Patent Application
20080149419
This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-159488 filed on May 28, 2004 and Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-160511 filed on May 31, 2004, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference in their entireties.
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a sound absorbing carpet preferably used as an automobile carpet, and also relates to a method for manufacturing the carpet.
2. Prior Art
Conventionally, a floor carpet is disposed on an automobile floor for the purpose of, e.g., obtaining a good step feeling and preventing transmission of vibrations from the floor side. In the meantime, outside noise will be entered into an automobile. Although such noise can be reduced by the floor carpet to some extent, the reduced amount was not sufficient. Accordingly, even in a floor carpet for automobiles, it has been requested to provide a floor carpet with sound absorbing performance. As such a floor carpet, it is known that a nonwoven fabric is integrally laminated on the rear side of a carpet surface skin material (see Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2002-200687, claim 1 and claim 3). In this structure, since nonwoven fabric is used, sound such as noise will be absorbed by the nonwoven fabric layer while passing therethrough, and therefore certain sound absorbing performance can be attained.
In the meantime, in these years, a strong demand for further enhancing quietness in an automobile indoor space to improve the comfortableness therein has been requested. In the aforementioned conventional floor carpet, however, the sound absorbing effect was far from the satisfactory level to meet such a demand. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop a carpet having excellent sound absorbing performance.
The present invention was conceived in view of the aforementioned technical background, and aims to provide a carpet capable of attaining excellent sound absorbing performance and sufficient quietness.
Other objects will be apparent from the below mentioned embodiments.
In order to attain the aforementioned objects, the present invention provides the following means.
[1] A sound absorbing carpet, comprising:
a surface skin material layer; and
a sound absorbing nonwoven fabric layer integrally bonded to a lower surface side of the surface skin material layer via an adhesive film layer made of thermoplastic resin,
wherein a part of fibers constituting the sound absorbing nonwoven fabric layer are constituted by thick fibers of 11 to 220 desitex, and
wherein the adhesive film layer is provided with permeable pores formed by being contacted by the thick fibers.
[2] The sound absorbing carpet as recited in the aforementioned Item [1], wherein a part of the thick fibers are embedded in the adhesive film layer and tangled therewith.
[3] The sound absorbing carpet as recited in the aforementioned Item [1] or [2], wherein thick fibers of 11 to 220 desitex and first fibers of 1 to 10 desitex are used as fibers constituting the sound absorbing nonwoven fabric layer.
[4] The sound absorbing carpet as recited in the aforementioned Item [3], wherein the sound absorbing nonwoven fabric layer is made of nonwoven fabric in which the thick fibers are upwardly protruded from an upper surface of a nonwoven fabric base layer formed by the thick fibers and the first fibers.
[5] The sound absorbing carpet as recited in the aforementioned Item [3] or [4], wherein a combined mass ratio of the fibers constituting the sound absorbing nonwoven layer is thick fibers/first fibers=5/95 to 99/1.
[6] The sound absorbing carpet as recited in any one of the aforementioned Items [1] to [5], wherein an amount of the sound absorbing nonwoven fiber layer is 150 to 1,000 g/m2.
[7] The sound absorbing carpet as recited any one of in the aforementioned Items [1] to [6], wherein an amount of the adhesive film layer is 5 to 300 g/m2.
[8] The sound absorbing carpet as recited in any one of the aforementioned Items [1] to [7], wherein the adhesive film layer contains the thermoplastic resin and filler.
[9] The sound absorbing carpet as recited in any one of the aforementioned Items [1] to [8], wherein, as the surface skin material layer, carpet cloth in which pile is embedded in an upper surface of a base fabric having a precoat processed lower surface is used.
[10] The sound absorbing carpet as recited in any one of the aforementioned Items [1] to [8], wherein a needle punched nonwoven fabric is used as the surface skin material layer.
[11] A method of manufacturing a sound absorbing carpet, the method comprising:
superimposing nonwoven fabric in which thick fabrics of 11 to 220 desitex are used as a part of fibers constituting the nonwoven fabric, an adhesive film of thermoplastic resin obtained immediately after extrusion and surface skin material in this order; and
pressing them by and between a pair of rollers.
