Patent Application
20170246831
The present invention relates to a plastic fabric, particularly to a plastic fabric using a different-melting point core-sheath structure fiber and having superior plasticity.
Plastic fabrics are widely applied to various functional costumes. For example, a U.S. Pat. No. 8,439,721 disclosed a support sports underwear, which comprises a first layer and a second layer both made of a compressible material. The first layer has at least one support trench that is incompletely filled. The support trench encircles at least a portion of the breast of the wearer. The first layer also has an outer layer. The second layer has a pair of mold-shaped cups. The first layer and the second layer are integrated with each other. The support sports underwear is mainly made of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). The support sports underwear may be made of a material disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,162,718 and 7,618,304.
The conventional technology for fabricating thermoplastic fabrics normally adopts a soaking method or a coating method. However, both methods are likely to cause stiffness, poor air permeability and inferior plasticity, which are unfavorable for application to costumes. In some applications, the fabric needs high supporting capability because the fabric is to be shaped into a curved surface. However, the abovementioned factors are unfavorable to achieve the objective.
The primary objective of the present invention is to solve the problem that the conventional plastic fabric has inferior plasticity.
In order to achieve the abovementioned objective, the present invention proposes a plastic fabric using a different-melting point core-sheath structure fiber, which comprises a top layer fabric; a bottom layer fabric disposed on one side of the top layer fabric; and a support layer disposed between the top layer fabric and the bottom layer fabric. The top layer fabric is fabricated with a different-melting point fiber. The different-melting point fiber comprises a core-sheath structure, which includes a core and a sheath wrapping the core. The core has a melting point higher than that of the sheath.
While the different-melting point fiber is heated for plastic shaping, the sheaths having a lower melting point melt beforehand and stick to each other, and then the cores melt and stick to each other. During cooling down, the cores solidify beforehand, and then the sheaths solidify. Therefore, the different-melting point fiber has superior dimensional stability and permanent shape memory, particularly suitable to be the material of shoes requiring a given curvature or curved significantly. Compared to the shoes fabricated with the conventional material, the shoes fabricated with the present invention is exempted from auxiliary plates, uses less material and has lower fabrication cost.
The technical contents of the present invention will be described in detail in cooperation with drawings below.
Refer to
Refer to
As shown in
In the present invention, the top layer fabric 10 and the bottom layer fabric 30 can be fabricated in a weaving method, a knitting method or a crocheting method. In one embodiment, the top layer fabric 10 and the bottom layer fabric 30 are fabricated with a circular knitting machine and respectively woven along the longitudinal direction and the latitudinal direction to separately provide the top layer fabric 10 and the bottom layer fabric 30 with extensibility in vertical directions. The bottom layer fabric 30 may adopt an elastic fiber used in the field as the yarn thereof, preferably an elastic fiber selected from a group including the Spandex fiber, the Nylon 6 fiber, the Nylon 6-6 fiber, the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fiber, the polyurethane (PU) fiber, the polyethylene (PE) fiber, the polypropylene (PP) fiber, and the combinations thereof. Refer to
In summary, the present invention fabricates a plastic fabric with a different-melting point fiber comprising a core-sheath structure whose core has a melting point higher than that of the sheath. During heating, the sheaths melt beforehand and stick to each other, and then the cores melt and stick to each other. During cooling down, the cores solidify beforehand and then the sheaths solidify. Owing to the abovementioned characteristics, the different-melting point fiber has superior dimensional stability and permanent shape memory after heat treatment for plastic shaping, particularly suitable to be the material of shoes requiring a given curvature or curved significantly. Compared to the shoes fabricated with the conventional material, the shoes fabricated with the present invention are exempted from auxiliary plates, use less material and have lower fabrication cost.
