Nonwoven from bulked filament tow
View Patent ↗A nonwoven material has a plurality of randomly oriented and bulked crimped filaments, a plurality of point bonds interconnecting said crimped filaments into a fixed, 3-dimensional structure, and either a surface portion of said fixed, 3-dimensional structure having a greater density than an inner portion of said 3-dimensional structure or an external surface of said fixed, 3-dimensional structure being substantially free of any protruding filaments. The nonwoven material is made by: bulking a filament tow, fixing the bulked tow into a 3-dimensional structure, and calendering the 3-dimensional structure.
1. A nonwoven material comprising:
a plurality of randomly oriented and bulked crimped filaments, each filament ranging from 1-15 dpf, a plurality of point bonds interconnecting said crimped filaments into a fixed 3-dimensional structure, and a surface portion of said fixed 3-dimensional structure having a greater density than an inner portion of said 3-dimensional structure, wherein a ratio of surface portion density to inner portion density being in a range of 10-110:1.
2. The nonwoven material of claim 1 wherein said filaments being selected from the group consisting of: acrylics, cellulosics, polyamides, polyesters, polyolefins, or mixtures thereof.
3. The nonwoven material of claim 1 wherein said point bonds being selected from the group consisting of: a binder adhering filaments at contact points, filaments coalesced together at contact points, filaments fused together at contact points, and combinations thereof.
4. The nonwoven material of claim 1 wherein the nonwoven material excluding nonwoven fabrics made by dry, wet, or air laying processes, needle-punching, spunbond or meltblown processes, and hydroentangling.
5. The nonwoven material of claim 1 being a wound care product.
6. A nonwoven material comprising:
a plurality of randomly oriented and bulked crimped filaments, each filament ranging from 1-15 dpf, a plurality of point bonds interconnecting said crimped filaments into a fixed 3-dimensional structure, a surface portion of said fixed 3-dimensional structure having a greater density than an inner portion of said 3-dimensional structure, and an external surface of said fixed 3-dimensional structure being substantially free of any protruding filaments, wherein a ratio of surface portion density to inner portion density being in a range of 10-110:1.
7. The nonwoven material of claim 6 wherein said filaments being selected from the group consisting of: acrylics, cellulosics, polyamides, polyesters, polyolefins, or mixtures thereof.
8. The nonwoven material of claim 6 wherein said point bonds being selected from the group consisting of: a binder adhereing filaments at contact points, filaments coalesced together at contact points, filaments fused together at contact points, and combinations thereof.
9. The nonwoven material of claim 6 being a wound care product.
10. The nonwoven material of claim 1 wherein said surface portion covering an entire external surface of the nonwoven material.
11. The nonwoven material of claim 6 wherein said surface portion covering an entire external surface of the nonwoven material.
12. The nonwoven material of claim 6 wherein the nonwoven material excluding nonwoven fabrics made by dry, wet, or air laying processes, needle-punching, spunbond or meltblown processes, and hydroentangling.
13. A nonwoven material comprising:
a plurality of randomly oriented and bulked crimped filaments, each filament ranging from 1-15 dpf, a plurality of point bonds interconnecting said crimped filaments into a fixed 3-dimensional structure, and a surface portion of said fixed 3-dimensional structure having a greater density than an inner portion of said 3-dimensional structure, wherein a ratio of surface portion density to inner portion density being in a range of 10-110:1 and the nonwoven material excluding nonwoven fabrics made by dry, wet, or air laying processes, needle-punching, spunbond or meltblown processes, and hydroentangling.