Protective material having guard plates on clearly visible substrate

[0023] Fig. 1 is a top view of a protective material 1 with a flexible base cloth 3 and a spacer guard plate 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The guard plate 2 is stuck on the first or top surface 4 of the flexible base cloth 3, and is separated from each other. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, the guard plate 2 has a hexagonal shape and is arranged in a regular and repeated manner. In some other embodiments, the guard plate 2 may have other shapes, for example, a circle, a square, or any other polygon, and may be arranged in a random or irregular way of filling the space. In one embodiment, the guard plate 2 is arranged in the form of a mathematical Penrose. The guard plate 2 leaves a gap width 5 between adjacent guard plates 2. In other embodiments, the guard plate 2 assembly includes a variety of different shapes (as shown in Figures 3-4). In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1B, the vertical section of the guard plate 2 is in the shape of a dome. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1C, the vertical section of the guard plate 2 is a generally flat shape.

[0024] Figures 2-9 show other embodiments of the protective material 1. Fig. 2 is a top view of a protective material 1 with a flexible base cloth 3 and a spacer hexagonal protective plate 2 according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 2, the gap width 5 of the guard plate 2 is larger than that of the guard plate shown in Fig. 1A. Figures 3-4 are top views of a protective material 1 with a flexible base fabric 3 and a spaced pentagonal and square guard plate 2 according to other embodiments of the present invention. 5-6 are top views of the protective material 1 with the flexible base fabric 3 and the spaced circular protective plate 2 according to other embodiments of the present invention. Fig. 7 is a top view of a protective material 1 with a flexible camouflage and pattern base cloth 3 and a transparent protective plate 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 8 is a top view of a protective material 1 with a flexible camouflage and pattern base fabric 3 and a colored protective plate 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The color of the protective plate can be selected to match the colored base fabric shown. FIG. 9 shows another embodiment in which the spacing between the guard plates 2 is relatively close. This embodiment exhibits good abrasion resistance and at the same time allows the base fabric to be fully utilized. Figure 10-11 shows SuperFabric How the wear resistance of the brand material changes in the area covered, the diameter of the guard plate and the gap.

[0025] The diameter of the guard plate 2 and the gap width 5 between the guard plates 2 can be varied. In one embodiment, the diameter of the guard plate 2 is between about 40 and about 100 mils. In another embodiment, the gap width 5 is between about 5 and about 100 mils. In another embodiment, the diameter of the guard plate 2 is between about 80 to about 200 mils, and the gap width 5 is between about 20 to about 200 mils. In one embodiment, the gap width 5 is generally the same or similar throughout the protective material 1. In another embodiment, the gap width 5 varies throughout the protective material 1. In one embodiment, the thickness or height of the guard plate 2 may be between about 2 to about 40 mils. In one embodiment, the diameter of the guard plate 2, the gap width 5 and the thickness of the guard plate 2 are all selected to maintain good visibility of the appearance and aesthetics of the top surface 4 and the flexible base cloth 3.

[0026] The guard plate can have any shape, but the advantage of the convex guard plate is that it has overall flexibility and can reduce the tendency of the guard plate to crack. The size of the guard plate has a large diameter and a small diameter. When using a hard guard plate, the ratio of the large diameter to the small diameter should not be too large, otherwise, the guard plate may appear cracks. In one embodiment, the ratio of the major diameter to the minor diameter is between about 1 and about 3. In addition, if a hard guard is used, the ratio of the small diameter to the thickness of the guard should not be too large to prevent cracks. In one embodiment, the ratio of the minor diameter to the thickness of the guard plate is less than about 10.

[0027] In the embodiments shown in Figs. 1A and 2-8, the width of the gap between adjacent adjacent guard plates 2 is generally uniform. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the maximum gap width 5 between adjacent adjacent guard plates 2 is less than the length of the large or small size (for example, less than 200 mils).

[0028] In other embodiments of the present invention, such as shown in FIG. 9, the gap width 5 has a large variation. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 9, the gap width 5 between most of the adjacent shields of the shield 2 is less than the length of the large or small size (for example, less than 200 mils). In the embodiment shown in FIG. 9, some guard plates 2 are isolated from other adjacent guard plates 2, and the interval width of the nearest neighbor guard plates is larger than the length of the large or small size of the guard plates. Although the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 9 is provided with an opaque guard plate 2, the bright or transparent guard plate may also be arranged at intervals, such as described in the part of FIG. 9.

