Patent Grant
7530150
A process for preparing a molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web is provided and wipes made therefrom. Also provided is an apparatus for making molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web. Molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven webs prepared by the inventive process and apparatus are also provided. Also provided is a molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web.
Historically, various types of nonwoven webs have been utilized for use as disposable wet wipes. The various types of nonwovens used differ in visual and tactile properties, usually due to the particular production process used in their manufacture. In all cases, however, consumers of disposable wipes suitable for use as baby wipes demand strength, thickness, flexibility, texture and softness in addition to other functional attributes such as cleaning ability. Strength, thickness and flexibility can be correlated to certain measurable physical parameters, but perceived softness and texture are often more subjective in nature, and consumers often react to visual and tactile properties in their assessment of wet wipes. Optimizing all the desirable properties is often not possible. For example, often a balance of properties results in less than desirable softness or strength levels. Wet wipes used as baby wipes, for example, should be strong enough when wet to maintain integrity in use, but soft enough to give a pleasing and comfortable tactile sensation to the user(s). They should have fluid retention properties such that they remain wet during storage, and sufficient thickness, porosity, and texture to be effective in cleaning the soiled skin of a user. In addition, sufficient thickness and texture should be retained when wet after formation or combined with a lotion or composition to make a wipe.
Strength in a nonwoven web can be generated by a variety of known methods. If thermoplastic fibers are used, strength can be imparted by melting, either by through-air bonding or by hot roll calendaring. Adhesive bonding is also commonly used to bind fibers to increase the strength of the nonwoven. However, these processes, while increasing the strength of the nonwoven, generally detract from other desirable properties, such as softness and flexibility. Hydroentangling a fibrous structure generates nonwovens with high softness, flexibility and strength, but typically reduces the thickness of the material. Such a reduction in thickness is undesirable for many applications of nonwoven webs, such as in a wet wipe application. Due to the nature of cleaning tasks for which wet wipes are used, consumers prefer a wipe that has a high amount of apparent bulk, or thickness associated with it. To increase the basis weight of the starting material such that after hydroentangling the material retains sufficient thickness to be used as a baby wipe would be prohibitively expensive.
There, however, remains the need for a nonwoven web, which has the softness and flexibility associated with a hydroentangled nonwoven web, but retains the thickness lost in the hydroentangling process. There is also a need for a need for a nonwoven web which has the softness and flexibility associated with a hydroentangled nonwoven web and retains sufficient thickness and texture when wet after formation or combined with a lotion or composition to make a wipe. Similarly, there is also a need for a nonwoven web, which has the thickness associated with a through-air bonded or adhesive bonded nonwoven web, but retains the softness and flexibility lost in the through-air bonding or adhesive bonding processes.
A first aspect of the present invention provides a process for forming a molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web from a fibrous substrate preform comprising the step of
A second aspect of the present invention provides an apparatus for forming a textured spunlaced nonwoven web comprising
A third aspect of the present invention provides a molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web comprising fibers having an average length of from about 10 mm to about 60 mm, wherein the web has a surface comprising a pattern of valleys and land areas such that the valleys between the land areas are interconnected and each of the valley areas has a surface area of from about 0.1 mm2 to about 8 mm2.
All documents cited are, in relevant part, incorporated herein by reference; the citation of any document is not to be construed as an admission that it is prior art with respect to the present invention. All percentages, ratios and proportions are by weight, and all temperatures are in degrees Celsius (°C.), unless otherwise specified. All measurements are in SI units unless otherwise specified.
The above-mentioned and other features and objects of this invention and the manner of attaining them will become more apparent, and the invention itself will be better understood, by reference to the following description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
As used herein the abbreviation “gsm” means “grams per square meter”.
As used herein with respect to nonwoven webs or the fibrous substrate preform, the term “machine-direction”, or “MD” refers to the direction of web travel as the nonwoven web is produced, for example on commercial nonwoven making equipment. Likewise, the term “cross-direction”, or “CD” refers to the direction in the plane of the nonwoven web perpendicular to the machine-direction. With respect to individual wipes, the terms refer to the corresponding directions of the wipe with respect to the web the wipe was made from. These directions are carefully distinguished herein because the mechanical properties of nonwoven webs can differ, depending on how the test sample is oriented during testing. For example, tensile properties of a nonwoven web differ between the machine-direction and the cross-direction, due to the orientation of the constituent fibers, and other process-related factors.
