NONWOVEN COMPOSITE AND METHOD FOR MAKING THE SAME
A nonwoven composite and a method of making a nonwoven composite including lightly bonding and hydroentangling a continuous filament nonwoven web to improve its integrity for subsequent processing steps, such as adding a first layer to the continuous filament nonwoven web and hydroentangling the first layer and the continuous filament nonwoven web together.
1 . A method of making a nonwoven composite, comprising the steps of:
providing a continuous filament nonwoven web,
lightly bonding the continuous filament nonwoven web with hot air,
hydroentangling the lightly bonded continuous filament nonwoven web,
providing a first layer on the hydroentangled, lightly bonded continuous filament nonwoven web, and
hydroentangling the first layer with the hydroentangled, lightly bonded continuous filament nonwoven web.
2 . The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of
winding the lightly bonded continuous filament nonwoven web onto a roll,
transporting the roll of the lightly bonded continuous filament nonwoven web, and
unwinding the roll of lightly bonded continuous filament nonwoven web prior to the step of hydroentangling.
3 . The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of
winding the lightly bonded, hydroentangled continuous filament nonwoven web onto a roll,
transporting the roll of the lightly bonded, hydroentangled continuous filament nonwoven web, and
unwinding the roll of hydroentangled, lightly bonded continuous filament nonwoven web prior to the step of providing a layer.
4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the step of providing a first layer includes providing pulp fibers.
5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the step of providing a first layer includes providing staple fibers.
6 . The method of claim 5 wherein the step of providing a first layer further includes providing pulp fibers.
7 . The method of claim 1 wherein the step of providing a first layer includes providing a mixture of pulp fibers and staple fibers.
8 . The method of claim 1 wherein the step of providing a first layer includes providing a continuous filament nonwoven web.
9 . The method of claim 1 wherein the step of providing a first layer includes providing a continuous filament nonwoven web and fibers selected from the group consisting of pulp fibers, staple fibers, and a mixture of pulp fibers and staple fibers.
10 . The method of claim 1 wherein the step of hydroentangling the lightly bonded continuous filament nonwoven web further includes breaking some of the bonds of the lightly bonded continuous filament nonwoven web.
11 . The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of providing a second layer, and then hydroentangling the first layer and the second layer with the hydroentangled, lightly bonded continuous filament nonwoven web.
12 . The method of claim 11 wherein the second layer is a continuous filament nonwoven web.
13 . The method of claim 12 wherein the second layer is lightly bonded with hot air.
14 . The method of claim 12 wherein the second layer is hydroentangled.
15 . A nonwoven composite made by the method of claim 1 .
16 . A nonwoven composite, comprising:
a continuous filament nonwoven web that is lightly bonded with hot air and hydroentangled, and
a first layer hydroentangled with the continuous filament nonwoven web.
17 . The nonwoven composite of claim 16 wherein the first layer consists of fibers selected from the group consisting of pulp fibers, staple fibers, and a mixture of pulp fibers and staple fibers.
18 . The nonwoven composite of claim 16 wherein the first layer is a continuous filament nonwoven web.
19 . The nonwoven composite of claim 16 wherein the first layer is a continuous filament nonwoven web and fibers selected from the group consisting of pulp fibers, staple fibers, and a mixture of pulp fibers and staple fibers.
20 . The nonwoven composite of claim 16 further comprising a second layer hydroentangled with the first layer and the continuous filament nonwoven web.
21 . The nonwoven composite of claim 20 wherein the second layer is a continuous filament nonwoven web.
22 . The nonwoven composite of claim 21 wherein the second layer is lightly bonded with hot air.
23 . The nonwoven composite of claim 22 wherein the second layer is hydroentangled.
24 . The nonwoven composite of claim 16 wherein the first layer includes pulp fibers and staple fibers, and wherein the continuous filament nonwoven web comprises 15% to 30% by weight of the nonwoven composite; the staple fibers comprise 20% to 35% by weight of the nonwoven composite; and the pulp fibers comprise 45% to 65% by weight of the nonwoven composite.