JPH05222657A - Nonwoven fabric and its production - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the surface of flexible nonwoven fabric with projected parts and to improve wiping performance. CONSTITUTION:A fiber web comprising >=20wt.% fibers having <=1 denier fineness and 3-20 mm fiber length is treated with a high-pressure jetting water flow on a porous supporting member having 0.2-1mm pore diameter and 2.5-30% rate of hole area, the fibers 2 are interlaced and rearranged to give nonwoven fabric 1 having napped projected parts 4 on one side. The nonwoven fabric is flexible and the projected parts can scratch off dirt. In the projected parts 4, the fibers 2 are lined in the direction of thickness of the nonwoven fabric 1 and capillarity works between the fibers 2 to supply water to a face to be wiped or to draw up water.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flexible non-woven fabric excellent in wiping performance of water drops and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a non-woven fabric has been used as a kind of cloth for wiping window glasses, tables and the like. It is well known that the performance of a non-woven fabric can be widely changed by appropriately selecting the raw material fibers and the manufacturing method. For example,
A nonwoven fabric using thermoplastic synthetic fibers having a large number of irregularities formed by heat embossing treatment is convenient for removing stains because the projections act to scrape off stains on the wiped surface. Further, a non-woven fabric in which fibers having a small fineness are entangled by the action of fluid pressure such as a jet water flow is more flexible than a non-woven fabric in which fibers are entangled by a binder or heat fusion, and is suitable for wiping the surface of delicate things. .. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,616,175 discloses a non-woven fabric having an appearance similar to that of chamois leather, in which rayon fibers having a denier of 1 denier or less are entangled by a high-pressure jet water flow on a support composed of a plate or a mesh screen, and having good wiping performance. The manufacturing technique is disclosed and examples are given using rayon fibers with a length of about 40 mm.

[0003]

When hot embossing a non-woven fabric, the height of the unevenness is adjusted depending on the embossing condition.
Although it is possible to effectively remove dirt, on the other hand, when embossing, the fibers are easily melted into lumps, and it is difficult to obtain a soft touch. On the other hand, in the manufacturing technique of the above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,616,175, by relatively arranging fibers having a small fineness in a plane,
Although it is possible to obtain a non-woven fabric which has a smooth surface and is soft and comfortable to the touch, this non-woven fabric does not have the easiness of removing stains when the surface is uneven.

Therefore, according to the present invention, a web of water having a small fineness and relatively short fibers in a water-containing state is subjected to jet water flow on a perforated support to effect rearrangement and entanglement of the fibers, and a large number of fibers are formed on one side. It is an object to obtain a nonwoven fabric having a good wiping performance that is effective in removing dirt by forming raised ridges.

[0005]

The gist of the present invention to solve the above problems is as follows.

In the method for producing a nonwoven fabric according to the present invention, 10 fiber webs containing fibers having a fineness of 1 denier or less and a fiber length of 3 to 20 mm in an amount of 20% by weight or more in a dry state are used.
A water content of 0 to 500% by weight is provided, and such a fibrous web is introduced onto the surface of a perforated support having pores having a pore size of 0.2 to 1 mm and a porosity of 2.5 to 30%. A fiber treatment process is used in which a jet of water is applied to the web to entangle and rearrange the fibers. By this treatment step, the fiber ends on the side of the support contacting surface of the web flow into the through holes of the support and are arranged in the thickness direction of the web to form raised protrusions, while fibers are formed between the through holes. The characteristic is that they are entangled and arranged substantially in parallel with the surface of the support to form a smooth surface.

In one of the embodiments of such a manufacturing method, the treatment step includes a jet water flow treatment on a non-perforated support following the perforated support. Also, in another one of the embodiments, it includes a jet stream treatment on a mesh screen following the perforated support.

The non-woven fabric according to the present invention is of the kind produced by the above-mentioned production method, and has a fineness of 1 denier or less and a fiber length of 3 to 20 mm in a dried state.
It is a non-woven fabric containing fibers in an amount of not less than wt% and entangled with each other, and has a raised projection portion arranged in a predetermined pattern on one side.

[0009]

In the method for manufacturing a nonwoven fabric according to the present invention,
Since the web consisting of fibers with a relatively small fineness and short fiber length is preliminarily impregnated with water, the texture is stable, and when a high-pressure jet water flow is applied to this web, the fibers are rearranged without scattering. , And efficiently intertwine. During rearrangement, short fibers easily flow into the through holes of the support, and the inflowing fiber ends are arranged in the web thickness direction to form raised protrusions on the support contact surface of the web. In between, the fibers intertwine with each other and are arranged parallel to the plane of the support to form a smooth surface.

