The present invention relates to papermachine clothing and particularly, but not exclusively, to a fabric for use in the pressing section of a papermaking machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,743,482 discloses the use of a protective flap over the seam area on a papermakers belt, the protective flap comprising a layer of longitudinal fibres which extend in the direction of movement of the belt. The seam is usually the most vulnerable area of the belt and the fibres are intended to reduce the wear of the belt in this region and thereby increase the life of the belt. The fibres are only provided in the seam region and do not extend over the length of the woven layer to provide a shield to prevent marking of the transported paper sheet.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,876 describes a press felt with an added flow control layer comprising spun bonded filamentary nylon material treated with hydrophobic chemical composition. The layer is needled onto a base fabric with a batt layer needled on top. The purpose of this invention is solely to prevent rewet taking place on the felts exit from the nip.
EP 1,067,238 describes a press fabric comprising a base fabric and several layers of staple fibre material attached to the base fabric by needling. The base fabric has at least one layer assembled by spirally winding a woven fabric strip. The base fabric is endless and the yarns of the woven fabric strip accordingly lie in directions different from the machine and cross-machine directions of the base fabric giving the base fabric multi-axial characteristics, that is the individual woven strips in the several layers are predominately orientated at oblique angles relative to the machine direction of the press fabric. More specifically, they form a criss-crossed angular web. However, because the fabric which is spiralled is composed of yarn, a special seal or ‘selvage’ is required in order to prevent the yarns from unravelling and ‘stringing’ out of the structure. This can be expensive and time consuming to apply and can lead to mass, caliper or water flow non-uniformity in a localised area. The edges of the woven strips are furthermore particularly sensitive to how they are butted together, in that gaps or overlaps may lead to significant pressure variation and consequential marking of a paper sheet in use. In order to alleviate this latter drawback, the edges are generally stitched together by a special sewing operation, further adding to the costs.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,928,699 describes papermachine clothing which has a batt layer of relatively coarse, rigid, randomly arrayed non-deformable fibres provided on a base fabric and covered by a batt surface layer comprising finer fibres. Although the fibres have been described as coarse, these fibres only have a dtex of 17 (44 microns). This ‘coarse’ is provided purely to increase the void volume for the reception and carrying of water through the press-nip.
Generally speaking papermaking machines are made up of three sections, namely the forming, pressing and drying sections. In each section an endless engineered fabric is used to transport a continuous paper sheet through the papermachine. The structure of the fabrics for each section differs, as the functions of each section of the papermachine are different. A press fabric for the pressing section must be capable of rapidly absorbing and expelling water while supporting the newly formed paper sheet and for this purpose a typical press fabric, as best illustrated in
It is an object of the present invention to provide a papermakers fabric that gives improved uniformity of up-thrust in the press nip, leading to enhanced web dewatering and improved sheet smoothness, whilst still maintaining long term openness and void volume necessary for sheet dewatering and superior mechanical seam flap integrity.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention there is provided papermachine clothing comprising a carrier layer and a needle punched non-woven layer composed of ultra coarse non-continuous fibres on the sheet side of said carrier layer, the fibres of said non-woven layer are orientated substantially in the intended machine direction of the papermachine clothing. The non-woven layer replaces the fine top cloth used in the known papermachine clothing and has the advantage of providing improved reduction in the possible marking by the carrier layer of the transported paper.
An advantage of machine-direction orientated fibre as opposed to cross-machine direction orientated or randomly orientated fibre, is that it allows for enhanced water handling in that it provides less resistance to water flow in the press nip. The fibres orientated in machine-direction act as channels to conduct the water away as opposed to the fibres when orientated in the cross-machine direction which can effectively act like dams and thereby block the path of water therethrough.
Preferably, there are at least two of said ultra coarse non-woven layers, the fibres of each layer being orientated at a slight angle to the intended machine direction of the clothing and with at least a biaxial lay. This at least biaxial construction allows the ultra coarse layers to provide equivalent caliper and compaction resistance to that of a woven top cloth or other yarn, but with superior pressure uniformity and with less water flow resistance. This gives the net result of greater sheet quality through the life of the papermachine clothing.
