Rectifying member

Abstract

To suppress filament flow from being disturbed by static electricity.SOLUTION: A rectification member according to the disclosure is a rectification member used for a nonwoven fabric manufacturing device. The rectification member according to an embodiment has a tabular base, a plurality of partition portions, and grooves. The base has a first face, a second face positioned on the opposite side of the first face, a first end, and a second end positioned on the opposite side of the first end. The plurality of partition portions are positioned at least on the first face, extend along a first direction from the first end toward the second end, and are spaced apart from each other in a direction orthogonal to the first direction. The groove is positioned between two adjacent partition portions. At least either one of the base and the partition portion is made of ceramics having a volume intrinsic resistance of 1010 Ω cm or less.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a flow rectifying member used in a nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, a nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing nonwoven fabrics is known. The nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus discharges molten resin in a filamentous form from a nozzle having a large number of small holes, and the discharged filamentous molten resin (filament) is stretched and fibrillated by a stretching device called an ejector. The fibrillated filaments are discharged from the lower part of the ejector together with an air jet, sprayed onto a conveyor located below the ejector, and then fused by a heat roll while being conveyed by the conveyor to form a sheet.

[0003] Patent Document 1 discloses a flow rectifying member that adjusts the flow of air ejected from the lower part of an ejector. The flow rectifying member has a plurality of guide plates arranged at intervals along the width direction of the conveyor. The flow of air ejected from the lower part of the ejector is adjusted to a flow along the wall surface of the guide plate by the Coandă effect generated by passing between the guide plates. Thereby, the entanglement of filaments is suppressed, and a nonwoven fabric with a uniform texture can be obtained.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] However, in the above - described conventional technology, there is a possibility that the flow of filaments is disturbed by the sticking or repelling of electrostatically charged filaments to each other, resulting in non - uniform texture of the nonwoven fabric.

[0006] The present disclosure has been made in view of the above, and an object thereof is to provide a rectifying member capable of suppressing the flow of filaments from being disturbed by static electricity.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0007] The rectifying member according to one aspect of the present disclosure is a rectifying member used in a nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus. The rectifying member according to the embodiment has a plate-shaped base portion, a plurality of partition portions, and a groove portion. The base portion has a first surface and a second surface located opposite to the first surface, and a first end and a second end located opposite to the first end. The plurality of partition portions are located at least on the first surface, extend along a first direction from the first end toward the second end, and are arranged at intervals from each other in a direction orthogonal to the first direction. The groove portion is located between two adjacent partition portions. At least one of the base portion and the partition portion is made of ceramics having a volume resistivity of 10 10 Ω·cm or less.

Effects of the Invention

[0008] According to the present disclosure, it is possible to suppress the flow of filaments from being disturbed by static electricity.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0009]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

[0010] Next, embodiments for implementing a rectifying member according to the present disclosure (hereinafter referred to as "embodiments") will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the rectifying member according to the present disclosure is not limited by these embodiments. Also, each embodiment can be appropriately combined within a range that does not conflict with the processing content. In addition, in the following embodiments, the same parts are denoted by the same reference numerals, and duplicate descriptions are omitted.

[0011] In addition, in the following embodiments, expressions such as "constant", "orthogonal", "perpendicular", or "parallel" may be used, but these expressions do not necessarily require strict "constant", "orthogonal", "perpendicular", or "parallel". That is, each of the above expressions allows for deviations such as manufacturing accuracy and installation accuracy.

[0012] First, a configuration example of a nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment. In this embodiment, as an example, a nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus that manufactures a nonwoven fabric by the spunbond method will be described as an example. However, the nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus according to the present disclosure may manufacture a nonwoven fabric by a manufacturing method other than the spunbond method.

[0013] As shown in FIG. 1, the nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus 10 according to the embodiment includes a hopper 1, an extruder 2, a nozzle 3, a stretching machine 4, and a rectifying member 5. The nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus 10 according to the embodiment also includes a conveying unit 6, a fusing unit 7, and a winding unit 8.

[0014] The hopper 1 supplies solid resin pellets having a diameter of about 3 to 5 mm, for example, to the extruder 2. The extruder 2 melts the resin pellets supplied from the hopper 1 and extrudes the molten resin to the nozzle 3. The nozzle 3 discharges the molten resin extruded from the extruder 2 in a filamentous form through a large number of small holes. Hereinafter, the filamentous molten resin discharged from the nozzle 3 will be referred to as a filament.