[12] The method of manufacturing a sound absorbing carpet as recited in the aforementioned Item [11], wherein, using nonwoven fabric in which thick fibers of 11 to 220 desitex are upwardly protruded from an upper surface of a nonwoven fabric base layer formed by the thick fibers and first fibers of 1 to 10 desitex as the sound absorbing nonwoven fabric layer, the nonwoven fabric, the adhesive film and the surface skin material are pressed by and between a pair of rollers in a state in which an upwardly protruded thick fiber side is in contact with the adhesive film.
[13] The method of manufacturing a sound absorbing carpet as recited in the aforementioned Item [11] or [12], wherein a pressing roller is used as one of the pair of rollers and a cooling roller is used as the other of the pair of rollers.
According to the invention as recited in the aforementioned Item [1], sound absorbing performance can be obtained by the resonance absorption of the adhesive film layer, and that the adhesive film layer is provided with a number of permeable pores formed by being contacted by the thick fibers of the sound absorbing nonwoven fabric layer. Therefore, excellent sound absorbing performance can be attained. Furthermore, since the thickness of the thick fiber falls within the range of 11 to 220 desitex, the permeable pores formed in the adhesive film layer allows air-permeation, but barely allows water-permeation. This gives appropriate water repellent performance to the carpet.
According to the invention as recited in the aforementioned Item [2], since a part of the thick fibers are embedded in the adhesive film layer and tangled therewith, the bonding strength can be enhanced.
According to the invention as recited in the aforementioned Item [3], since first fibers of 1 to 10 desitex are used together with the thick fibers as fibers constituting the sound absorbing nonwoven fabric layer, the sound absorbing performance can be further improved.
According to the invention as recited in the aforementioned Item [4], since the thick fibers are upwardly protruded from an upper surface of a nonwoven fabric base layer, when the thick fibers come into contact with the adhesive film layer at the time of bonding, a number of permeable pores can be formed in the adhesive film layer, resulting in further improved sound absorbing performance.
According to the invention as recited in the aforementioned Item [5], since a combined mass ratio of the fibers constituting the sound absorbing nonwoven layer is thick fibers/first fibers=5/95 to 99/1, the sound absorbing performance can be further improved.
According to the invention as recited in the aforementioned Item [6], since an amount of the sound absorbing nonwoven fiber layer is set to 150 to 1,000 g/m2, the sound absorbing performance can be further improved.
According to the invention as recited in the aforementioned Item [7], an amount of the adhesive film layer is 50 to 300 g/m2, sufficient bonding strength can be attained. Furthermore, when the thick fibers come into contact with the adhesive film layer at the time of bonding, a number of permeable pores can be formed in the adhesive film layer, resulting in further improved sound absorbing performance.
According to the invention as recited in the aforementioned Item [8], since the adhesive film layer contains filler, permeable pores can be more easily formed in the adhesive film layer by being contacted by the thick fibers. In other words, there is a merit that permeable pores can be more easily formed by the existence of the filler.
According to the invention as recited in the aforementioned Item [9], a carpet excellent in foot step feeling can be provided.
According to the invention as recited in the aforementioned Item [10], since a needle punched nonwoven fabric is used as the surface skin material layer, the sound absorbing performance can be further improved, and furthermore a sound absorbing carpet can be provided at low cost.
According to the invention as recited in the aforementioned Item [11], the sound absorbing carpet according to the invention as recited in the aforementioned Items [1] to [10] can be manufactured efficiently. Furthermore, in the obtained sound absorbing carpet, sound absorbing performance can be attained by the resonance absorption by the adhesive film layer. In addition, since a number of permeable pores are formed in the adhesive film layer by being contacted by the thick fibers of the sound absorbing nonwoven fabric, excellent sound absorbing performance can be obtained. Furthermore, since the thickness of the thin fiber falls within the range of 11 to 220 desitex, the permeable pores formed in the adhesive film layer allows air-permeation, but barely allows water-permeation, resulting in a carpet with appropriate water repellent performance.
According to the invention as recited in the aforementioned Item [12], since the thick fibers are upwardly protruded from an upper surface of a nonwoven fabric base layer, when the thick fibers come into contact with the adhesive film layer at the time of bonding, a number of permeable pores can be formed in the adhesive film layer. This enables manufacturing of a sound absorbing carpet with further improved sound absorbing performance.