The non-woven layer(s) comprise ultra-coarse fibres having a fibre count in the range of 75 to 150 dtex and more preferably 100 dtex. They may be approximately 75 mm in length. This ultra-coarse diameter of the non-continuous fibres helps to maintain the caliper under load and long term compaction resistance.
In a preferred embodiment the fibres of the web are bonded by an adhesive means. Preferably, the adhesive means is a low melt copolymer fibre. More preferably the adhesive means is a bi-component fibre having a low-melt sheath. The fibre count of the bi-component fibres may be between 17 and 67 dtex. The adhesive means may form between 5 to 40% of the coarse non-woven layer. More preferably the percentage component by weight of said adhesive means is 10%. The fibres of the adhesive means may be crimped.
Alternatively, the ultra coarse non-continuous fibres may comprise low melt sheaths, so removing the need for additional fibrous material. On the other hand, the bonding means may be in the form of a non-fibrous adhesive, which for example may be sprayed on to the ultra-coarse non-continuous fibrous layer.
The copolymer may be a crimped fibre such as K140 supplied by EMS Grilon having a dtex of 11. It could be thermally fused before or after layering onto the papermachine clothing. Other fibres could be blended therein to reduce permeability, etc for certain applications.
The provision of a low melt material not only bonds fibres to fibres, but it also improves structural compaction resistance and resiliency.
The ultra-coarse non-woven layer may be affixed to the sheet side of the carrier via the interposition of a layer of batt material, the fibres of the interposed batt material being less coarse than that of the ultra-coarse non-woven layer.
In a preferred embodiment a batt layer is provided on the paper supporting side of said clothing, said layer forming a top batt layer. The top batt layer improves sheet support and the mechanical locking of the carrier layer to the ultra coarse non-woven layer. Preferably the fibres of the layer are less coarse than those of the ultra-coarse layer, the fibres of the top batt may have a fibre count in the range of 3.3 to 22 dtex, and more preferably 3.3. The top batt layer may comprise at least two layers, preferably the fibres of at least one of these layers is less coarse than the fibres of the other layers, one of these layers may have a fibre count in the range of 17 to 44 dtex. At least one layer of the top batt may be orientated in the cross-machine direction.
A further batt layer or bottom batt layer may be provided on the opposite side of the carrier layer on the machine facing side thereof, the fibres of the bottom layer being orientated in substantially the machine or the cross-machine direction. The bottom batt layer may simply be created from the top batt layer which is pushed down through the carrier layer to the underside thereof by the process of needling.
In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention there is provided paper machine clothing comprising a carrier layer and at least two needle punched non-woven layers composed of ultra-coarse non-continuous fibres provided on the sheet side of said carrier layer, the fibres of one of said layers being orientated in substantially at least a first direction and the fibres of the other of said layers being orientated substantially in at least a second direction.
In accordance with a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of making papermachine clothing comprising the steps of:
In a preferred embodiment said first direction is a first slight angle to the intended machine direction of the clothing, and said second direction is a second slight angle to the intended machine direction of said clothing to provide a non-woven layer whose fibres have a bi-axial construction with respect to the running direction.
Preferably the two said slight angles are between 5° and 30°, more preferably 10° to 15°.
More preferably said step of mechanically attaching is by spirally winding said first non-woven layer on the said carrier layer, spirally winding said second non-woven layer on said first non-woven layer, and then needling said first and second non-woven layers to said carrier layer.
Unlike the spiralling process described in EP 1,067,238, the needle-punched spirally wound ultra-coarse layer lends itself to edges just being butted together or slightly ‘feathered’ and overlapped when spiralled. The subsequent needling entangles the coarse staple fibres together in a homogenous manner without gaps or ridges so leading to pressure uniformity.
In order to aid carding of the ultra-coarse non-continuous fibre, it has been found that the addition of fine fibrous material acts as a vehicle to carry the coarse fibres through the carding engine.
During manufacture the predominately coarse fibre web does not proceed past the carding engine to the conventional cross layer system. Instead it is wound up directly after a light needling, such that when it is unwound on the carrier layer the fibre orientation lies predominantly in the machine direction. Use of the conventional cross laying system with coarse fibres is impossible because of the unavoidable drafting phenomenon, which occurs prior to entry into the pre-tacking needling machine. Such drafting tears the weak web apart or at best it creates an unacceptable lack of uniformity.
