Hydroformed Spunbond Web Expansion for Higher Loft and Air Permeability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing nonwoven materials, particularly spun bonded nonwovens, struggle to achieve high loft and softness while maintaining cost-effectiveness, and often require costly processing methods like fiber entanglement with barbed needles or hydro-entanglement, which can damage film layers and are not suitable for producing laminates.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the application of pressurized liquid jets at 200-800 psi onto a spun bonded nonwoven web over a forming structure with apertures and a vacuum slot, reorienting fibers to increase loft and air permeability, creating a hydroformed expanded spun bonded nonwoven web with enhanced vertical spacing and protuberances.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If barbed needles are used for fiber entanglement to create high loft nonwoven materials, then softness and loft are improved, but production speed and cost are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical barbed needle system with a hydroentanglement system using high-pressure water jets. The water jets create forces that entangle fibers without mechanical contact, achieving similar loft and softness effects while enabling continuous high-speed production. The water jet pressure (typically 100-500 atm) generates sufficient force to reorient and entangle fibers effectively.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses hydraulic pressure through water jets to achieve fiber entanglement. The high-pressure water system replaces mechanical needles, using fluid dynamics to create the necessary forces for fiber reorientation and entanglement. This hydraulic approach enables continuous processing at high speeds while maintaining product quality.
2Productivity
If high pressure water jets are used for hydro-entanglement to create high loft nonwoven materials, then softness and production speed are improved, but film layers are damaged or removed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different treatment intensities to different layers of the nonwoven structure. The hydroentanglement process is optimized to concentrate forces in the fiber mat region while protecting the film layer through controlled water jet parameters, aperture design, and selective application zones. This allows high-speed production without compromising film integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention modifies the parameters of the hydroentanglement process, including water jet pressure, velocity, aperture size, and angle of incidence, to achieve effective fiber entanglement while minimizing impact on film layers. By optimizing these parameters, the process achieves high production speeds without causing film damage or removal.
3Ease of manufacture
If spun bonded process is used to make nonwoven webs, then cost is reduced, but loft and softness are significantly decreased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the cost-effective spunbond process with a subsequent hydroentanglement finishing step. The spunbond process creates the base fiber web at low cost, and the hydroentanglement process adds the high loft and softness characteristics. This merged approach achieves both economic efficiency and desired product properties.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses the spunbond process to create a preliminary fiber web structure that is then enhanced by hydroentanglement. The initial spunbonded web provides the base material at low cost, and the subsequent hydroentanglement step introduces the lofty structure and softness characteristics, achieving both cost-effectiveness and high performance.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The method results in a nonwoven web with loft increased by at least 1.3 times and air permeability by 1.2 times, achieving softness and coolness comparable to spunlaced materials at a lower cost, while allowing integration with film layers.
Implementation Method 1
applying a plurality of pressurized liquid jets having a pressure from about 200 psi (1379 kPa) to about 800 psi (5516 kPa) onto an outer surface of an original unexpanded spun bonded nonwoven web
Implementation Method 2
a vacuum slot area located beneath the forming structure to push and reorient a plurality of spun bonded fibers
Implementation Method 3
a vacuum slot area located beneath the forming structure
Data Source
Figure 1
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Figure 4
AI summary
A hydroformed expanded spun bonded nonwoven web has a first substantially planar surface on one side thereof and a second surface on an opposite side thereof. The second surface includes a plurality of protuberances in a pattern. The hydroformed expanded spun bonded web has an average loft of at least about 1.3 times greater than an original average loft of an original unexpanded spun bonded nonwoven web from which the hydroformed expanded spun bonded nonwoven web was created, and an air permeability of at least about 1.2 times greater than an original air permeability of the original unexpanded spun bonded nonwoven web.