[0015] The stretching machine 4 is located below the nozzle 3 and stretches and fibrillates the filament discharged from the nozzle 3. The stretching machine 4 blows the fibrillated filament toward the conveying unit 6 located below the stretching machine 4.

[0016] The stretching machine 4 has a slit 41 extending along the vertical direction (Z-axis direction). The slit 41 also extends in a direction (Y-axis direction) orthogonal to the conveying direction (X-axis direction) of the conveyor. The slit 41 penetrates the stretching machine 4 vertically, and the upper end and the lower end of the slit 41 are the filament insertion port 411 and the discharge port 412, respectively.

[0017] Inside the stretching machine 4, a manifold 42 and an air supply passage 43 are located. Compressed gas is supplied to the manifold 42 from outside the stretching machine 4. The air supply passage 43 supplies the compressed gas supplied to the manifold 42 to the slit 41. The compressed gas flows downward through the slit 41 at high speed. The filament is stretched and fibrillated by passing through the slit 41 along the flow of this compressed gas.

[0018] The rectifying member 5 is located below the stretching machine 4. The rectifying member 5 rectifies the gas ejected from the discharge port 412 of the stretching machine 4. The specific configuration of the rectifying member 5 will be described later.

[0019] The conveying unit 6 is, for example, a belt conveyor. The conveying unit 6 is located below the rectifying member 5. As an example, the conveying unit 6 has a plurality of rollers 61 and a belt 62 stretched between the plurality of rollers 61. The filament discharged from the stretching machine 4 is blown onto the belt 62 via the rectifying member 5 and stacked on the belt 62. Hereinafter, the filament stacked on the belt 62 is referred to as a web. The conveying unit 6 conveys the web on the belt 62 along the conveying direction (X-axis direction).

[0020] The fusing portion 7 is located downstream in the conveying direction from the conveying portion 6. As an example, the fusing portion 7 includes an embossing roller 71 having a plurality of convex shapes on its surface and a smooth roller 72 having a smooth surface. The embossing roller 71 and the smooth roller 72 are arranged at positions sandwiching the web. The web passes between the embossing roller 71 and the smooth roller 72, and the fibers are partially heat-fused together by the embossing by the embossing roller 71. Thereby, a sheet-shaped nonwoven fabric is formed.

[0021] The winding portion 8 is located downstream in the conveying direction from the fusing portion 7. The winding portion 8 winds the sheet-shaped nonwoven fabric into a roll.

[0022] Next, the configuration of the flow rectifying member 5 according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4. FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the flow rectifying member 5 according to the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a schematic front view of the flow rectifying member 5 according to the embodiment. FIG. 4 is a schematic bottom view of the flow rectifying member 5 according to the embodiment.

[0023] As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the flow rectifying member 5 according to the embodiment includes a plate-shaped base portion 51 and a plurality of partition portions 52.

[0024] The plate-shaped base portion 51 has a first surface 511 and a second surface 512 located opposite to the first surface 511. Further, the base portion 51 has a first end 513 and a second end 514 located opposite to the first end 513. In the embodiment, the first surface 511 and the second surface 512 are surfaces facing (perpendicular to) the conveying direction (X-axis direction) of the conveying portion 6. Also, in the embodiment, the first surface 511 and the second surface 512 are parallel to the width direction (Y-axis direction) of the belt 62 included in the conveying portion 6 and are also parallel to the vertical direction (Z-axis direction). Further, in the embodiment, the first end 513 is located at the lower end of the stretching machine 4, and the second end 514 is located above the conveying portion 6.

[0025] The plurality of partition portions 52 are located to protrude from the first surface 511, for example, on the first surface 511 of the base portion 51. The plurality of partition portions 52 are arranged at intervals along the width direction (Y-axis direction) of the belt 62 of the conveying portion 6 (see FIGS. 3 and 4). Note that the plurality of partition portions 52 may also be located on the second surface 512.

[0026] The partition portion 52 has a plate shape that extends along a first direction (Z-axis direction) from the first end 513 to the second end 514 of the base portion 51.

[0027] The partition portion 52 has a wall surface 521. The wall surface 521 is a surface facing another adjacent partition portion 52. The wall surface 521 may be perpendicular to the first surface 511 of the base portion 51. Also, the wall surfaces 521 of two adjacent partition portions 52 may be parallel.