Preferably the two biaxial-orientated layers are bonded by the additional step of providing a low-melt adhesive within the coarse layer. The subsequent heat-setting process helps to bond the coarse fibres into a 3D matrix layer, improving the maintenance of void volume with consequential greater dewatering capabilities and enhanced inter-layer bonding with reduction in possible delamination. The additional fibres may advantageously comprise said low-melt adhesive.
Preferably at least one batt layer is mechanically attached to the clothing.
This further batt layer may comprise two layers, the fibres of a first layer being adjacent to the said web of coarse staple fibres, and are less coarse than the fibres of said non-woven layer, but coarser than the fibres of the second layer of batt. In a preferred embodiment the fibres of the first layer has a dtex of 17 and the fibres of the second layer has a dtex of 3.3. In a further preferred embodiment the fibres of the said first layer has a dtex of 44 and the fibres of the said second layer has a dtex of 17.
At least one layer of batt may also be provided between the web of coarse fibres and the support layer. Preferably the fibres of this at least one layer of batt is less coarse than the fibres of the web of coarse staple fibres. When more than one layer of such batt is provided, the layers may have varying dtexes. The dtex of the at least one layer of batt may be in the order of 44.
Preferably the fibres in at least one of the further batt layers are orientated in substantially the cross-machine direction of the clothing.
By providing a layer of ultra-coarse non-continuous fibres which extend substantially in the running (machine) direction of the clothing there are no weave knuckles when compared to the fine cloth 12 of the prior art construction or empty space and therefore a reduction in strike through of the knuckles to the sheet. Also the non-woven layer is cheaper and quicker to produce than a woven fabric. It has been found to give a fast start-up time on the papermachine with a greater retention of felt properties in comparison to conventional woven structures.
The biaxial laying of the fibres in the ultra coarse staple web has particularly been found to provide an outstanding long term compaction resistance because the fibres are self-supporting under compression, resulting in superior ability to maintain caliper, ease of cleaning and openness over life.
Water flow is evenly distributed through the clothing because there are no hard dense yarns that can restrict and channel flow, and so hydraulic resistance is minimised. This gives excellent sheet moisture profiles and long term dewatering and cleaning efficiency.
With conventional laminates, comprising a fine top cloth and a top layer 8 of conventional batt having been needled to the substrate, it is often found that during the course of a seamed felt fabric's life that delamination occurs particularly at the seam. This causes the batt to peel away from the substrate. In the present invention, ultra-coarse, non-continuous fibres which replace the top cloth, are entrapped between the conventional batt and base giving excellent fibre anchoring. Due to the increased cross-over points gained by having fibres, the needling is much more effective than when needling a woven cloth. Also, further added adhesion may be gained from the use of low-melt or bi-component fibres dispersed within the ultra-coarse fibres, which are melted either during an initial pre-heating step, if oen is included, or during the final fabric heat setting stage.
Alternatively, a stiffening agent can be applied to the ultra-coarse fibrous web in order to enable it to be unwound in spiral fashion on to the carrier layer, without the creation of creases or mis-register. The stiffening agent may be a spray on chemical such as starch.
By way of example only specific embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Referring to
As best illustrated in
The angle to the running direction at which the respective coarse fibres 6a, 6b are laid depends on the length of the clothing, but for a 20 metre fabric, the approximate angle A and B depending on the width of the non-woven layer, ranges from 5° to 10°.
The two layers of non-woven web 6a, 6b comprise individual crimped fibre having a dtex of 100. The layers 6a and 6b of the non-woven layer 6 are mechanically interlocked by a needle punching process and preferably bonded using a low melt nylon copolymer crimped staple fibre having a dtex of 11, supplied by EMS Grilon under the trade name of K140 which under the influence of the heat setting process fuses the fibres together. The staple fibre forms 10% of the layer 6. The batt layers 8, 10 are then needled to the resultant base layer 4 and layer 6 combination in the usual fashion to complete the clothing.
