cause stuffiness and rash when used for a long time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a water-absorbent stretchable nonwoven fabric that is suitable for use in bandages and the like and can eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks of conventional bandages made of fiber materials, and a method for producing the same.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the gist of the configuration of the present invention is as follows.

The present invention is comprised of a method for producing a stretchable water-absorbing nonwoven fabric and the nonwoven fabric obtained thereby.

In the production method of the present invention, a fibrous web made of at least two types of materials, heat-crimpable fibers with a basis weight of 50 to 80 g/m and hydrophilic fibers with a basis weight of 5 to 50 g/m, is processed into fibers under the action of a fluid. The method is characterized in that the heat-crimpable fibers are intertwined and further subjected to a crimping treatment under heating.

The nonwoven fabric of the present invention is obtained by the method described above, and is composed of fibers entangled under the action of a fluid, and the fibers have a basis weight of 5.
0-80g/m' heat-crimped fiber and basis weight 5-50g/m'
It is characterized by being composed of at least two types of materials: m hydrophilic fibers.

(Function) In the method for producing a nonwoven fabric of the present invention configured as described above, heat-crimpable fibers and hydrophilic fibers can be easily intertwined and integrated (Claim 1).

In the above-mentioned nonwoven fabric, elasticity is imparted by using heat-crimped fibers, and water absorbency is imparted by using hydrophilic fibers (Claim 2).

(Embodiments) Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of an apparatus for carrying out the manufacturing method of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the material to be treated 6 is a first fiber component 6, which will be described later.
A water-impermeable and substantially smooth endless belt 1, which is a fibrous web consisting of fibers a and second component fibers 6b and serves as a first support for the material to be treated 6, is stretched between the rolls 2 and 3. Water-impermeable and substantially smooth-surfaced rolls 4a and 4b serving as second supports are arranged on the left side of the belt 1 in the figure.
, 4c.

4d is placed. Belt 1 and roll 4a.

A nozzle body 5a is provided above 4b, 4c, and 4d.

5b, 5c, 5d, and 5e are arranged. (Figure 2,
(See Figure 3). To the left of the roll 4d in the figure is the material to be treated 6.
A pair of squeezing rolls 7 are arranged to remove moisture. Each nozzle 5a, 5b, 5c.

5d and 5e are connected to a distribution tank 10 via a pressure regulating valve 8 and a pressure gauge 9. The distribution tank 10 is connected to a filter tank 12 via a vibrator 11, and the tank 12 is connected to a pressure bomb 1 driven by a motor 13.
4, and the pump 14 is connected to a tank 16 via a vibrator 15. Held 1, Roll 4a,
A dish-shaped recovery tank 17 is arranged in the lower surface area of 4b, 4c, 4d, and 7, and the tank 17 is connected to the tank 16 via a vibrator 18 and a filter box 19. The water in the tank 16 is made high pressure by the high pressure pump 14,
It is filtered by the filter tank 12 and supplied to the distribution tank 10, and from the tank 10 each nozzle body 5a, 5b, 5c,
5d and 5e, and from each orifice (not shown) drilled at required intervals on the bottom surface of these nozzle bodies, a fine high-speed water stream flows onto the belt 1 and the rolls 4a, 4b, 4c.

4d and 4e (see Figures 2 and 3).

In such an apparatus, the material to be treated 6 made of a fibrous web that is guided onto the belt 1 from the direction of arrow 20 and transferred in the directions of arrows 21 and 22 is heated to an extent that the fibrous web form is not disturbed or damaged. The fibers are preliminarily entangled on the heald 1 by a high-speed water stream from the orifice of the nozzle 5a so as to impart a fiber bonding force of . Next, the material to be treated 6 is subjected to fiber entanglement treatment stepwise and in earnest on the rolls 4a, 4b, 4-c, and 4d using high-speed water flows from the nozzle bodies 5b, 5c, 5d, and 5e.
Most of the contained moisture is removed by squeezing by the roll 7, and the material is transferred to the next drying step (not shown). Further, the material to be treated 6 is transferred to a heat treatment furnace 30 by a set of feed rolls 3I, where the first component fiber 6a is subjected to a heat crimping process, which will be described later. The material 6 to be treated becomes the nonwoven fabric 35 of the present invention through this treatment, and is transferred to a winding process (not shown) in the direction of arrow 23 by a negative pair of feed rolls 32. Nozzle body 5
a, 5b.

Width W of each support of the high-speed water flow according to 5c, 5d, and 5e
The direction average supply amount is set to 40 cc/sec-cm or less, preferably 30 cc/5 ec-C11 or less. The back pressure for injecting the high-speed water stream in each nozzle is 10 to 100.
kg/cy! It is.

In FIG. 4, the structure of the treated material 6 in the thickness direction is shown. Here, the treated material 6 is shown as an example in which first component fibers 6a and second component fibers 6b are stacked in layers.