The non-woven fabric according to the present invention has a small fineness,
The fibers are entangled with each other only by water flow without using binder or heat fusion, and moreover, since there are many raised protrusions on one side, it is soft and comfortable to touch. You can scrape dirt off the part. Due to the capillary action generated between the fibers arranged in the thickness direction at the protrusions, for example, water can be swiftly sucked up from a wet wiping surface.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a nonwoven fabric 1 according to the present invention. On the surface side of the nonwoven fabric 1, the fibers 2 are entangled with each other,
And the smooth surface 3 which is distributed in a plane and the end portion 5 of the fiber 2
Includes a protrusion 4 formed by rising from the smooth surface 3 in the thickness direction of the nonwoven fabric 1, and the back surface side is substantially smooth.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line XX in FIG. Fibers 2 which are entangled with each other between the front and back surfaces of the non-woven fabric 1
Are distributed in layers in the thickness direction. The protrusions 4 have a raised appearance due to the large number of end portions 5 arranged in the thickness direction, and when the distribution density of the protrusions 4 is high, the entire nonwoven fabric has a raised appearance.

The non-woven fabric 1 is made of polyester fiber having a fineness of 0.7 denier and a fiber length of 10 mm.
Has a height from the base of 0.05 to 1 mm, a diameter of the base of 0.2 to 1 mm, and an occupation ratio of 2.
It is 5 to 30%, and the surface pattern can be formed on the nonwoven fabric 1 in an appropriate array pattern.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic process diagram for producing the nonwoven fabric 1. This manufacturing process includes first, second and third endless belts 101, 102, 103 which progress from the right hand to the left hand in the figure,
It has a roller 104 interposed between the second and third endless belts 102 and 103, a dehydrator / dryer 105 that covers a part of the third endless belt 103, and the like. 2 above the endless belt 102,
A fifth nozzle 115 is provided above the third and fourth nozzles 112, 113, 114 and the roller 104 in the width direction of the belt, and the amount of water from the nozzle is substantially uniform in the width direction. 3 to 10 kg / c for the first nozzle 111
Water is sprayed at a low pressure of m ^{2, and} the ^second , third and fourth nozzles 112, 11
3,114 and the fifth nozzle 115, 30 to 130k
High-pressure water of g / cm ² can be jetted.

FIG. 4 is a partial plan view of the second endless belt 102. The belt 102 is provided with through holes 121 having a hole diameter of 0.2 to 1 mm arranged in a predetermined pattern at an opening ratio of 2.5 to 30%, and collects the water sprayed on the belt 102 in FIG. It can be drained to the pan 116. Regarding this drainage, the first endless belt 101 is
The operation is performed with a relatively small amount of water in the first nozzle 111, and a through hole such as the second endless belt 102 is not always necessary. Further, in the roller 104, the jet water quickly flows down along the roller surface. Incidentally, promptly discharging the jetted water from a support such as a belt is known as a conventional technique for efficiently entanglement of fibers with the jetted water.

A random web 151 made of polyester fiber 2 having a fineness of 0.7 denier, a fiber length of 10 mm, and a basis weight of 70 g / m ² is placed on the first endless belt 101, and 100 is sprayed from the first nozzle 111. The wet web 152 containing ˜500 wt% of water is transferred to the second endless belt 102. The web 152 is treated with high-pressure jet water from the second, third and fourth nozzles 112, 113, 114 whose water pressure is set to be successively higher, so that the fibers 2 are entangled with each other and the web 153 is in a new arrangement state. .. In the web 153, the fibers 2 tend to be arranged in parallel with the traveling direction of the second endless belt 102, and the contact surface with the belt 102 forms a smooth surface following the surface of the belt 102. The fibers 2 flow into the through holes 121 along with the drainage in the through holes 121 and the periphery thereof, and the end portions thereof are arranged downward of the through holes 121. Web 15
High-pressure water of 70 to 130 kg / cm ² is further sprayed onto the roller 3 on the roller 104 to increase the entanglement density of the fiber 2 to form the web 154. The web 154 is provided with the third endless belt 10
After being transferred to No. 3 and dehydrated / dried by the drier 105, it is rolled up to obtain a finished non-woven fabric 155. This non-woven fabric 155
1 is the same as the non-woven fabric 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the contact surface with the second endless belt 102 is the surface of the non-woven fabric 1, and the portion where the fiber 2 flows into the through hole 121 is the raised protrusion 4 The smooth surface 3 is provided between the protrusions 4. In the nonwoven fabric 155, the surface facing the nozzles 111 to 115 is the back surface of the nonwoven fabric 1.

