JPH0677955B2 - Method for producing a weatherstrip having a suede-like appearance - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a weatherstrip having a suede-like appearance and touch.

Generally, the weather strip is fitted and attached to a vehicle body opening flange of an automobile.

BACKGROUND ART A weather strip for an automobile is fitted and mounted on a body opening flange for the purpose of waterproofing, soundproofing and dustproofing.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an example of the structure of a general weather strip containing a core metal. As shown in FIG. 1, a general weather strip has a welt portion 7 having a core metal 6 inside and a substantially U-shaped cross section, and a plurality of lips 1 on the inner wall surfaces of both legs of the welt portion. 2, 3, and 4 are provided in a protruding manner, and a hollow seal member 8 is provided on the outer peripheral portion. Of course, since the weatherstrip is attached to various parts of the automobile, the weatherstrip at other places has a different structure.

The conventional weather strip having the above structure is mainly made of EPT (ethylene / propylene rubber), CR (chloroprene rubber) or SBR (styrene / butadiene rubber), and is formed into a solid or sponge shape if necessary. ing.

(Problems to be solved) Until a few years ago, user demands for automobiles were focused on performance. For example, the trend of users has been gathering in terms of low consumption of gasoline and excellent car performance. However, recently, car design, which appeals to users' sensibilities, has been watched.
The design means not only the appearance of the car, but also the design inside the car. The weather strip is fitted and attached to the vehicle body opening flange for the purpose of waterproofing, soundproofing and dustproofing as described above. What is important is that a part of the weather strip welt is exposed inside the vehicle. Generally, the welt portion of the weather strip is made of black rubber having a cored bar inside. Exposing a part of the black rubber inside the car would damage the interior design of the car to some extent. Therefore, we examined the welted part with colored rubber, but unlike plastic, rubber is not transparent, and the coloring is dull, and intermediate colors cannot be obtained, so it is a short tone and it has not been widely used as a design, and it has come to this day. Due to this problem, a weather strip with a high sense of sensitivity has been desired.

(Means for Solving Problems) The present invention has been extensively researched by the inventor to provide an exterior rubber layer containing a specific fiber on the outer side of a welt portion, and thereafter,
It has been discovered that by polishing the exterior rubber layer, a colored suede appearance and touch with a high quality can be obtained with a rubber material, and the present invention is based on the discovery.

The first aspect of the present invention is to coextrude a weather strip welt portion and an outer rubber layer containing hemp fibrillated fibers, or a wether strip welt portion and a seal portion, and an outer rubber layer containing hemp fibrillated fibers. The present invention relates to a method for producing a weather strip having a suede-like appearance and touch, which comprises vulcanizing the whole before or after processing the whole into a weather strip and polishing the exterior rubber layer.

One embodiment of the present invention is to extrude a welt portion (12) of a weather strip containing a core metal (13) and an exterior rubber layer (11) containing a specific fiber at the same time by using two extruders to bond them together, and then to make the main body. Before or after hosing into a weather strip, the rubber layer of the fiber-containing exterior is polished.

A second aspect of the present invention is to extrude a welt portion (22) and a seal portion (24) of a weather strip containing a core metal (23) and an exterior rubber layer (21) containing a specific fiber with three extruders. Bond the three. Before or after homing the weather strip, the outer rubber layer is polished.

The fibers used in the first invention are hemp fibrillated fibers. Preferred is hemp dry fibrillated fiber. Fibers having the following values are generally preferred.

Fiber length 0.1 to 5 mm Fiber diameter 1 to 10 μ Crystallinity 20 to 50% Water content of fiber 7 to 10% The content of the fiber is preferably in the range of 5 to 50 PHR.

The present invention is characterized in that fibrillated hemp fibers are mixed into the exterior rubber layer, extruded, vulcanized, and then subjected to polishing treatment.

It is necessary that the fibers do not come out of the rubber layer or melt during the polishing. Furthermore, it is necessary that the fiber be raised after all treatments in order to obtain a suede-like appearance.

If synthetic resin fiber is used, its surface will be around 150 ° C during polishing, and the synthetic resin will melt.

Also, when cotton fibers are used, each fiber has no "burrs and knots", so that it becomes withered and similarly, a suede-like appearance cannot be obtained.

A comparison of fibrillated hemp fibers and non-fibrillated hemp fibers is shown in the Examples and Comparative Examples below.

A pigment may be added to the outer rubber layer, or a colored fiber may be used.

The invention is explained in more detail by means of non-limiting drawings. In the following description, the exterior (suede-like compound) rubber layer is A, the welt part (solid compound) is B, and the seal part (sponge compound) is C. Two extruders are used as a trim part to use the combination of A and B in a combination of cored bars for cars, etc., and after continuous vulcanization, buffing is performed and homing (bending of the cored bar) is performed to obtain a product. . A perspective view of the product thus obtained is shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, 11 is A, 12 is B, and 13 is a core metal.