[0028] Also, the partition portion 52 has a first end 523 and a second end 524 that are both ends in the extending direction (Z-axis direction). The first end 523 of the partition portion 52 may be flush with the first end 513 of the base portion 51. Also, the second end 524 of the partition portion 52 may be flush with the second end 514 of the base portion 51.

[0029] Also, the partition portion 52 has a third end 525 and a fourth end 526 that are both ends in the direction (X-axis direction) of protruding from the first surface 511. On the first surface 511 of the base portion 51, there is a fixing groove 515 that is recessed in the direction from the first surface 511 to the second surface 512 (X-axis direction) and extends in the direction from the first end 513 to the second end 514 (Z-axis direction). The third end 525 of the partition portion 52 is located inside this fixing groove 515 (see FIG. 4). Also, the fourth end 526 of the partition portion 52 may be inclined with respect to the first surface 511 of the base portion 51. For example, the fourth end 526 may be inclined so as to be close to the first surface 511 of the base portion 51 on the first end 523 side and far from the first surface 511 of the base portion 51 on the second end 524 side (see FIG. 2).

[0030] The rectifying member 5 has a groove portion 53 between two adjacent partition portions 52. The groove portion 53 is constituted by two opposing wall surfaces 521 of two adjacent partition portions 52 and the first surface 511 of the base portion 51. That is, the two opposing wall surfaces 521 of two adjacent partition portions 52 correspond to the wall surfaces of the groove portion 53, and the first surface 511 of the base portion 51 corresponds to the bottom surface of the groove portion 53.

[0031] The flow of air ejected from the lower part of the stretching machine 4 is adjusted to the flow along the wall surface 521 of the partition portion 52 by the Coanda effect generated by passing through the groove portion 53 located between the partition portions 52. Thereby, the entanglement between the filaments is suppressed, and a non-woven fabric with a uniform texture can be obtained.

[0032] In the rectifying member 5 according to the embodiment, at least one of the base portion 51 and the partition portion may be made of ceramics having a volume resistivity of 10 10 Ω·cm or less.

[0033] In this way, by making the material of at least one of the base portion 51 and the partition portion 52 be a conductive or semi-conductive ceramic having a volume resistivity of 10 10 Ω·cm or less, the electricity charged on the filament can be released through the above ceramics. Thereby, it is possible to suppress the flow of the filament from being disturbed by static electricity.

[0034] When the ceramics having a volume resistivity of 10 10 Ω·cm or less are a plurality of partition portions 52, as shown in FIG. 1, the rectifying member 5 may have a conductive member 50 that contacts the plurality of partition portions 52. The conductive member 50 extends along the arrangement direction (Y-axis direction) of the plurality of partition portions 52. The conductive member 50 is located, for example, on the fourth end 526 of the plurality of partition portions 52. Thereby, the conductive member 50 contacts the plurality of partition portions 52. The conductive member 50 is grounded via a ground wire (not shown). Thereby, the electricity charged on the plurality of partition portions 52 can be released to the outside via the conductive member 50.

[0035] Note that the conductive member 50 may be retrofitted to the rectifying member 5 attached to the lower part of the stretching machine 4. Further, the conductive member 50 may be, for example, attached to the lower part of the stretching machine 4. In this case, by attaching the rectifying member 5 to the lower part of the stretching machine 4, the rectifying member 5 and the conductive member 50 can be brought into contact with each other. The conductive member 50 only needs to be in contact with the plurality of partition portions 52, and the installation location of the conductive member 50 is not limited to the illustrated example.

[0036] Further, the ceramic having a volume resistivity of 10 10 Ω·cm or less may be the base 51. In this case, the conductive member 50 only needs to be in contact with the base 51.

[0037] At least one of the base 51 and the partition portion 52 may exhibit black. Specifically, at least one of the base 51 and the partition portion 52 may have an L * of 50 or less in CIE Lab.

[0038] Black has a large color difference from the white filament. Therefore, when at least one of the base 51 and the plurality of partition portions 52 exhibits black, it is easy to check the state of the filament. Note that, among the base 51 and the plurality of partition portions 52, only the base 51 may exhibit black, only the plurality of partition portions 52 may exhibit black, or both the base 51 and the plurality of partition portions 52 may exhibit black.

[0039] Further, one of the base 51 and the partition portion 52 may exhibit black and the other may exhibit white. Specifically, one of the base 51 and the partition portion 52 may have an L * of 50 or less in CIE Lab, and the other may have an L * of 80 or more in CIE Lab. For example, the rectifying member 5 may have a white base 51 and a black partition portion 52. Conversely, the rectifying member 5 may have a black base 51 and a white partition portion 52.