As used herein the term “mesh member” means a mesh or the equivalent of a mesh. One possible “equivalent” would be pattern of repeating solid shapes, such as squares, diamonds, rounded diamonds, and the like, with which are unconnected but act like a mesh in the process and apparatus of the present invention. This and other possible “equivalents” are discussed and explained in more detail herein.
Referring to
The upper mesh member and the underlying mesh member will preferably define a repeating pattern of openings of a particular shape, as can be seen in
Turning to
The forming screen of the present invention may be may be of any suitable configuration including, but not limited to, a belt, a drum, a cylinder or the like. In one embodiment of the present invention the forming screen is rotatable, such as a rotatable drum or cylinder.
A cross-sectional view of this forming screen 10 along 8 is illustrated in
The fibrous substrate preform can be formed in any conventional fashion, but is preferably any nonwoven web which is suitable for use in a hydroentangling process. The fibrous substrate preform may consist of any web, mat, or batt of loose fibers, disposed in random relationship with one another or in any degree of alignment, such as might be produced by carding, air-laying and the like.
Carding is a mechanical process whereby clumps of fibers are separated into individual fibers and simultaneously made into a coherent web. Carding is typically carried out on a machine that utilizes opposed moving beds or surfaces of fine, angled, closely spaced teeth or wires or their equivalent to pull and tease the clumps apart. The teeth of the two opposing surfaces typically are inclined in opposite directions and move at different speeds relative to each other.
Air-laying, on the other hand, is a process whereby air is used to separate, move, and randomly deposit fibers from a forming head to form a coherent, and largely isotropic web. Air laying equipment and processes are known in the art, and include Kroyer or Dan Web devices (suitable for wood pulp air laying, for example) and Rando webber devices (suitable for staple fiber air laying, for example).
The fibers of the fibrous substrate preform, and subsequently the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web, can be any natural, cellulosic, and/or wholly synthetic material. Suitable natural fibers include but are not limited to cellulosic fibers, such as wood pulp fibers, cotton, rayon (also known as viscose) and combinations there of. Suitable synthetic fibers include fibers commonly used in textiles, including but not limited to polyester, polyolefins, such as polypropylene, and combinations of synthetic fibers. The fibers of the fibrous substrate preform, and subsequently the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web, can be a combination of natural and synthetic fibers. In one embodiment viscose (rayon) is used in combination with polypropylene for an economical balance of softness and bondability (in embossing). The viscose provides excellent softness and cloth like properties, which when used alone tends to produce a flannel-like web. Polypropylene permits the web to be thermally bonded in an optional embossing step.
The fibers of the fibrous substrate preform, and subsequently the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web, can be of virtually any size and preferably have an average length from about 10 mm to about 60 mm. Average fiber length refers to the length of the individual fibers if straightened out. In any event, in the process of the instant invention the average fiber length, or fl, must be greater than the height of upper mesh member (hc).
The fibers of the fibrous substrate preform, and subsequently the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web, can be circular in cross-section, dog bone shaped, delta (i.e., triangular cross-section), tri-lobal, ribbon, or other shapes typically produced as staple fibers. Likewise, the fibers can be conjugate fibers, such as bicomponent fibers. The fibers may be crimped, and may have a finish, such as a lubricant, applied.
The fibrous substrate preform of the present invention will preferably have a basis weight of between about 15 gsm and about 100 gsm, more preferably between about 30 gsm and about 75 gsm, even more preferably between about 40 gsm and about 65 gsm. One suitable fibrous substrate preform for use in the present invention is available from the J.W. Suominen Company of Finland, and sold under the FIBRELLA trade name, for example, FIBRELLA 3100 and FIBRELLA 3160 have been found to be useful as the fibrous substrate preform of the present invention. FIBRELLA 3100 is a 62 gsm nonwoven web comprising 50% 1.5 denier polypropylene fibers and 50% 1.5 denier viscose fibers. FIBRELLA 3160 is a 58 gsm nonwoven web comprising 60% 1.5 denier polypropylene fibers and 40% 1.5 denier viscose fibers. In both of these commercially available fibrous substrate preform, the average fiber length is about 38 mm.