The second component fiber 6b may be a fibrous web formed by a cart or a fibrous sheet-like web formed by a paper machine as long as it is a hydrophilic fiber that can be moved by the force of a water jet. In order to exhibit water absorbency in the present invention, the basis weight is 5 to 50 g/m', preferably 10 to 40 g/rrr. Weight is 50g/
If it is larger than m, the proportion of the first component fiber 6a to be described later will be too large, and the stretchability of the nonwoven fabric 35 will be insufficient. The first component fibers 6a can be formed by a fiber web formed by a card, a paper machine, or other means, as long as the second component fibers 6b can be moved in the direction of the first component fibers 6a by the force of the jet water stream. It may be any fiber sheet-like web formed by. The basis weight of the first component fiber 6a is preferably 50 to 80 g/m'. Weight is 5
If it is less than 0g/m, the elasticity of the nonwoven fabric will be insufficient, and the
If it is larger than g1m, the stretching force is too strong and tends to lead to excessive quality. The first component fiber 6a and the second component fiber 6b are used in a weight ratio of 7=3 to 5:5, and preferably the total basis weight of both components is in the range of 60 to 120 g7m. In FIG. 4, the material to be treated 6 is shown as a web having a layered structure of first component fibers 6a and second component fibers 6b, but the material to be treated 6 may also be a web made of a mixture of the same component fibers. .

The first component fiber 6a is a heat-crimpable fiber. The term "thermally crimpable fiber" as used herein refers to a fiber that exhibits latent heat crimpability and develops crimp upon heat treatment.

Specific examples include bimetallic composite fibers made of two types of polyester fibers with different melting points, two types of polypropylene fibers with different melting points, and eccentric sheath-core type composite fibers made of polyethylene and polypropylene fibers. The appearance of crimp can be obtained by heat-treating each of the composite fibers at a temperature at or near the melting point of the low-melting point fibers therein. It is generally well known that the first component 6a exhibits excellent stretchability after heat crimping, and that it exhibits hydrophobicity as a characteristic of synthetic fibers.

The second component fiber 6b is a hydrophilic fiber. More specifically, natural fibers such as cotton fiber and rayon fiber can be cited as examples. As described above, the presence of such fibers imparts water absorbency to the nonwoven fabric 35. As can be understood from the above-mentioned fibers used, the term "water absorbency" here includes sweat absorption and the possibility of absorbing other liquids.

Although not shown, as a third component fiber, for example, a fiber having a lower melting point than the low melting point component of the heat-crimpable fiber is mixed into the material to be treated 6, and the material to be treated 6 is formed by the heat treatment. The material to be treated 6 is made of highly rigid fibers having a higher melting point than the low melting point component.
It is also possible to increase the rigidity of the finished nonwoven fabric 35 by mixing it with the nonwoven fabric 35.

When the nonwoven fabric 35 is cut into a suitable shape and used as a bandage such as a bandage or a sling, it is extremely useful because it fits well to the body and has sweat absorption properties. Furthermore, by applying an electrochemical agent to the cut pieces of the nonwoven fabric 35, a poultice material that fits well to the affected area can be obtained.

In the material 6 to be treated, as shown in the fourth diagram, the first component fiber 6a
The nonwoven fabric 35 obtained by layering and entangling the second component fibers 6b can contain a relatively large amount of the second component fibers 6b, which are hydrophilic fibers, on one side of the nonwoven fabric. If the treated material 6 is made of a uniform mixture of the same component fibers, both surfaces of the nonwoven fabric 35 can contain the second component fibers 6b equally.

(Effects) According to the manufacturing method of the present invention, it is possible to easily entangle hydrophilic fibers with heat-crimpable fibers and integrate them into a nonwoven fabric.

The obtained non-woven fabric has both elasticity and excellent water-absorbing properties. Therefore, by using this non-woven fabric, it is possible to obtain bandages such as slings and poultices that fit well to affected areas of the body and have sweat-absorbing properties. It will be done.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of N1 showing an example of an apparatus for carrying out the manufacturing method according to the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are perspective views showing a support body and a nozzle body, and FIG. FIG. 2 is a side view showing the structure of the material to be treated. 6a...Heat-crimpable fiber 6b...Hydrophilic fiber 35...Nonwoven fabric attorney Yoshiharu Shirahama 1''' ---Top 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) Fiber entanglement of a fiber web made of at least two types of materials: heat-crimpable fibers with a basis weight of 50 to 80 g/m^2 and hydrophilic fibers with a basis weight of 5 to 50 g/m^2 under fluid action. A method for producing a water-absorbing stretchable nonwoven fabric, characterized in that the heat-crimpable fibers are subjected to a crimping treatment under heating. (2) A nonwoven fabric formed by intertwining fibers under the action of a fluid, wherein the fibers are hydrophilic with heat-crimped fibers having a basis weight of 50 to 80 g/m^2 and having a basis weight of 5 to 50 g/m^2. The water-absorbing stretchable nonwoven fabric produced by the method according to claim 1, characterized in that it is made of at least two types of materials: fibers and fibers.