[0029] The various embodiments of the protective material 1 and the method of manufacturing the protective material 1 are introduced in the following jointly owned US patents, namely, the US patent number 6,962,739 filed on July 6, 2000, entitled "Soft Permeable Fabric And manufacturing method"; US patent number 7,018,692 filed on December 21, 2001, titled "Penetration-resistant fabric with multi-layer guard plate assembly and its manufacturing method"; US patent filed on December 23, 2003 The application publication number is 20040192133 and the name is "abrasion resistant and heat resistant fabric" (S/N10/734,686); the US patent application publication number applied for on November 3, 2004 is 20050170221 and the name is "soft penetration resistant fabric and its production Method” (S/N 10/980,881); and the United States Patent Application Publication No. 20050009429 filed on November 3, 2004 entitled “Fire-resistant and Cut-resistant Fabrics” (S/N 10/887,005); all these patent documents are All of this is incorporated by reference.

[0030] In one embodiment, the guard plate 2 is made of a resin, and the resin is selected because of its protective properties, such as cut resistance, puncture resistance, durability and other protective properties, and its combination with the flexible base fabric 3 The bonding characteristics. A suitable material for the guard plate 2 is thermosetting epoxy resin. The gap width 5 is selected to maintain the flexibility of the flexible base fabric 3, so that the entire protective material 1 can have and maintain its flexibility and flexibility. In one embodiment, the guard plate 2 is made of rigid and hard material, or tough and non-brittle material. In one embodiment, the guard plate 2 is made of a material with a Shore D hardness greater than or equal to 10. In another embodiment, the Shore D hardness range is between 10 and 50. A softer polymer, such as silicone rubber or plasticized polyvinyl chloride (PVC), can be used as the guard plate 2 material to increase the guard plate 2’s gripping characteristics, at the same time, because these materials are elastic, they can still provide reliable wear resistance. Elasticity can make the material easy to yield and deform when subjected to stress, which also makes it difficult for friction objects to form mechanical engagement with the material , To avoid abrasion. In another embodiment, a harder polymer with a Shore D hardness ranging from 50 to 100, such as epoxy resin, can be used as the material for the guard plate 2, where the gripping characteristics of the guard plate 2 are not required. Application environment, providing firm abrasion resistance or resistance to cut or puncture. Another advantage of using a harder guard is that it can be used on clothing, which must be worn where sharp rocks may pierce the fabric. In this case, a hard guard can provide better protection than the protection provided by a softer guard. In one embodiment, a guard plate having a hardness greater than Shore D 100 is used. In another embodiment, a hard guard plate (for example, made of epoxy resin) is used as one layer, and then a softer guard plate (for example, made of silicone rubber) is applied as the second layer. Generally, the layers do not need to be aligned in any way. In this case, the relatively soft layer can be dotted or other layouts, including continuous use of soft materials. In one embodiment, dotted silicone rubber, 100-400 mils in diameter, 20-400 mils apart, can be used.

[0031] In addition, in general, the flexible base fabric 3 is selected to meet the required performance. For example, the flexible base cloth 3 may include a layer of fabric or multiple layers of materials with different physical properties, wherein the layers are superimposed on each other or bonded together. The general physical requirements of the flexible base fabric 3 include tensile strength, burst strength and tear strength, flexibility/flexibility, waterproof, breathability, toughness and comfort. In some applications, the flexible base fabric 3 is also required to have elasticity. In one embodiment, the flexible base fabric 3 is a polymer film laminated to a fabric containing a colorful pattern. In another embodiment, the flexible base fabric 3 is a woven fabric. In another embodiment, the flexible base fabric is a knitted fabric. In another embodiment, the flexible base fabric 3 is a non-woven fabric. In one embodiment, the flexible base fabric 3 has a pattern or image on the top surface 4. In one embodiment, the pattern or image is a camouflage pattern. In one embodiment, the pattern is printed on the top surface 4. In another embodiment, the pattern is woven into the flexible base fabric 3.

[0032] In an embodiment such as that shown in FIG. 7, good visibility or visibility of the top surface 4 of the flexible base cloth 3 is achieved by using a protective plate 2 with physical properties that are transparent or translucent to the visible wavelength spectrum. Yes, without a lot of scattering. As shown in Fig. 7, the camouflage pattern on the base cloth 3 is a limited color and pattern variation (ie, white and black). Other camouflage patterns can also be used on the base cloth 3, with other patterns and similar colors. In some other embodiments (not shown in the figure), patterns other than camouflage patterns are used on the base fabric 3. For example, pictures, characters, symbols, pictures and other marks and images can be printed, woven or formed in other ways on or in the base cloth 3.

