Claims
- 1. A process for preparing clusters of bonded thermoplastic fibers that have a crimped configuration and that are 1 to 6 cm in length, comprising the steps of (1) forming the fibers into a stack of superposed webs, with the fibers aligned in a parallel configuration, (2) passing said stack through a bonding zone whereby the thermoplastic fibers in said stack are intermittently bonded together in a pattern, (3) cutting the resulting stack of intermittently bonded fibers, and (4) separating the resulting cut stack into clusters.
- 2. A process for preparing clusters of bonded thermoplastic fibers, comprising the steps of (1) forming a tow of continuous thermoplastic filaments that have a crimped configuration, (2) passing said tow through a tow spreader to open said tow, passing the opened tow through a bonding zone whereby the thermoplastic filaments in the tow are intermittently bonded together in a pattern of bonded sections, (3) cutting the resulting tow of intermittently bonded filaments, and (4) separating the resulting cut tow into clusters of cut fiber.
- 3. A process according to claim 2, wherein, after step (2), the intermittently bonded filaments in the tow are spread to separate the bonded sections, before the resulting tow is cut in step (3).
- 4. A process according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the bonding is performed by ultrasonic energy.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a division of application Ser. No. 08/871,875, filed Jun. 6, 1997, U.S. Pat. No. 5,851,665, and claims benefit of priority from my Provisional Application No. 60/020,671, filed Jun. 28, 1996 (DP-6515-P1), now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (18)
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Date |
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0 620 185 A |
Oct 1994 |
EPX |
26 55 069 A1 |
Jun 1978 |
DEX |
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
871875 |
Jun 1997 |
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