The process of the present invention involves subjecting the fibrous substrate preform to a hydroentanglement process while the fibrous substrate preform is in contact with the forming screen. The hydroentanglement process (also known as spunlacing or spunbonding) is a known process of producing nonwoven webs, and involves laying down a matrix of fibers, for example as a carded web or an air-laid web, and entangling the fibers to form a coherent web. Entangling is typically accomplished by impinging the matrix of fibers with high pressure water from preferably at least one, more preferably at least two, even more preferably a plurality of suitably-placed water jets, often referred to as hydroentangling. The water pressure of the water jets as well as the orifice size and the energy imparted to the fibrous substrate preform by the water jets are the same as those of a conventional hydroentangling process, typically entanglement energy is at about 0.1 kwh/kg. While other fluids can be used as the impinging medium, such as compressed air, water is the preferred medium. The fibers of the web are thus entangled, but not physically bonded one to another. The fibers of a hydroentangled web, therefore, have more freedom of movement than fibers of webs formed by thermal or chemical bonding. Particularly when lubricated by wetting as a pre-moistened wet wipe, such spunlaced webs provide webs having very low bending torques and low moduli, thereby maintaining the softness and suppleness.
Additional information on hydroentanglement can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,485,706 issued on Dec. 23, 1969, to Evans; U.S. Pat. No. 3,800,364 issued on Apr. 2, 1974, to Kalwaites; U.S. Pat. No. 3,917,785 issued on Nov. 4, 1975, to Kalwaites; U.S. Pat. No. 4,379,799 issued on Apr. 12, 1983, to Holmes; U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,597 issued on May 19, 1987, to Suzuki; U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,152 issued on Jan. 12, 1988, to Suzuki; U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,958 issued on Sep. 26, 1989, to Suzuki; U.S. Pat. No. 5,115,544 issued on May 26, 1992, to Widen; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,361,784 issued on Mar. 26 2002, to Brennan.
In the present invention conducting the hydroentanglement process concurrently with the fibrous substrate preform contacting the forming screen produces a molded, textured, spunlaced nonwoven web which has an increase in both the wet and dry thickness of the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web over a hydroentangled web of the same basis weight which has not been treated by the process of the present invention. It is preferred that this increase in both the wet and dry thickness be preferably at least about 5%, more preferably at least about 10%, and even more preferably about 15% in both the wet and dry thickness of the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web over a hydroentangled web of the same basis weight which has not been treated by the process of the present invention. Furthermore, this increased thickness and texture do not increase the amount of entanglement energy (the energy transferred to the web by the water jets) needed to produce the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web over a conventional hydroentangled web.
One alternative embodiment of the present invention is a molded, textured, spunlaced nonwoven web which is substantially free, preferably totally free, of apertures. This lack of apertures is especially desired when the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web of the present invention is used in a remoistened wipe, as explained in more detail herein.
In another optional embodiment the fibrous substrate preform is subjected to a separate hydroentanglement process prior to it contacting the forming screen herein. This additional and optional process step may be used to impart additional strength to the fibrous substrate preform, and subsequently to the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web. In one preferred embodiment of this optional embodiment the fibrous substrate preform is subjected to a hydroentanglement process which involves impinging the fibrous substrate preform with high pressure water from a plurality of suitably-placed water jets using a conventional forming screen (approximately 100 mesh wire) then turning the fibrous substrate preform over and subjecting the other side to a plurality of suitably-placed water jets. This two-part “pre-hydroentangling” provides additional strength, stability and softness to the fibrous substrate preform, (and subsequently the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web) prior to the fibrous substrate preform contacting the forming screen such as shown in
Unexpectedly, after the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web has been formed, it can be effectively subjected to additional optional process steps, such as, embossing. By embossing the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web, it can gain additional aesthetics, making the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web particularly suitable for use as a wet wipe. Moreover, besides better aesthetics, other beneficial physical characteristics are imparted to the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web by embossing. For example, by embossing the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web at sufficiently elevated temperatures additional thermal bonding is achieved in the compressed regions, thereby giving better surface fiber bonding. This surface fiber bonding “ties down” loose fiber, resulting in reduced linting of the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web. Additionally the thermal bonding of the embossing operation increases the strength of the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web, especially when used in a wet wipe application. The added embossing contributes to reducing the available CD stretch of the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web. Excessive CD stretch is often a characteristic of carded webs, and is generally undesirable in a wet wipe. By reducing CD stretch, the stretch properties of the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web are more uniform, and more suited for use as a wet wipe.
The molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web of the present invention which can be used to make pre-moistened wipes, which can also be referred to as “wet wipes” “wipes” and “towelettes”, are suitable for use in cleaning babies, and can also find use in cleaning tasks related to persons of all ages. Such wipes can also include articles used for application of substances to the body, including but not limited to application of make-up, skin conditioners, ointments, sun-screens, insect repellents, and medications. Such wipes can also include such articles used for cleaning or grooming of pets, and articles used for general cleansing of surfaces and objects, such as household kitchen and bathroom surfaces, eyeglasses, exercise and athletic equipment, automotive surfaces, and the like. These wipes contain the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web and a composition of matter releasably combined therewith. The manufacture of compositions suitable for application via wipes are well known and form no part of this invention. Examples of compositions and/or ingredients which can be releasably combined with the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web of the present invention to make wet wipes can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,300,301 issued on Oct. 9, 2001, to Moore; U.S. Pat. No. 6,361,784 issued on Mar. 26, 2002, to Brennan; U.S. Pat. No. 6,083,854 issued on Jul. 4, 2000, to Bogdanski; U.S. Pat. No. 5,648,083 issued on Jul. 15, 1997, to Blieszner; U.S. Pat. No. 5,043,155 issued on Jul. 15, 1997, to Puchalski; U.S. Pat. No. 6,207,596 issued on Mar. 27, 2001, to Rourke; U.S. Pat. No. 5,888,524 issued on Mar. 30, 1999, to Cole; U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,763 issued on Feb. 16, 1999, to Luu; U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,944 issued on May 3, 1988, to Jackson; U.S. Pat. No. 3,786,615 issued on Jan. 22, 1974, to Bauer; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,440,437 issued on Jan. 22, 1974, to Krzysik, and various formulas.
Wipes containing the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web of the present invention are particularly suitable for dispensing from a tub of stacked, folded wipes. They are also suited for dispensing as “pop-up” wipes, in which upon pulling a wipe out of the tub, an edge of the next wipe is presented for easy dispensing. The wipes can be folded in any of various known folding patterns, such as C-folding, but is preferably Z-folded. A Z-folded configuration enables a folded stack of wipes to be interleaved with overlapping portions. Exemplary fold patterns are disclosed more fully in, U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,344, issued on Apr. 10, 2001, to Hill; U.S. Pat. No. 6,202,845, issued on Mar. 20, 2001, to Hill; U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,118, issued on Jul. 26, 1994, to Muckenfuhs; U.S. Pat. No. 6,030,331, issued on Feb. 29, 2000 to Zander; U.S. Pat. No. 5,964,351, issued on Oct. 12, 1999, to Zander; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,332, issued on Jul. 30, 1996, to Kopacz. Alternatively, the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web may be folded in an alternating configuration, such as an alternating pattern of Z-fold and C-folds. An example of this alternating fold pattern can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,250,495 issued on Jun. 26, 2001, to Bando.
It is preferred that the wipes comprising the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web of the present invention releasably contain from about 0.1 to about 10, more preferably from about 1 to about 8, even more preferably from about 2 to about 5 grams of composition of matter per gram of molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web.
The fibrous substrate preform 410 may be treated in any of the ways disclosed herein prior to contacting the forming screen 430. Similarly, the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web 420 may be treated in any of the ways disclosed herein subsequent to its formation at 450 on the forming screen 430.
The fibrous substrate preform 510 then moves over various rollers in the apparatus, identified as 540, so that the surface of the fibrous substrate preform 510 which contacts with the second drum 560 is the opposing surface to the surface which contacted first drum 530. This alternating of entanglement, while not wishing to be limited in theory, is believed to improve the overall strength of the fibrous substrate preform 510. The fibrous substrate preform 510 moving on the second drum 560 is then entangled by hydroentanglement means 550. The fibrous substrate preform 510 then moves on to the forming screen 570, and is contacted with water form the hydroentanglement means 580 at juncture 595 thereby forming the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web 590 of the present invention.
In both the apparatus and process of the present invention it is preferred that any hydroentanglement means comprise at least one jet of water which is approximately perpendicular to the forming screen. However, while it is not preferred, it is still within the scope of the present invention to have a hydroentanglement means comprising at least one jet of water which is other than approximately perpendicular to the forming screen. Angles within 30° of perpendicular are useful.
The forming screens of the apparatus of the present invention may be any suitable forming screens. Examples of such suitable forming screens are illustrated herein in FIGS. 1 to 5 inclusive. Other forming screens are suitable for use in the present invention provided that the forming screen's dc2/df2 is greater than or equal to about 50 and is less than or equal to about 300.