[0033] In other embodiments such as those shown in Figs. 8 and 9, good visibility or visibility of the top surface 4 of the flexible base fabric 3 can be achieved by using an opaque protective plate 2. This protective plate has one or more colors, and the base The color of the cloth is matched, and there is enough gap between each guard plate, and the color of the base cloth is presented through the gap. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 8, the color of the guard plate 2 is the main color of the multi-color camouflage pattern. In other embodiments (not shown in the figure), different protective plates have different colors. In other embodiments (not shown in the figure), the protective plate can be adjusted in position to the camouflage pattern area, and the color of the pattern part behind the protective plate is the same or similar. In fact, the choice of the color and/or position of the guard plate is intended to form part and/or to match the pattern on the base fabric visually, thereby providing a visually relevant pattern. Although the embodiments of the present invention are described in conjunction with camouflage patterns, other embodiments (not shown in the figure) include other patterns, such as pictures, words, symbols, pictures, and other marks and images that can be printed, woven or used in other ways It is formed on or in the base cloth 3. In one embodiment, the guard plate 2 may be made of various types of transparent heat curing or ultraviolet (UV) curing resins. The resin is selected according to the needs of a specific application. In one embodiment, more than about 80% of the light irradiated on the surface of the guard plate 2 will pass through the guard plate 2, while less than about 20% of the incident light will be widely dispersed. In another embodiment, the guard plate 2 can transmit light without a large amount of diffusion, so that the part of the flexible substrate 3 covered by the guard plate 2 can be seen.

[0034] The transparent or translucent guard plate 2 can enable the protective material 1 to be applied in the environment where the flexible base cloth 3 is required to be protected from cutting and abrasion. However, this also requires the appearance and beauty of the flexible base cloth 3 and its top surface 4 Have good visibility. In some cases, in order to prevent external mechanical abrasion, the flexible base cloth 3 is protected to avoid color (or in fact, the dye or pigment of the base cloth), texture, and any weaving or color patterns in the flexible base cloth 3. It fades suddenly or gradually. The transparent or translucent guard plate 2 can reduce or prevent mechanical abrasion on the flexible base fabric 3, and at the same time, it will not affect the good visibility of the flexible base fabric 3 itself and the top surface 4 thereof.

[0035] The guard plate 2 can be made of glass, ceramic, ultraviolet curable, thermoplastic, or thermosetting materials. In one embodiment, the glass guard plate 2 is attached to the flexible base cloth 3 using transparent glue. In another embodiment, the ultraviolet curable and thermally curable material forms a liquid or paste resin at room temperature before the material is cured by heating or ultraviolet light. These resins are printed on the surface of the base cloth and then crosslinked by adding heat, ultraviolet radiation or a combination of heat and ultraviolet radiation. Electron beam and other curing devices can also be used. In another embodiment, the thermoplastic material is heated to a liquid or paste state, and then printed on the top surface 4 of the flexible base cloth 3 in a manner similar to that used for printing ultraviolet curable or thermosetting resins. As the resin cools, the thermoplastic resin hardens and sticks to the flexible base cloth 3. In other embodiments, the guard plate 2 is made of ceramic, metal or composite materials. In one embodiment, the protective material 1 is a combination of protective plates 2 made of various materials. In one embodiment, the resin material of the guard plate is a diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A with an amine curing agent and glass beads.

[0036] In one embodiment, the guard plate 2 is made using a combination of curing and screen printing processes. In one embodiment, the polymer resin used for each guard plate 2 is a part of heat-curable epoxy resin. The polymer resin exhibits viscoelastic and thixotropic fluid properties and is suitable for screen printing at room temperature. The screen is used to print the guard plate 2 on the flexible base cloth 3. In one embodiment, the guard plate 2 is then partially cured in a heat or ultraviolet oven to the point where the resin no longer flows fluidly. In one embodiment, the curing temperature of the guard plate 2 is between about 90°C and about 150°C, and the time is between about 20 to about 90 minutes. In one embodiment, the guard plate 2 will be mechanically affected, and at the same time it will be partially cured or partially hardened, so that the surface of the guard plate 2 has the required texture.