[0040] Thus, when the other of the base portion 51 and the partition portion 52 is white, it is easy to detect the case where a colored foreign matter is mixed in.

[0041] The ceramic having a volume resistivity of 10 10 Ω·cm or less may be a silicon carbide sintered body. In this case, the silicon carbide sintered body may contain boron carbide. Such a silicon carbide sintered body has high hardness. Therefore, even if the filament passes through the partition portion 52 and the groove portion 53 for a long period of time, wear of the partition portion 52 and the groove portion 53 in contact with the filament can be suppressed. The ceramic having a volume resistivity of 10 10 Ω·cm or less is a silicon carbide sintered body, the ceramic having a volume resistivity of 10 10 Ω·cm or less exhibits black.

[0042] For example, the rectifying member 5 may have a base portion 51 made of an aluminum oxide sintered body and a plurality of partition portions 52 made of a silicon carbide sintered body. In this case, the base portion 51 exhibits white, and the plurality of partition portions 52 exhibit black. Further, the rectifying member 5 may have a base portion 51 made of a silicon carbide sintered body and a plurality of partition portions 52 made of an aluminum oxide sintered body. In this case, the base portion 51 exhibits black, and the plurality of partition portions 52 exhibit white. Further, the rectifying member 5 may have a base portion 51 and a partition portion 52 made of a silicon carbide sintered body. In this case, the entire rectifying member 5 exhibits black.

[0043] Thus, by using a silicon carbide sintered body having high hardness and low resistance for at least one of the base portion 51 and the partition portion 52, a rectifying member 5 having a high charge removal effect of the filament and high hardness can be obtained.

[0044] The surface facing the groove portion 53 in the silicon carbide sintered body may have an oxide film made of at least a part of silicon oxide. For example, when the partition portion 52 is made of a silicon carbide sintered body, the partition portion 52 may have an oxide film made of silicon oxide on at least a part of the wall surface 521 forming the side surface of the groove portion 53. Further, when the base portion 51 is made of a silicon carbide sintered body, the base portion 51 may have an oxide film made of silicon oxide on at least a part of the first surface 511 forming the bottom surface of the groove portion 53.

[0045] Thus, by having a silicon oxide film on at least a part of the surface facing the groove portion 53 in the silicon carbide sintered body, it is possible to suppress over a long period of time the formation of convex portions on the surface facing the groove portion 53 due to the detachment of crystals existing on the surface side of the silicon carbide sintered body. As a result, the wear resistance against the filament can be maintained for a long time, and the entanglement of the filaments can be suppressed for a long time, so that a non-woven fabric with a uniform texture can be stably manufactured over a long period of time.

[0046] Note that the "ceramics having a volume resistivity of 10 10 Ω·cm or less" used as the base portion 51 or the partition portion 52 does not necessarily have to be a silicon carbide sintered body. For example, as the ceramics having a volume resistivity of 10 10 Ω·cm or less, semiconductive zirconia, alumina, a composite sintered body of TiC, or the like may be used.

[0047] When the contact angle with respect to water on the surface facing the groove portion 53 of the partition portion 52, that is, the wall surface 521, is defined as the first contact angle, the first contact angle may be 25° or more. More preferably, the first contact angle may be 31° or more.

[0048] When the wettability of the wall surface 521 is high, that is, when it is easy to get wet, the filaments flowing through the groove portion 53 are likely to adhere to the wall surface 521, so there is a possibility that the smooth flow of the filaments is suppressed. On the other hand, by reducing the wettability of the wall surface 521, specifically, by setting the first contact angle to 25° or more, more preferably 31° or more, a smooth flow of the filaments in the groove portion 53 can be realized.

[0049] In addition, when comparing the wettability of alumina, silicon carbide, and silicon nitride, alumina is the most wettable and silicon nitride is the least wettable.

[0050] The first contact angle can be adjusted to a desired value, for example, by adjusting the surface roughness of the wall surface 521. When the surface roughness of the wall surface 521 is the first surface roughness, the first surface roughness may be 0.09 μm or more and 1.2 μm or less in terms of the arithmetic mean roughness Ra. The wall surface 521 with the arithmetic mean roughness Ra of 0.09 μm or more and 1.2 μm or less is neither a mirror surface nor a blasted surface. By setting the first surface roughness within the above range, the first contact angle can be set to 25° or more, and thereby, a smooth flow of the filaments in the groove portion 53 can be realized.