According to the invention as recited in the aforementioned Item [13], since a pressing roller is used as one of the pair of rollers and a cooling roller is used as the other of the pair of rollers, the pressing with the pair of rollers enables integral bonding and cooling solidification of the bonding layer, thereby improving the manufacturing efficiency.
The aforementioned objects, other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by referring the preferred embodiments of the invention which will be detailed with the attached drawings.
An embodiment of a sound absorbing carpet 101 according to the present invention is shown in
The surface skin material layer 110 includes a base fabric 102, pile 103 embedded on the upper surface of the base fabric 102 and a precoat layer 104 formed on the lower surface of the base fabric 102 by precoat processing, and has air-permeability. The surface skin material layer 110 and the sound absorbing nonwoven fabric layer 106 are integrally bonded via the adhesive resin layer 105. To the lower surface of the sound absorbing nonwoven fabric layer 106, a slip preventing resin layer 107 is provided.
As a part of fibers constituting the sound absorbing nonwoven fabric layer 106, thick fibers of 11 to 220 desitex are utilized. In this embodiment, the sound absorbing nonwoven fabric 106 is nonwoven fabric having a nonwoven fabric base layer 120 made of thick fibers 121 of 11 to 220 desitex and first fibers of 1 to 10 desitex in which the thick fibers 121 upwardly extend from the upper surface of the nonwoven fabric base layer 120 (see
The adhesive film layer 105 is provided with a number of air-permeable pores formed when the thick fibers 121 of the sound absorbing nonwoven fabric layer 106 come into contact with the adhesive film layer 105 at the time of superimposing them for integral bonding.
Thus, in the sound absorbing carpet 101, sound such as noise can be absorbed by the adhesive film layer 105. Furthermore, the adhesive film layer 105 has permeability due to a number of permeable pores formed by being contacted by the thick fibers 121. Therefore, by these synergetic effects, excellent sound absorbing performance can be obtained. Furthermore, since the thickness of the thick fiber 121 is set to 11 to 220 desitex, the permeable pores formed in the adhesive film layer 105 allows air-permeation, but barely allows water-permeation, which gives appropriate water repellent performance to the carpet. In addition, in this embodiment, the thick fibers 121 are upwardly protruded from the upper surface of the nonwoven fabric base layer 120, in other words, the thick fibers 121 are upwardly protruded from the nonwoven fabric base layer 120. Therefore, there are merits that a number of permeable pores can be assuredly formed in the adhesive film layer 105, resulting in further improved sound absorbing performance.
In the present invention, as the base fabric 102, spanbond nonwoven fabric, needle punched nonwoven fabric and woven fabric can be exemplified, though it is not specifically limited. Among these, it is preferable to use spanbond nonwoven fabric. In this case, a number of voids communicating the front and rear sides of the fabric can be secured even if the fabric is subjected to precoat processing (stitching protection processing), resulting in excellent permeability, which in turn can further improve the sound absorbing performance.
It is preferable that the amount of the base fabric 102 is set to 90 to 150 g/m2. If it is less than 90 g/m2, it becomes difficult to embed the pile 103 in the base fabric 102 in a stably supported manner, and therefore it is not preferable. If it exceeds 150 g/m2, sufficient permeability cannot be secured, resulting in deteriorated sound absorbing performance, and therefore it is not preferable.
Furthermore, the amount of the pile 103 is preferably set so as to fall within the rage of 300 to 2,000 g/m2.
The precoat layer 104 is a resin layer formed by applying emulsion or solution of synthetic resin or rubber. The synthetic resin adhesion amount (in a dry condition) in this precoat layer 104 is preferably set to 50 to 150 g/m2. If it is less than 50 g/m2, sufficient pile pulling strength cannot be obtained, resulting in easy loss of pile, and therefore it is not preferable. If it exceeds 150 g/m2, sufficient permeability cannot be secured, resulting in deteriorated sound absorbing performance, and therefore it is also not preferable.