[0037] The physical and mechanical properties of the guard plate 2 can be specially designed to meet the specific performance requirements of a given application. In one embodiment, the composition of the material constituting the guard plate 2 can be adjusted so that the cured resin has different degrees of gloss. Many resins that ultimately form the light-emitting shield 2 can be used. In an embodiment in which the thermosetting epoxy resin is used as the protective plate material, the reflectance of the protective plate 2 can be adjusted by the selection of the curing agent. In one embodiment, the curing agent is an ammonia or a mixed form of various ammonia. In a preferred embodiment for achieving a matt protection board, the heat-curing epoxy resin includes diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A and a latent curing agent of about 50% dicyandiamide and about 50% aliphatic polyamine. In an embodiment that can give a bright finish to the board, the thermosetting epoxy resin includes the diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A and an aliphatic ammonia curing agent. In other embodiments, a matting agent is added to the resin to make the protective plate 2 matte. In one embodiment, the matting agent is silicon. In another embodiment, the matting agent is wax particles. In one embodiment, enough matting agent is added to form matt, while at the same time, the transparency or translucency of the protective plate 2 can still be maintained.

[0038] In another embodiment, fillers are added to the protective plate material to strengthen the protective plate 2. In one embodiment, the transparency of the protective plate 2 is maintained by selecting a filler whose refractive index is close to the refractive index of the protective plate material. For example, the diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A has a refractive index of about 1.57, while the refractive index of glass beads (type A glass) is about 1.51-1.52. The difference in refractive index is small, and when glass beads of about 10-50% by weight are added, it can be sufficient to keep the resin appropriately transparent. This ensures that light does not scatter a lot from the joint between the filler and the continuous coating resin or material used in the shield 2. In one embodiment, the gap between the guard plates 2 is selected to be small, so that great puncture resistance, knife resistance and abrasion resistance can be obtained. In another embodiment, a multi-layer guard plate attached to the fabric can be used to increase the resistance to cutting, cutting, or abrasion, while the top surface 4 of the outermost flexible base fabric 3 remains clearly visible.

[0039] In some cases, it is difficult to achieve a completely transparent guard plate 2. For example, if the concentration of the matting agent is high, the guard plate 2 will be very turbid. In other cases, the transparent resin will be sucked into the flexible base fabric 3 and darken the color of the flexible base fabric 3. Therefore, in some embodiments, the visibility of the flexible base fabric 3 is maximized, and any color shift caused by the resin is minimized by using a larger gap width 5. In one embodiment, the diameter of the guard plate 2 is about 40 to about 200 mils, and the gap width 5 is about 5 to about 200 mils. In another embodiment, a protective sheet 2 with a diameter of about 50 to about 100 mils and a gap width of about 20 to about 100 mils can be printed on the patterned flexible base cloth 3, so that the pattern is clear It can be seen that while still providing good wear resistance.

[0040] The area covered by the guard is another parameter that can be considered. The higher the coverage area, the better the abrasion resistance. However, in the case of colored or semi-transparent guards, it will also greatly affect any color pattern of the base fabric.

[0041] Figures 10 and 11 show the wear resistance of the composite structure. In this structure, the guard plate is made of epoxy resin containing glass bead fillers and pigments and printed on 600 denier woven polyester fibers. This is measured using a stiffness tester of H-19 wheels weighing 1000 grams. Although the resin used to collect this data is colored due to the addition of pigments, this does not fundamentally affect the wear resistance. The main test results can also be applied to transparent resins. Figure 10 shows the relationship between abrasion resistance and the diameter and gap of the guard plate, and the coverage area thereof varies approximately linearly. They also show that a coverage area as small as about 25% can almost double the abrasion resistance of the base fabric. Figure 11 uses the curve 6 adapted to the data shown in Figure 10 to illustrate the relationship between wear resistance and clearance and guard plate diameter. Line 7 in Figure 10 separates the area where the gap is larger than the diameter of the guard plate from the area where the gap is smaller than the diameter of the guard plate. It can be seen from this figure that the gap should be smaller than the diameter of the guard plate in order to obtain the best wear resistance.

[0042] In one embodiment, the coverage area portion is between about 10% and 90%. In other embodiments, the coverage area portion is between about 25% and 50%.