In
In a further embodiment a conventional batt layer of dtex 44 is initially applied to the base layer 4, before the application of the coarse layers 6a, 6b of dtex 100 of the batt 6. A further conventional batt layer of dtex 44 is applied on top of the layer 6 and this is capped with a finer conventional batt layer of dtex 17. This type of construction is most suitable for the production of packaging grade, heavy weight paper, because a press-felt suitable for the production of such paper has to have a high void volume and is therefore of a bulkier construction when compared to a clothing suitable for graphic grade paper. The provision of the conventional batt layer of dtex 44 between the layer 6 and the base layer 4 spaces the coarse layers away from the base cloth and thereby pushes the high void volume entity closer to the site of water removal.
Although the top and bottom batts 8, 10 have been described as being orientated substantially in the cross-machine direction, one or each of these layers could also be orientated substantially in the machine direction. Also either or both of the top and bottom batt layers 8, 10 could be omitted, or one of these batt layers could be provided from fibres simply needled through the base layer 4 when the top layer 8 is bound to the clothing.
Although two layers 6a, 6b have been described for the machine direction orientated ultra coarse fibrous layer 6, this layer could contain just one layer or more than two layers as required for a particular application.
Although the base layer has been described as being a woven layer, it is to be understood that the base layer could be a non-woven layer such as a link fabric, a membrane, a laminate, or an array of machine direction and/or cross-machine directions yarns or a combination thereof. Furthermore, the base layer may be a combination of woven and/or non-woven layers.
Although the ultra-coarse fibres have been illustrated as being substantially circular in cross-section, it is to be understood that-they are not limited to this shape and could be for example of a different shape or flat, or a combination of a variety of such. Furthermore, although the coarse fibres have been described as being crimped, they could have a smooth profile.
Although a low melt nylon co-polymer crimped staple fibre K140 (TM) has been described as being used to bond the layers of the ultra-coarse non-continuous fibres, other adhesives in fibrous form could be used, such as thermoplastic meltable fibres such as polypropylene, or for example these fibres may also be in the form of core/sheath bi-component fibres with a low melt sheath component. The fibres are furthermore not necessarily crimped. The fibres may also simply be finer and non-meltable, Also, the fibres could be replaced by a bonding agent, such as an adhesive for example polyurethane. Furthermore, the ultra coarse non-continuous fibres could be bi-component comprising a low-melt sheath. It is to be understood that any meltable components may be melted before or after the initial needling of the web, or during the final fabric heat-setting stage. A chemical stiffening agent such as starch could be sprayed onto the ultra-coarse non-continuous fibrous layer. The stiffening of the ultra-coarse non-continuous fibrous layer aids the spiral winding of that layer onto said carrier layer(s).
Continuous machine direction yarns could be incorporated within the layer of coarse fibres, or within one of the other layers of the papermachine clothing, in order to provide resistance to stretch on the papermachine. A particular suitable yarn would have a diameter of 0.2 mm and be twisted in a 2 ply 2 cable form at 11 ends per cm (28 ends per inch).
In a further embodiment (not illustrated) the layer of ultra-coarse non-continuous fibre is needled onto a substrate of spun bond fabric. The substrate is not endless and the coarse fibres are not spirally wound but are instead aligned substantially in the machine direction. This structure is then turned through 90° and is then laminated onto another substrate of spunbond fabric. This structure provides better sheet support for some paper grades because of the cross-machine, rather than machine direction orientation of the coarse fibres. The laminate structure may comprise several such layers of coarse non-woven fibres and such may have a machine direction layer(s) alternated with cross-machine directed layer(s), this structure provides an improved structural compaction resistance. Although the substrate has been described as spun bonded, it may be a woven and or other non-woven substrate or a combination of such. Furthermore, reinforcing yarns may be included as described above, as can various batt layers Adhesives such as bi-component fibres or bi-axial fibres or additional finer fibres as described above may be included within the non-woven layers to enhance bonding as described above. The completed structure could be end-butted to form an endless structure.
While the invention has been disclosed herein in connection with certain embodiments and certain structural details, it is clear that further changes, modifications or equivalents can be used by those skilled in the art; accordingly, such changes within the principles of the invention are intended to be included within the scope of the claims.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/IB01/02730 | 10/18/2001 | WO | 00 | 7/14/2003 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO02/33170 | 4/25/2002 | WO | A |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20040033748 A1 | Feb 2004 | US |