JPH093759A - Forming of nonwoven fabric and formed product - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a method for forming a nonwoven fabric and to obtain a formed product, almost without developing an uneven thickness, capable of easily forming a deep drawn product, inexpensive and having a stable quality. CONSTITUTION: This method for forming a nonwoven fabric comprises rapidly heating a forming area 2 of a nonwoven fabric 1 until the softening point of the nonwoven fabric 1 with a hot air, thrusting a forming mold 4 formed to a prescribed shape such as a hat or a pot for planting into the forming area 2 to form the nonwoven fabric 1 according to the outline of the forming mold 4, then cooling a formed part 5 by blowing a cool air, and then removing the forming mold 4. Further, it is also preferable to place one or plural nonwoven fabrics 1 between two metal plates provided with penetrated holes corresponding to the forming area 2 and to rapidly heat the nonwoven fabric 1 positioned at the penetrated holes until its softening point.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for forming a non-woven fabric and a formed article such as a hat and a pot for planting formed by the method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a non-woven fabric molded article, a ready-made thermoformable non-woven fabric is prepared by using a male (male) / female (female) mold having irregularities of a predetermined shape and setting the softening point temperature of the thermoformable non-woven fabric. A method of sandwiching and pressing while continuously generating heat is implemented. In this method, the thermoforming non-woven fabric is molded before it is softened, the molding is started, the heating mold is contacted, the thermo-forming non-woven fabric is softened, and the molding is completed. However, there is a drawback that deep drawing (tall molding) cannot be performed. In addition, the existing molding method has a drawback that it is not possible to mold a plurality of thermoformable non-woven fabrics in one molding step and it is not possible to form a plurality of thermoformable nonwoven fabrics. Further, in the mold, there is a drawback that a high-precision mold is required to press the male / female mold, and expensive molding equipment for functioning the mold is required.

[0003]

The present invention has been made in order to solve the drawbacks described in the prior art. It is possible to suppress uneven thickness of a molded product as much as possible, to easily perform deep drawing, and at a low cost. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for molding a molded product of stable quality and a molded product.

[0004]

[Means for Solving the Problems] First, regarding the method for forming a non-woven fabric, the molding region of the non-woven fabric is rapidly heated to the softening point of the non-woven fabric by hot air, and then a mold having a predetermined shape is rushed into the molding region. Then, the non-woven fabric is molded along the contour of the mold body, and then cold air is blown to the molding portion to cool it, and then the mold body is separated.

Next, regarding the molded product, the nonwoven fabric is molded into a predetermined shape by the above-mentioned method.

Further, regarding the molded product, one or more non-woven fabrics are superposed and sandwiched between two metal plates provided with through holes of a predetermined shape, and hot air is blown from the upper or lower part of the through holes or both. After rapidly heating the nonwoven fabric located in the through hole to its softening point, a mold having a predetermined shape is inserted into the through hole to form the nonwoven fabric along the contour of the mold.

[0007]

The non-woven fabric is heated by hot air that does not come into direct contact with the non-woven fabric, so that the non-woven fabric is not scratched by contact with the non-woven fabric. Also, since only the molding area is heated rapidly, even a non-woven fabric with a small heat capacity,
Since the non-woven fabric around the molding region does not become loose, it is not pulled by the mold and deformed, and a clean molded product can be finished.

[0008] The cold air blown after the mold is rushed immediately cools the non-woven fabric, shrinks and hardens the contour of the mold exactly, and enables a firm finish of the contour, and the molded product can be taken out immediately. So improve productivity.

Further, the through hole of a predetermined shape provided in the metal plate acts like a conventional female mold, the mold body acts as a conventional male mold, and the two metal plates fix the nonwoven fabric. Acts as a plate and enables simultaneous molding of multiple molded products.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the drawings showing an embodiment of the present invention, first, regarding the molding method, as shown in FIG. 1, a molding region 2 of a nonwoven fabric 1 made of thermoformable fibers.
(Indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 1) is the nonwoven fabric 1
As shown by the arrow, the softening point of No. 1 is rapidly heated by hot air 3 within a few seconds to a minute, and then the molding area 2
Then, a mold body 4 molded into a predetermined shape such as a hat and a pot for planting is thrust into the mold body 4, and the nonwoven fabric 1 is molded along the contour of the mold body 4. Then, in the molding portion 5, as shown by an arrow, cool air 6 is formed. Then, the mold body 4 is removed.

By the molding method described above, for example, molded articles such as the hat 7 and the pot 8 for planting as shown in FIG. 2 are manufactured.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, one or more non-woven fabrics 1 are superposed and sandwiched between two metal plates 10 provided with through holes 9 of a predetermined shape, and the upper part of the through holes 9 or Hot air 3 is blown from the lower part or both of them to rapidly heat the nonwoven fabric 1 located in the through hole 9 portion up to the softening point within a few seconds to a minute, and then the mold body 4 having a predetermined shape is thrust into the through hole 9. Let
The non-woven fabric 1 is molded along the contour of the mold body 4 to obtain a predetermined molded product 11. Note that the cold air 6 is blown after the mold body 4 is thrust in as in the above.

It is not necessary to preheat the mold body 4, and an appropriate temperature difference existing between the non-woven fabric 1 heated to the softening point and the mold body 4 is that when the mold body 4 is thrust. In addition, since the nonwoven fabric 1 having a small heat capacity is instantaneously cooled and brought into close contact with the contour of the mold body 4, it is possible to finish the molded product 11 having a clean contour.

[0014]

As described above, the present invention has the following advantages.

Since the non-woven fabric is heated with hot air, fine scratches and the like are not formed on the non-woven fabric, so that even a thin non-woven fabric can be molded neatly.

Since the non-woven fabric is heated to the softening point before molding, it is uniformly deformed and has almost no uneven thickness, so that a deep-drawn molded product can be easily manufactured.

Since the non-woven fabric momentarily contracts and comes into close contact with the mold since the mold is rushed and cooled by blowing cold air, it is possible to cleanly form along the contour of the mold.

By blowing cold air, the nonwoven fabric is rapidly cooled and hardened, so that the mold can be immediately removed, the productivity is remarkably improved, and the production cost can be reduced.

Since the metal plate provided with the through holes acts like a conventional female mold and the mold body functions as a conventional male mold, it is not necessary to manufacture a mold having a complicated shape as in the conventional case. In addition, since the two metal plates act as a non-woven fabric fixing plate, a plurality of molded products can be molded at the same time, and the product cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of each step of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an example of a molded product.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing another embodiment of each step of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Non-woven fabric 2 Molding area 3 Hot air 4 Mold 5 Molding part 6 Cold air 7 Hat 8 Plant pot 9 Through hole 10 Metal plate 11 Molded product

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A non-woven fabric molding region is rapidly heated to the softening point of the non-woven fabric with hot air, and then a mold having a predetermined shape is thrust into the molding region to mold the non-woven fabric along the contour of the mold body. Then, a method for forming a non-woven fabric, characterized in that the formed body is released after cooling the formed portion by blowing cool air. 2. A molded article of non-woven fabric, characterized by being molded by the method according to claim 1. 3. One or more non-woven fabrics are superposed and sandwiched between two metal plates having through-holes of a predetermined shape, hot air is blown into the through-holes, and the non-woven fabrics located in the through-holes have a softening point. To a molded article of a non-woven fabric, which is obtained by rapidly heating a mold body of a predetermined shape into a through hole and molding the non-woven fabric along the contour of the mold body.