[0051] In addition, in the direction from the first end 523 (see FIG. 2) to the second end 524 (Z-axis direction), the first surface roughness at both ends of the wall surface 521 may be smaller than the first surface roughness at the central portion of the wall surface 521. Both ends of the wall surface 521 may be, for example, regions including the end side on the first end 523 side of the wall surface 521. Also, the central portion of the wall surface 521 may be, for example, a region including the center of the wall surface 521.

[0052] Further, when the contact angle of the surface of the base 51 facing the groove portion 53, that is, the first surface 511, with respect to water is defined as the second contact angle, the above-described first contact angle may be larger than the second contact angle. The current rectifying member 5 having such a configuration has a good balance among charge elimination performance, visibility, stain resistance, and cost.

[0053] The wall surface 521 may have a processing mark extending along a first direction (Z-axis direction) from the first end 513 to the second end 514 of the base 51. When the processing mark extends along the flowing direction of the filament, it is possible to suppress the inhibition of the filament flow by the processing mark. Further, it is difficult for the filament to be damaged by the processing mark.

[0054] The processing mark may extend substantially parallel to the first surface 511 of the base 51. Thereby, it is possible to further suppress the inhibition of the filament flow by the processing mark and the entry of damage due to the processing mark into the filament.

[0055] Note that "substantially parallel" means a substantially parallel state including design errors and the like. For example, "substantially parallel" means including an angular error of about several percent with respect to true parallel. As an example, "substantially parallel" may mean that the angular difference between the extending direction of the processing mark and the first surface 511 is in the range of ±10°, preferably ±5°.

Example

[0056] Rectifying members (Sample Nos. 1 to 4) having a base and a partition made of silicon carbide, rectifying members (Sample Nos. 5 to 8) having a base made of alumina and a partition made of silicon carbide, rectifying members (Sample Nos. 9, 10) having a base made of silicon carbide and a partition made of alumina, and a rectifying member (Sample No. 11) having a base and a partition made of alumina were fabricated. For some samples, the surface roughness was adjusted by performing surface polishing on the surfaces facing the groove portions of the base and the partition (the first surface of the base and the wall surface of the partition). Then, the contact angles of the surfaces of the fabricated Sample Nos. 1 to 11 facing the groove portions with respect to water were measured. Also, the fabricated Sample Nos. 1 to 11 were evaluated for charge removal performance, visibility of filaments and foreign matters, stain resistance, and cost. The results are shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 5 is a table summarizing the results of the contact angle measurement and various evaluations for Sample Nos. 1 to 11. The evaluations of charge removal performance, visibility, stain resistance, and cost were divided into four grades from A to D. Note that A means the best and D means the worst.

[0057] Note that Sample Nos. 1 to 10 correspond to the examples of the present disclosure, and Sample No. 11 corresponds to the comparative example.

[0058] The contact angles of the base and the partition made of silicon carbide with respect to water (the second contact angle and the first contact angle, respectively) were 79.1°, 34.7°, and 30.5° when the surface roughness Ra (arithmetic mean roughness) was 1.5 μm, 0.25 μm, and 0.22 μm, respectively. Thus, it can be seen that for the base and the partition made of silicon carbide, the smaller the surface roughness, the smaller the contact angle with respect to water, that is, the easier it is to get wet. Note that the surface with a surface roughness Ra of 1.5 μm is a fired surface without surface polishing.

[0059] The contact angles of the base and the partition made of alumina with respect to water (the second contact angle and the first contact angle, respectively) were 19.5° and 21.8° when the surface roughness Ra was 1 μm and 0.8 μm, respectively. Thus, it can be seen that for alumina, the smaller the surface roughness, the larger the contact angle with respect to water, that is, the less wettable it becomes.

[0060] Samples No. 1 to No. 4 have a base and a partition made of silicon carbide. Such samples No. 1 to No. 4 are particularly excellent in charge removal performance and visibility compared to other samples No. 5 to No. 11. Also, since samples No. 1 to No. 4 with a base and a partition made of silicon carbide are entirely black, they are also excellent in the visibility of the white filament. On the other hand, silicon carbide is more expensive than alumina. Therefore, it can be said that samples No. 1 to No. 4 are inferior in terms of cost compared to other samples No. 5 to No. 11.

