JPH07144333A - Impregnation of foam with liquid - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an impregnation method capable of efficiently and uniformly impregnating foam with an impregnating liquid such as a curable resin soln. CONSTITUTION:A reticulated material 21 is held in an impregnating liquid L and foam F arranged so that at least the impregnation scheduled surface thereof is immersed in the liquid L is pressed to the reticulated material 21 to be compressed and, thereafter, the foam F is restored by releasing pressure to be uniformly impregnated with the liquid L.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for impregnating a foam with a liquid.

[0002]

BACKGROUND ART Foam such as urethane foam is used for various purposes, but in the foam used for sponges of kitchen cleaners, the side to be held by hand is soft and the polished surface on the other side is soft. Hardened ones are preferred. Conventionally, as a method of increasing the hardness of a part as described above, a method of impregnating the surface of a foam with a liquid curable resin liquid and curing the impregnated curable resin liquid has been widely adopted. As the impregnation method, as shown in FIG. 4, one rotating roller 71 is immersed between the two rotating rollers 71 and 72 immersed in the curable resin liquid L, and a thickness larger than the distance between the rotating rollers is used. A method is adopted in which the curable resin liquid L attached to the surface of the rotary roller 71 is attached to the surface of the foam F through the foam F and impregnated.

By the way, in the above-mentioned impregnation method, the curable resin liquid adhering to the surface of the rotating roller 71 moves to the lower part of the rotating roller 71 by gravity according to the rotation of the rotating roller 71, and the foamed material on the upper part. In many cases, not so much resin liquid adheres to the contacting portion. Therefore, the impregnation performed by the attached resin liquid is limited to a thin layer near the surface of the foam, and impregnation into the foam is impossible. As a result, the hardness of the foam obtained by curing the impregnated curable resin liquid does not reach the desired hardness, or the thin impregnated cured layer on the surface of the foam is scraped during use and the hardness decreases. There is a problem such as. Moreover, it was more difficult to impregnate a foam having a large proportion of closed cells.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and is to efficiently and uniformly impregnate a foam with a curable resin liquid or an impregnating liquid according to other uses. It is an object of the present invention to provide an impregnation method capable of achieving the above.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a reticulated body is held in an impregnating liquid, and a foam disposed so that at least the surface to be impregnated is immersed in the liquid, after being pressed against the reticulated body and compressed. A method for impregnating a foam with a liquid, wherein the foam is uniformly impregnated with the liquid by releasing the pressure to restore the foam.

[0006]

The foam compressed by the pressure on the reticulate body sucks the liquid around the foam and restores the impregnation of the liquid when the foam is restored by releasing the pressure. At that time, not only on the surface of the foam that is in direct contact with the liquid, but also on the surface of the foam that is in contact with the mesh, the liquid is uniformly impregnated into the foam through the mesh of the mesh. Therefore, uniform impregnation is performed very efficiently.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view of a container, a mesh body and the like used in an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view showing the time of impregnation, and FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view showing another embodiment.

First, the container 11 and the net 21 will be described. The container 11 has a size that can accommodate the foam F for liquid impregnation shown in FIG. Bottom 1 inside this container 11
Spacers 13 for adjusting the compression amount of the foam F are provided at the four corners 2 to stop the pressing plate 31 from descending at a predetermined position, which will be described later. In addition, the inner bottom surface 12 of the container 11 is provided with a plurality of holding bases 15 for holding the mesh body 21 at a predetermined distance from the inner bottom surface 12 of the container. This holder 15
The net-like body 21 is placed and held on the. The height of the holding table 15, that is, the distance between the mesh body 21 and the bottom surface 12 of the container is not particularly limited, but it is sufficient if it is at least about 5 mm.

The mesh body 21 is not limited to a metal or resin net, but a metal plate or a resin plate having a large number of small holes,
Alternatively, a material conforming to other networks is used. The size of the mesh or small holes of the mesh body 21 is not particularly limited, but is, for example, about 5 to 10 mm.

Inside the container 11, as shown in FIG.
A liquid L for impregnation is stored. As the impregnating liquid L, a liquid suitable for the intended use of the foam, such as a curable resin liquid or a sound insulating resin liquid, is used. The amount of the liquid L is set such that the liquid surface is located above the mesh body 21. Further, a pressing plate 31 is arranged above the container 11. The pressing plate 31 of this embodiment is connected to a vertical movement device (not shown) such as an air cylinder device so as to move up and down. The size of the pressing plate 31 is such that the edge contacts the spacer 13 when descending.

A foam F for impregnation is arranged on the mesh 21, and at least the surface to be impregnated (the lower surface of the foam F in this embodiment) of the foam F is dipped in the liquid L in the container 11. As the foam F, one having elasticity which is compressed by pressing and restored by releasing the pressing is suitable, and urethane foam, rubber sponge or the like is used. This foam F
Has a size that does not protrude from the net-like body 21 when placed on the net-like body 21, and has a height that protrudes from the upper end of the spacer 13 by a predetermined amount.

Then, the pressing plate 31 is lowered until it hits the upper end of the spacer 13 by the operation of the vertical movement device. As a result, the foam F is pressed against the mesh 21 by the pressing plate 31 and compressed in the liquid L. The amount of compression at this time is determined by the amount by which the upper surface of the foamed body F projects from the upper end of the spacer 13.

Thereafter, the pressing plate 31 is lifted to release the pressing force of the foam F. Thereby, the foam F is restored,
The liquid L around the foam F is sucked and impregnated into the foam F. At that time, since the mesh body 21 is separated from the inner bottom surface 12 of the container and the mesh of the mesh body 21 is not blocked by the inner bottom surface 12 of the container, the foam F has the mesh shape of the liquid L even on the contact surface with the mesh body 21. It is uniformly impregnated through the mesh of the body 21.

In this embodiment, the foam F is a soft urethane foam, the pressing amount of the foam F is 15 mm, and the liquid L is
When was used as a heat-curable curable resin liquid, the thickness of the obtained impregnated layer was 15.5 mm and the impregnated amount was 750 g / m ² . On the other hand, using the same foam F and liquid L,
When impregnated by the conventional rotating roller method shown in FIG. 4, the obtained impregnated layer has a thickness of 6 mm and an impregnated amount of 290 g.
/ M ² .

As shown in FIG. 3 showing another example of the present invention, the foam F may be pressed by the pressing roller 41 to be compressed. In this case, the pressing roller 41 is
The foam F is placed at a position where the foam F is compressed by a predetermined amount.
To move from one end to the other. In the figure, 51 is a container, 61 is a net-like body, and 62 is a holding stand.

[0016]

As shown and described above, according to the present invention, a foam in which at least the surface to be impregnated is immersed in a liquid is pressed against a mesh body in the liquid to be compressed, and thereafter the compression is released to remove the liquid. Since the impregnation is performed, the liquid around the foam can be impregnated into the foam very efficiently and uniformly.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a container, a mesh body and the like used in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing an impregnation method performed using the container or the like.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view showing an impregnating method according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a conventional method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 11 container 12 bottom surface inside container 13 spacer 21 mesh body 31 pressing plate L liquid F foam

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A foamed body in which a reticulated body is held in an impregnating liquid and arranged so that at least the surface to be impregnated is immersed in the liquid is pressed against the reticulated body and compressed, and then the pressing is released to foam. A method for impregnating a foam with a liquid, wherein the foam is uniformly impregnated with the liquid by restoring the body.