HIGHLY UNIFORM SPUNBONDED NONWOVEN FABRICS
A catheter anchoring system, apparatus and method for securing a catheter to a patient's skin, having two flexible side members and a cross-member therebetween to which a retaining assembly is mounted. The retaining assembly may hold a catheter hub at an angle for patient comfort. Gripping tabs secure to each retaining assembly side are gripped while advancing a cannula guide needle into the patient's vein and while attaching the catheter hub to a medical accessory, such as intravenous (I.V.) tubing, for increased patient comfort, reduction of the risk in contamination and patient infection, and to more easily and quickly start an I.V.
1 . An article, comprising:
a nonwoven fabric comprising a plurality of continuous fibers;
wherein each fiber of the plurality of continuous fibers comprises a single polymer, the single polymer comprises a polyester, and the continuous fibers are randomly thermally bonded throughout the nonwoven substrate.
2 . An article, comprising:
a nonwoven fabric comprising a plurality of fibers;
wherein the nonwoven fabric has a M-4 web uniformity index of at most about 600 and, when the nonwoven fabric has a unit weight of 34 gsm, the nonwoven fabric has a tensile strength of at least about 10 pounds in a cross-machine direction as measured according to ASTM D4595-09.
3 . An article, comprising:
a nonwoven fabric comprising a plurality of spunbonded fibers;
wherein the nonwoven fabric has a M-4 web uniformity index of at most about 600.
4 . An article, comprising:
a nonwoven fabric comprising a plurality of fibers;
wherein, when the nonwoven fabric has a unit weight of 34 gsm, the nonwoven fabric has a tensile strength of at least about 10 pounds in a cross-machine direction as measured according to ASTM D4595-09; and
wherein the fibers are randomly thermally bonded throughout the nonwoven fabric.
5 . The article of claim 3 , wherein each fiber comprises a single polymer.
6 . The article of claim 4 , wherein the single polymer comprises a polyester.
7 . The article of claim 1 , wherein the single polymer is a polyethylene terephthalate, a polybutylene terephthalate, a polytrimethylene terephthalate, a polyethylene naphthalate, a polyglycolide, a polylactide, a polycaprolactone, a polyethylene adipate, a polyhydroxyalkanoate, or a copolymer thereof.
8 . The article of claim 1 , wherein the single polymer has an intrinsic viscosity of at least about 0.5 dl/g and at most about 0.7 dl/g.
9 . (canceled)
10 . The article of claim 1 , wherein at least some of the fibers have a circular cross-section.
11 . The article of claim 10 , wherein the circular cross-section has an average diameter of from about 6 μm to about 20 μm.
12 . The article of claim 1 , wherein at least some of the fibers have a trilobal, quadrulobal, pentalobal, or octalobal cross-section.
13 . The article of claim 12 , wherein the cross-section has an average diameter of from about 1 μm to about 6 μm.
14 . The article of claim 2 , wherein the fibers are randomly bonded throughout the nonwoven substrate.
15 . The article of claim 1 , wherein, when the nonwoven fabric has a unit weight of 34 gsm, the nonwoven fabric has a tensile strength of at least about 10 pounds in a cross-machine direction as measured according to ASTM D4595-09.
16 . The article of claim 1 , wherein the nonwoven fabric has a M-4 web uniformity index of at most about 600.
17 - 22 . (canceled)
23 . A product, comprising the article of claim 1 , wherein the product is a membrane filtration medium.
24 . The product of claim 23 , wherein the product is a reverse osmosis filtration medium.
25 . A method, comprising:
extruding a composition containing a single polymer to form a plurality of unbonded continuous fibers, the single polymer comprising a polyester;
mechanically drawing the unbonded continuous fibers; and
area bonding the unbonded continuous fibers to form a nonwoven fabric comprising a plurality of bonded continuous fibers.
26 . The method of claim 25 , wherein the area bonding comprises through-air bonding the unbonded continuous fibers to form the nonwoven substrate.
27 . The method of claim 25 , wherein the area bonding is carried out at a temperature of at least about 145° C. and at most about 250° C.
28 . (canceled)
29 . The method of claim 25 , wherein the mechanically drawing comprises passing the unbonded continuous fibers through at least two draw rolls to form oriented fibers.
30 . The method of claim 29 , wherein each of the two draw rolls has a fiber speed of at least about 1,800 meters per minute.
31 . The method of claim 25 , wherein, after area bonding the unbonded continuous fibers, the method further comprises calendering the nonwoven substrate to form a calendered product.
32 . The method of claim 31 , wherein the calendering is carried out at a temperature of at least about 145° C. and at most about 215° C.
33 - 34 . (canceled)
35 . The method of claim 25 , wherein the bonded continuous fibers comprise spunbonded fibers.
36 . The article of claim 1 , wherein the continuous fibers are randomly thermally bonded by area bonding.
37 . The article of claim 4 , wherein the fibers are thermally bonded by area bonding.
38 . The article of claim 4 , wherein the nonwoven fabric does not comprise a polymer having an intrinsic viscosity higher than about 0.64 dl/g.
39 . An article, comprising:
a nonwoven fabric comprising a plurality of continuous, spunbonded fibers;
wherein each fiber of the plurality of continuous, spunbonded fibers comprises a single polymer, the single polymer comprises a polyester, and the continuous fibers are randomly thermally bonded throughout the nonwoven substrate;
wherein the nonwoven fabric has a M-4 web uniformity index of at most about 600 and, when the nonwoven fabric has a unit weight of 34 gsm, the nonwoven fabric has a tensile strength of at least about 10 pounds in a cross-machine direction as measured according to ASTM D4595-09.