[0061] Samples No. 5 to No. 8 have a base made of alumina and a partition made of silicon carbide. Such samples No. 5 to No. 8 have a white base and a black partition, so it is easy to visually recognize the white filament and also easy to detect foreign matters. Also, alumina is less expensive than silicon carbide. Therefore, although samples No. 5 to No. 8 are slightly inferior in charge removal performance and stain resistance compared to samples No. 1 to No. 4, they are excellent in terms of visibility and cost.

[0062] Samples No. 9 and No. 10 have a base made of silicon carbide and a partition made of alumina. Such samples No. 9 and No. 10 are excellent in terms of cost. Also, the charge removal performance of samples No. 9 and No. 10 was equivalent to that of samples No. 5 to No. 8, and the visibility was equivalent to that of samples No. 1 to No. 4. On the other hand, in terms of stain resistance, samples No. 9 and No. 10 were inferior compared to samples No. 1 to No. 8.

[0063] Sample No. 11 has a base and partition parts made of alumina. Such Sample No. 11 is excellent in terms of cost. On the other hand, since Sample No. 11 is entirely white, its visibility is inferior compared to other Samples No. 1 to No. 10. Also, its charge dissipation performance and stain resistance were inferior compared to other Samples No. 1 to No. 10.

[0064] As described above, the rectifying member (as an example, rectifying member 5) according to the embodiment is a rectifying member used in a nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus (as an example, nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus 10). The rectifying member according to the embodiment has a plate-shaped base (as an example, base 51), a plurality of partition parts (as an example, partition parts 52), and a groove part (as an example, groove part 53). The base has a first surface (as an example, first surface 511) and a second surface (as an example, second surface 512) located opposite to the first surface, and a first end (as an example, first end 513) and a second end (as an example, second end 514) located opposite to the first end. The plurality of partition parts are located at least on the first surface, extend along a first direction (as an example, the Z-axis direction) from the first end to the second end, and are arranged at intervals in a direction (as an example, the Y-axis direction) orthogonal to the first direction. The groove part is located between two adjacent partition parts. At least one of the base and the partition parts is made of ceramics (as an example, silicon carbide sintered body) having a volume resistivity of 10 10 Ω·cm or less.

[0065] Therefore, according to the rectifying member of the embodiment, it is possible to suppress the flow of the filament from being disturbed by static electricity.

[0066] Further effects and modifications can be easily derived by those skilled in the art. For this reason, the broader aspects of the present invention are not limited to the specific details and representative embodiments presented and described as above. Therefore, various changes can be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0067] 1 Hopper 2 Extruder 3 Nozzle 4 Stretcher 5 Rectifying member 6 Conveyor section 7 Fusing section 8 Take-up section 10 Nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus 50 Conductive member 51 Base 52 Partition section 53 Groove section 62 Belt 411 Insertion port 412 Discharge port 515 Fixed groove 521 Wall surface

Claims

1. A flow rectifying member used in a nonwoven fabric manufacturing apparatus, a plate-shaped base having a first surface and a second surface located opposite to the first surface, and a first end and a second end located opposite to the first end, a plurality of partition portions located at least on the first surface, extending along a first direction from the first end toward the second end, and arranged at intervals from each other in a direction orthogonal to the first direction, and a groove portion located between two adjacent partition portions. It has At least one of the base portion and the partition portion is a rectifying member made of ceramics having a volume resistivity of 10 １０ Ω·cm or less.

2. The partition portion is made of a ceramic having a volume resistivity of 10 １０ Ω·cm or less, and the rectifying member according to claim 1.

3. At least one of the base portion and the partition portion exhibits black, and L in CIE Lab ＊ is 50 or less. The rectifying member according to claim 1 or 2.

4. One of the base portion and the partition portion exhibits white color, and L in CIE Lab ＊ is 80 or more. The rectifying member according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

5. The volume resistivity is 10 １０ The rectifying member according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the ceramic having a volume resistivity of 10 Ω·cm or less is a silicon carbide sintered body.

6. The flow rectifying member according to claim 5, wherein the silicon carbide sintered body contains boron carbide.

7. The flow rectifying member according to claim 5 or 6, wherein a surface of the silicon carbide sintered body facing the groove portion has an oxide film made of at least a part of an oxide of Si.

8. The flow rectifying member according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein a surface of the partition portion facing the groove portion has a processing mark extending along the first direction.

9. The flow rectifying member according to claim 8, wherein the processing mark extends substantially parallel to the first surface.

Images