[0043] In another embodiment, the guard plate 2 is made of flame retardant and/or refractory material. In one embodiment, the guard plate 2 is made of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A integrated with flame retardant powder additives, so that the flame retardant and/or fire resistance performance reaches an acceptable level while maintaining a reasonable degree of transparency . In one embodiment, the flame retardant additive is aluminum trihydrate, magnesium hydroxide, ammonium polyphosphate, or a mixture of these ingredients. In other embodiments, other transparent or translucent compounds provide flame retardancy and/or fire resistance (e.g., halogenated epoxy resins). In one embodiment, both the flexible base fabric 3 and the guard plate 2 are made of flame-retardant and/or fire-resistant materials, resulting in a flame-retardant and/or fire-resistant protective material 1. In other embodiments, non-halogenated flame retardant additives can be added to the composition, so that the resin maintains a high degree of transparency or translucency, while at the same time providing a more environmentally friendly and user-safe material, which becomes the traditional halogenated flame retardant additive. substitution. In one embodiment, an epoxy resin composed of oligomers containing phosphorus and ethylene oxide groups, such as bis-glycidyl phenyl phosphate, and a curing agent, such as bis(4-aminobenzene) 基)Phenyl phosphate. An alternative to phosphorous epoxy resins is to use phosphorous groups in the curing agent molecules instead of the epoxy molecules of the resin. Examples of such curing agents include 2-(m-aminophenyl) methyl phosphine oxide (BAMPO), 2- and 3-amino acid cyclotriphosphazine, as well as 2- and 3-hydroxy cyclotriphosphazine and various phosphorus oxides .

[0044] In other embodiments, the guard plate 2 is opaque, rather than transparent or translucent. The opacity is due to the addition of flame retardants or the selection of fillers or resins. In these embodiments, the realization of good visibility of the top surface 4 of the flexible base cloth 3 is to use a larger gap width 5 between the guard plates 2. The large gap width 5 allows colors and any patterns printed on the top surface 4 or woven into the flexible base fabric 3 to be clearly visible, regardless of the guard plate 2 used. In one embodiment, the guard plate 2 is printed on a flexible base cloth 3 with a camouflage pattern, and has a diameter of about 70 to about 80 mils, and a gap width 5 of about 40 to about 50 mils. In one embodiment, a pigment is added to the resin, and as a result, the protective plate 2 has a color similar to the dominant color of the flexible base fabric 3. Since the brain receives many contextual cues from the adjacent foreground and background colors with a visual effect called color consistency, the use of pigments in the protective plate 2 can make the colors printed on the flexible substrate 3 or woven in it. And any pattern can be clearly seen, regardless of the guard plate 2 used, and how the human eye and brain perceive the color as a whole. The end result is that the color of the foreground guard plate 2 matches the multi-color pattern of the background base fabric, which will produce an illusion to human eyes, that is, the entire base fabric is clearly visible and recognizable, even if the actual proportion of the base fabric area is When the guard plate 2 covers. As mentioned above, only 25% of the coverage area portion needs to actually improve wear resistance. According to this covering part, when the color of the protective plate is selected to match the color pattern of the base fabric, the color pattern on the flexible base fabric can clearly penetrate the pattern of the protective plate. A unique feature of the present invention is to select the color of the protective plate, so that the higher coverage area portion, for example, about 25-50%, can still achieve a high degree of visibility of the underlying color pattern. In this way, through the pattern of the protective plate, the use of a higher degree of coverage of the protective plate can make the color pattern of the flexible base fabric reach an unexpected degree.

[0045] In one embodiment, the top surface 4 of the flexible base fabric 3 contains a camouflage pattern, and the guard plate 2 has a color selected to match the camouflage pattern. In this embodiment, the camouflage pattern is easy to see. In other embodiments, a transparent guard plate is used on the camouflage base fabric.

[0046] In one embodiment, additives are added to the material used to make the protective plate 2 in order to change the infrared characteristics of the material. This infrared additive is available from Epolin Corporation (Address: 358-364 Adams Street, Newark, NJ 07105). This material has the purpose of military clothing. When used for this purpose, the infrared characteristics of the clothing are required to be within the range specified by the military. In one embodiment, the combination of iron oxide and titanium dioxide pigment in the amber epoxy resin can provide a good color to match the background of the camouflage pattern while meeting the military's requirements for infrared characteristics.

[0047] In another embodiment, the guard plate 2 uses a phosphorescent or other type of self-luminous (ie, glow in the dark) additive. After the protective plate 2 is exposed to the light source for at least several hours, when placed in a dimly lit environment, the use of phosphorescent additives can make the protective plate 2 phosphorescent. This feature is very useful when wearing a knife and abrasion resistant clothing that can be clearly visible in the dark (for example, workers who perform road construction at night or evening). Phosphors and other dark luminescent powders can be obtained from—for example—MPK Corporation (Address: 602 West Clayton Avenue, Clayton, WI 54004-9101).

[0048] Various modifications and additions can be made to the exemplary embodiments described herein without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, although the embodiments described above refer to specific features, the scope of the present invention also includes embodiments having different combinations of features and embodiments that do not include all the above features. For this reason, the scope of the present invention is intended to cover all such selected objects, improved products and variant products, and all their equivalents within the scope of the claims.