The web 151 of this embodiment has a fineness of 1 denier or less and a fiber length of 3 to 20 m instead of polyester fiber.
It is possible to use a fiber web containing 20% by weight or more of an appropriate fiber of m in a dry state. When the fineness is larger than 1 denier, the flexibility of the nonwoven fabric is impaired, which is not preferable. When the fiber length is shorter than 3 mm, it becomes difficult for the fibers to be entangled with each other, and the amount of the fibers 2 which is discharged from the through hole 121 together with the drainage increases, which is not preferable. On the other hand, if the fiber length is longer than 20 mm, it becomes difficult for the fibers to flow toward the through holes 121, or the number of fibers per fixed basis weight decreases, and the number of fiber end portions decreases accordingly, so that the protrusions 4 are formed. It gets harder. Similarly, if the amount of the required fiber used is less than 20%, it is difficult to form the protrusions 4, and the nonwoven fabric 1 lacks flexibility.

When the roll 104 and the fifth nozzle 115 are used in the manufacturing process, the roll hardness is set to 50.
The pressure should be higher than the limit and should be able to withstand the use of high-pressure jet water. The amount of water jet is 20 to 20 in the width direction of the web 101.
Roll 1 by setting 40 ml / sec · cm
It is possible to increase the fiber entanglement density while efficiently removing the jetted water along the 04 plane. The second endless belt 102
With the number of upper nozzles and water pressure set appropriately, this belt 1
If a sufficiently high entanglement density was obtained on 02, roll 10
It is possible to omit the fourth and fifth nozzles 115. Further, instead of the combination of the roll 104 and the fifth nozzle 115,
When the web 153 is processed using a mesh screen belt and an appropriate number of nozzles, an opening that follows the knuckle can be provided in a portion of the mesh that is in contact with the knuckle.

In the non-woven fabric 1 produced by such a manufacturing method,
It is possible to arrange the fibers 2 in the protrusion 4 substantially in one direction in the thickness direction. As a result, if the nonwoven fabric 1 is wet with water, the water can be supplied to the wiping surface by the capillary action between the fibers 2 and the surface can be quickly wetted. Further, if the dry non-woven fabric 1 is applied to the wiping surface wet with water, the water can be quickly sucked up by this capillary action.

[0021]

The non-woven fabric according to the present invention is soft to the touch because fibers having a small fineness are entangled by a high-pressure water stream. Since a protrusion is provided on the surface, dirt on the wiping surface can be scraped off by this protrusion. In the protrusion, the fibers are arranged in the thickness direction of the nonwoven fabric,
A capillary action works between the fibers, and it is easy to wet the wiping surface with water or suck up water from the wiping surface.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a nonwoven fabric according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line XX in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic manufacturing process drawing of a nonwoven fabric.

FIG. 4 is a partial plan view of a second endless belt.

[Simple explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Non-woven fabric 2 Fiber 3 Smooth surface 4 Projection part 5 End part 102 Perforated support 104 Non-perforated support 121 Through hole 151 Fiber web

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A fineness of 1 denier or less and a fiber length of 3 to 20 mm.
The fiber web containing 20% by weight or more of the above fiber in a dry state has a water content of 100 to 500% by weight and a pore diameter of 0.2
A fiber treatment in which 1 mm through-holes are introduced onto the surface of a perforated support having a porosity of 2.5 to 30%, and then a jet of water is applied to the web to effect entanglement and rearrangement of the fibers. By the step, the end portions of the fibers on the side of the support contact surface of the web flow into the through holes and are arranged in the web thickness direction to form raised protrusions, while the fibers are entangled between the through holes. A method for producing a non-woven fabric, which is arranged substantially parallel to the surface of the support to form a smooth surface. 2. A step of applying a jet water flow of 20 to 40 ml / sec.cm in the width direction of the web on the non-porous support having a hardness of 50 degrees or more subsequent to the perforated support in the fiber treatment step. The manufacturing method according to claim 1, comprising: 3. The fiber treatment step includes a step of causing a jet water flow to act on the web on a mesh screen following the perforated support to form an opening at a portion corresponding to a knuckle of the screen. 1. The method for producing a nonwoven fabric according to 1. 4. Fineness 1 denier or less, fiber length 3 to 20 mm
Is a non-woven fabric containing 20% by weight or more of the above fibers in a dry state, and the fibers are entangled with each other, and one end of the non-woven fabric is a raised protrusion formed by arranging the end portions of the fibers in the thickness direction of the non-woven fabric. Are scattered in a predetermined pattern,
The non-woven fabric is characterized in that the entangled fibers are arranged substantially in a plane between the protrusions to form a smooth surface.