Other optional post treatment of the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web, include but are not limited to, drying of the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web; addition of a composition of matter to the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web; rolling of the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web on to a roll for storage and the like; cutting of the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web into shorter lengths; folding the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web, especially when the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web has been cut into smaller lengths, into various configurations such as C-folding, Z-folded and the like; and combinations thereof.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention a molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web is provided. This molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web may optionally be prepared by process or the apparatus of the present invention. Furthermore, this molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web may be optionally post treated, such as addition of a composition of matter, embossing, cutting to a specific length and/or folded, or by other various post treatments detailed herein.
The molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web of the present invention will preferably have a basis weight of between about 15 gsm and about 100 gsm, more preferably between about 30 gsm and about 75 gsm, even more preferably between about 40 gsm and about 65 gsm.
In one optional embodiment of the present invention the molded, textured, spunlaced, nonwoven web comprises a fibers which have an average fiber length of from about 20 mm to about 45 mm, more preferably from about 30 mm to about 40 mm and a diameter of from about 1 denier to about 2 denier, more preferably from about 1.2 denier to about 1.75 denier.
In one optional embodiment of the present invention it is preferred that the height of the upper mesh member (hc) be greater than zero and less than or equal to Tum.
In another optional embodiment of the present invention it is preferred that the effective open diameter of an upper mesh member (dc) wherein dc/Tum is greater than or equal to 1 and is less than or equal to 4.
All documents cited in the Detailed Description of the Invention are, in relevant part, incorporated herein by reference; the citation of any document is not to be construed as an admission that it is prior art with respect to the present invention.
While particular embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it would be obvious to those skilled in the art that various other changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is therefore intended to cover in the appended claims all such changes and modifications that are within the scope of this invention.
This application is a divisional of application Ser. No. 10/706,375, filed Nov. 12, 2003 now abandoned, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/425,443, filed Nov. 12, 2002, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3485706 | Evans | Dec 1969 | A |
| 3769659 | Kalwaites | Nov 1973 | A |
| 3786615 | Bauer | Jan 1974 | A |
| 3800364 | Kalwaites | Apr 1974 | A |
| 3917785 | Kalwaites | Nov 1975 | A |
| 4379799 | Holmes et al. | Apr 1983 | A |
| 4514345 | Johnson et al. | Apr 1985 | A |
| 4528239 | Trokhan | Jul 1985 | A |
| 4637859 | Trokhan | Jan 1987 | A |
| 4665597 | Suzuki et al. | May 1987 | A |
| 4718152 | Suzuki et al. | Jan 1988 | A |
| 4741944 | Jackson et al. | May 1988 | A |
| 4868958 | Suzuki et al. | Sep 1989 | A |
| 5043155 | Puchalski et al. | Aug 1991 | A |
| 5098522 | Smurkoski et al. | Mar 1992 | A |
| 5115544 | Widen | May 1992 | A |
| 5245025 | Trokhan et al. | Sep 1993 | A |
| 5301401 | Suzuki et al. | Apr 1994 | A |
| 5332118 | Muckenfuhs | Jul 1994 | A |
| 5540332 | Kopacz et al. | Jul 1996 | A |
| 5648083 | Blieszner et al. | Jul 1997 | A |
| 5871763 | Luu et al. | Feb 1999 | A |
| 5888524 | Cole | Mar 1999 | A |
| 5895623 | Trokhan et al. | Apr 1999 | A |
| 5964351 | Zander | Oct 1999 | A |
| 6030331 | Zander | Feb 2000 | A |
| 6055710 | Fleissner | May 2000 | A |
| 6083854 | Bogdanski et al. | Jul 2000 | A |
| 6202845 | Hill | Mar 2001 | B1 |
| 6207596 | Rourke et al. | Mar 2001 | B1 |
| 6213344 | Hill | Apr 2001 | B1 |
| 6250495 | Bando | Jun 2001 | B1 |
| 6300301 | Moore et al. | Oct 2001 | B1 |
| 6338187 | Fleissner | Jan 2002 | B1 |
| 6361784 | Brennan et al. | Mar 2002 | B1 |
| 6440437 | Krzysik et al. | Aug 2002 | B1 |
| 6796010 | Noelle | Sep 2004 | B2 |
| 20020100153 | Takai et al. | Aug 2002 | A1 |
| 20030088956 | Strandqvist et al. | May 2003 | A1 |
| 20050022954 | Strandqvist | Feb 2005 | A1 |
| 20050155200 | Fleissner | Jul 2005 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1 353 756 | May 1974 | GB |
| 07-145543 | Jun 1995 | JP |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20070273069 A1 | Nov 2007 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60425443 | Nov 2002 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 10706375 | Nov 2003 | US |
| Child | 11890195 | US |
