Light weight entangled non-woven fabric and process for making the same

Claim 2

An entangled non-woven fabric comprising at least about 75% polyolefin staple fibers, said fibers being arranged in a repeating pattern of spaced parallel lines of raised entangled regions interconnected by partially entangled fiber arrays, said lines extending in one fabric direction, and spaced bundles of straight substantially parallel fiber segments interconnecting the entangled regions of adjacent lines, said bundles being substantially parallel to one another and substantially perpendicular to said line, adjacent bundle and said lines defining aperatures therebetween.

Claim 3

The fabric of claim 1 having a basis weight of from 0.3 to 1.5 oz/yd 2 .

Claim 4

The fabric of claim 1 or claim 2 comprising 75% polypropylene staple fibers and 25% rayon staple fibers.

Claim 5

The fabric of claim 1 having a basis weight of 1.0 oz/yd 2 .

Claim 6

A process for producing a light weight nonwoven fabric having excellent strength in both the machine direction and cross direction comprises: (a) supporting a layer of fibers comprising at least 75% polyolefin fibers, having a basis weight of from about 0.3 to 1.5 oz/yd 2 , on a liquid pervious support member adapted to move in a predetermined machine direction and on which fiber movement in directions both in and at an angle to the plane of said layer is permitted in response to applied liquid forces, the fibers of said layer being oriented in said predetermined direction, and said support member having alternating liquid impervious deflecting zones and liquid pervious entangling zones extending transversely to said predetermined direction or in the cross direction, said entangling zones being substantially free of raised deflecting means, and said deflecting zones including spaced deflecting means adapted to deflect liquid in a direction transverse to said predetermined direction; (b) moving the supported layer in said predetermined direction through a fiber rearranging zone within which streams of high pressure, fine, essentially columnar jets of liquid are projected directly onto said layer; and (c) passing said streams of liquid through said layer and said support member in said fiber rearranging zone to effect movement of fibers such that (1) spaced bundles of straight, substantially parallel fiber segments are formed in said deflecting zones, said bundles being oriented generally in said predetermined direction, (2) spaced parallel lines of raised entangled fiber regions interconnected by partially entangled fiber arrays are formed in said entangling zones, and lines extending in a direction transverse to said predetermined direction, and (3) said spaced bundles interconnect said entangled regions and are locked into said entangled regions the ends of said bundles by fiber entanglement.

Claim 7

A process for producing a light weight nonwoven fabric having excellent strength in both the machine direction and cross direction comprises: (a) supporting a layer of fibers comprising at least 75% polyolefin fibers, having a basis weight of from about 0.3 to 1.5 oz/yd 2 , on a liquid pervious support member adapted to move in a predetermined machine direction and on which fiber movement in directions both in and at an angle to the plane of said layer is permitted in response to applied liquid forces, the fibers of said layer being oriented in said predetermined direction, and said support member having alternating liquid impervious deflecting zones and liquid pervious entangling zones extending transversely to said predetermined direction or in the cross direction, said entangling zones being substantially free of raised deflecting means, and said deflecting zones including spaced deflecting means adapted to deflect liquid in a direction transverse to said predetermined direction; (b) moving the supported layer in said predetermined direction through a fiber rearranging zone within which streams of high pressure, fine, essentially columnar jets of liquid are projected directly onto said layer; and (c) passing said streams of liquid through said layer and said support member in said fiber rearranging zone to effect movement of fibers such that (1) spaced bundles of straight, substantially parallel fiber segments are formed in said deflecting zones, said bundles being oriented generally in said predetermined direction, (2) spaced parallel lines of raised entangled fiber regions interconnected by partially entangled fiber arrays are formed in said entangling zones, and lines extending in a direction transverse to said predetermined direction, and (3) said spaced bundles interconnect said entangled regions and are locked into said entangled regions the ends of said bundles by fiber entanglement.

Claim 8

The process of claim 5 wherein said layer of fibers comprises 75% polypropylene staple fibers and 25% rayon staple fibers.