As another embodiment, a combination of A, B, and C and core metal is used as a weather strip for a car (the sponge part has a sealing function, the trim part has a mounting function to the car, and a suede-like decorative property). Using three machines, buffing is performed after continuous vulcanization and homing is performed to obtain a product. This aspect is shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, 21 is A, 22 is B, 23 is a core metal, and 24 is C.

Furthermore, the following aspects are also possible.

(1) A, product obtained only by blending One extruder is used, and after continuous vulcanization, buffing is required for a suede surface to be buffed. (The strength can be increased by inserting a core metal or core material inside.) (2) Product obtained with 2 blends of A and B. Using two extruders, after continuous vulcanization, on the A blend surface to be exposed on the surface. Do buff.

(3) Product obtained with 2 blends of A and C Obtained in the same manner as in (2), and buffing the A blend surface exposed on the surface.

(4) Products obtained with 3 blends of A, B, C Using 3 extruders, buffing is performed on the A blend surface that will be exposed on the surface after continuous vulcanization.

EXAMPLE One example of the present invention will be described below.

Characteristics of hemp-dry fibrillated fibers used in Examples Fiber length 0.8 mm Fiber diameter about 2 to 7 μ Crystallization rate about 40% Fiber moisture content about 8% [Effect] 1) Since the surface layer containing the short fibers is buffed,
The foamed rubber and the short fibers have different refractive indices, and the surface is roughened to form a complicated surface layer, making it possible to manufacture a weatherstrip colored in suede shade with shadow and depth.

2) Due to the water content of hemp fibrillated fiber, the volume expansion ratio is 1.
6, the specific gravity became 0.74, a flexible rubber layer was obtained, and short fibers appeared on the surface due to buffing, making it possible to feel and feel like a suede.

As described above, the product obtained according to the present invention is suitable as an interior design for automobiles and the like, which meets the weather strip having the sensitivity which has been recently demanded.

Kneading A (suede blend), B (solid blend), C (sponge blend) are each kneaded by a Banbury mixer by a conventional method, and a vulcanizing agent is added by an open roll.

Continuous Extrusion Vulcanization Three extruders were assembled to produce a core strip type weather strip.

Vulcanization method: Propane gas hot air 220 ° C x 7 minutes Vulcanization Cutting of cored bar After the vulcanization tank is removed, the cored bar is separated to give flexibility to the weather strip.

Buffing A sanding belt AA-80 (manufactured by Sankyo Rikagaku Co., Ltd.) was used to buff the outer layer rubber portion of A compound at a belt speed of 1380 m / min.

After the homing buffing, the trim part containing the core metal was bent into a U shape to produce a weather strip.

The products obtained in the above examples had a suede-like appearance and feel.

1.In the examples, the water content of the fibrillated fibers and the volatile components in the compound were used as the foaming agent.However, when the volatile matter of the compounded rubber was removed using a vent-type extruder, etc. It must be used for foaming, in which case it seems possible with common foaming agents.

2. It is essential that the fibers used have better wear properties than rubber blends, and that short fibers appear on the surface when buffed.

3. After buffing, it should look like a suede to the eye and have a suede-like feel to the touch.

Comparative Example A non-fibrillated hemp fiber having the following characteristics was used in place of the fibrillated hemp fiber of Example 1, Example 1
The product was obtained in the same manner as the above method.

Characteristics of unfibrillated hemp fiber Fiber length 0.8 mm Fiber diameter approx. 50 μm Crystallization rate approx. 70% Moisture content in fiber approx. 8% Example product (using fibrillated hemp fiber) and comparative example product (fibrillated) Peeling test with cellophane tape was performed 10 times for each of the samples (without hemp fiber).
As a result, the product using the fibrillated hemp fiber showed almost no fiber loss, while the product using the non-fibrillated fiber lost about half of the fiber.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a general weather strip, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a weather strip obtained by the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a weather strip of another embodiment obtained by the present invention. is there.

Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification number Office reference number FI technology display location // (C08L 21/00 1:00) (72) Inventor Kuichiro Uchida 4156 Nakanocho, Mihara-shi, Hiroshima Address 2 (56) Reference JP-A-1-304923 (JP, A) JP-A-63-22864 (JP, A) JP-A-55-80582 (JP, A) JP-A-54-26302 (JP, A) ) JP-A-53-78373 (JP, A) JP-A-48-82005 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A weather strip welt portion and an exterior rubber layer containing a fibrillated hemp fiber, or a weather strip welt portion and a seal portion, and an exterior rubber layer containing a fibrillated hemp fiber are adhered by coextrusion or the like, and the whole. A method for producing a weatherstrip having a suede-like appearance, which comprises vulcanizing and then polishing the exterior rubber layer.