As a part of fibers constituting the sound absorbing nonwoven fabric layer 106, it is necessary that the thick fiber 121 of 11 to 220 desitex are used. By using such thick fibers, when the surface skin material layer 110 and the sound absorbing nonwoven fabric layer 106 are superimposed via the adhesive film layer 105 for integral bonding, the thick fibers 121 of the sound absorbing nonwoven fabric layer 106 come into contact with the adhesive film layer 105, thereby forming a number of permeable pores in the adhesive film layer 105.
Among other things, as the fiber constituting the sound absorbing nonwoven fabric layer 106, it is preferable to employ the structure using the thick fibers 121 of 11 to 220 desitex and the first fibers 122 of 1 to 10 desitex. Using the first fibers of 1 to 10 desitex further improves the sound absorbing performance.
The combined mass ratio of the fibers constituting the sound absorbing nonwoven layer 106 is preferably set to “thick fibers/first fibers”=“5/95 to 99/1.”. If the use rate of the thick fibers 121 is less than the lower limit, the number of permeable pores to be formed in the adhesive film layer 105 decreases, resulting in deteriorated permeability, which in turn causes a deteriorated sound absorbing performance. Furthermore, if the use rate of the first fiber 122 is less than the lower limit, the sound absorbing effect of the sound absorbing nonwoven fabric layer 106 itself deteriorates, and therefore it is not preferable. Among other things, the combined mass ratio of the fibers constituting the sound absorbing nonwoven layer 106 is more preferably set to “thick fibers/first fibers”=“10/90 to 70/30.”
The amount of fibers constituting the sound absorbing nonwoven fabric layer 106 is preferably set to 150 to 1,000 g/m2. If it is less than 150 g/m2, sufficient sound absorbing effect cannot be obtained, and therefore it is not preferable. On the other hand, if it exceeds 1,000 g/m2, it becomes difficult to secure sufficient permeability, resulting in deteriorated sound absorbing effect, and therefore it is not preferable.
As the nonwoven fabric configuration of the sound absorbing nonwoven fabric layer 106, needle punched nonwoven fabric and spanbond nonwoven fabric can be exemplified, though it is not specifically limited.
The adhesive film layer 105 is an adhesive layer of a thermoplastic resin film, and has a number of permeable pores formed by being contacted by the thick fibers 121. As the adhesive film, a polyethylene film and a polypropylene film can be exemplified, though it is not specifically limited.
The adhesive film layer 105 is preferably made of a resin film having resin composition in which filler is mixed to the thermoplastic resin. By mixing the filler, permeable pores can be more easily formed in the adhesive film layer 105 by being contacted by thick fibers. As the filler, calcium carbonate, barium sulfate, silica sand and magnesium hydrate can be exemplified, though it is not specifically limited.
The amount of the adhesive film layer 105 is preferably set to 50 to 300 g/m2. If it is less than 50 g/m2, sufficient bonding strength cannot be obtained, and therefore it is not preferable. On the other hand, if it exceeds 300 g/m2, sufficient sound absorbing effects by resonance absorption of the adhesive film layer 105 cannot be obtained and it becomes difficult to form permeable pores in the adhesive film layer 105, and therefore it is not preferable.
The slip preventing resin layer 107 can be formed by, for example, applying the resin by a roller coating method or a spraying method. The amount of slip preventing resin layer 7 is preferably set to 50 to 150 g/m2.
For example, the sound absorbing carpet 101 according to the present invention can be manufacture as follows. Initially, a skin surface member 110 in which pile 103 is embedded on the upper surface of the base fabric 102 and a precoat layer 104 is formed on the lower surface of the base fabric 102 by precoat processing is prepared. Then, as shown in
On a rear side of fabric in which pile 103 of polypropylene yarn in the amount of 650 g/m2 was tufted in base fabric 102 made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) fabric spanbond nonwoven fabric in the amount of 100 g/m2, a precoat layer 104 in the dry amount of 75 g/m2 was formed by subjecting SBR latex to precoat processing. Thus, a surface skin material 110 was obtained.
Then, as shown in
A sound absorbing carpet 101 was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that, as the nonwoven fabric 106, nonwoven fabric having a nonwoven fabric base layer 120 made of thick fibers 121 of 30 desitex, first fibers 122 of 6 desitex and first fibers 122 of 4 desitex in which the thick fibers 121 were upwardly extended from the upper surface of the nonwoven fabric base layer 120 (see
A sound absorbing carpet 101 was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that, as the nonwoven fabric 106, nonwoven fabric having a nonwoven fabric base layer 120 made of thick fibers 121 of 15 desitex, first fibers 122 of 8 desitex and first fibers 122 of 4 desitex in which the thick fibers 121 were upwardly extended from the upper surface of the nonwoven fabric base layer 120 (see
A sound absorbing carpet 101 was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that, as the nonwoven fabric 106, nonwoven fabric having a nonwoven fabric base layer 120 made of thick fibers 121 of 100 desitex, first fibers 122 of 6 desitex and first fibers 122 of 4 desitex in which the thick fibers 121 were upwardly extended from the upper surface of the nonwoven fabric base layer 120 (see
A sound absorbing carpet 101 was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that, as the nonwoven fabric 106, nonwoven fabric having a nonwoven fabric base layer 120 made of thick fibers 121 of 150 desitex and first fibers 122 of 4 desitex in which the thick fibers 121 were upwardly extended from the upper surface of the nonwoven fabric base layer 120 (see
A sound absorbing carpet 101 was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that, as the polyethylene film 105, a polyethylene film in the amount of 100 g/m2 was used.
A sound absorbing carpet 1 was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that, as the nonwovern fabric 6, polyester needle punched woven fabric made of 6 desitex fiber in the amount of 90 mass % and 4 desitex fiber in the amount of 10 mass % was used.
On a rear side of fabric in which pile 103 of polypropylene yarn in the amount of 650 g/m2 was tufted in base fabric 102 made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) fabric spanbond nonwoven fabric 2 in the amount of 100 g/m2, a precoat layer 4 in the dry amount of 75 g/m2 was formed by subjecting SBR latex to precoat processing. Thus, a surface skin meterila 110 was obtained.
Next, while transferring the surface skin member 110 at a constant speed with the pile side facing downward, polyethylene powder having an average diameter of 400 μm was applied to the surface skin member at a spraying amount of 300 g/m2. After heating the powder, polyester needle punched nonwoven fabric (nonwoven fabric made of 6 desitex fiber in the amount of 90 mass % and 4 desitex fiber in the amount of 10 mass %) was superimposed thereon and pressed with cooling rollers. Thus, a sound absorbing carpet was obtained.
Each sound absorbing carpet obtained as mentioned above was evaluated based on the following evaluation method.
In accordance with the vertical incident method according to JIS A1405, the sound absorbing rate was measured at each frequency.
In accordance with JIS L1096 8.27.1 A method, the permeability (cm3/cm2/sec) was measured.
Normal temperature water of 100 mL was calmly placed on the upper surface (pile surface) of the sound absorbing carpet, and left as it is for 10 minutes. 10 minutes later, the water penetration to the carpet rear surface was investigated.
“⊚” . . . no water penetration to the carpet rear surface occurred, and the rear surface was in a dried state
“◯” . . . no water penetration to the carpet rear surface occurred, but the rear surface was humid, i.e., in a half-dried state
“Δ” . . . almost no water penetration to the carpet rear surface occurred, but the rear surface was wet
“X” . . . water penetration to the carpet rear surface occurred
As will be apparent from the above Table, each sound absorbing carpet according to Examples 1 to 6 of the present invention was excellent in sound absorbing performance and equipped with sufficient water repellent performance.
To the contrary, in the sound absorbing carpet according to Comparative Example 1 made by a nonwoven fabric layer not using thick fibers of 11 to 120 desitex, there was almost no permeability and it was poor in sound absorbing performance, though excellent water repellent performance was demonstrated. Furthermore, in the sound absorbing carpet according to Comparative Example 2 in which the surface skin material layer and the nonwoven fabric layer were integrally bonded, water was penetrated to the rear surface of the carpet.
It should be appreciated that the terms and descriptions herein are not used for limiting the scope of the invention, but used only for explaining embodiments of the present invention, and the invention is not limited to them. The invention permits any modifications and substitutions within the scope of the present invention defined by the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004-159488 | May 2004 | JP | national |
| 2004-160511 | May 2004 | JP | national |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 11136722 | May 2005 | US |
| Child | 12068935 | US |
