Methods for making three-dimensional webs

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12486603-B2
Application number	US-202418414636-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 17, 2024
Priority date	Jan 19, 2023
Publication date	Dec 2, 2025
Grant date	Dec 2, 2025

Abstract

A method of making a three-dimensional web is provided. The method comprises spinning continuous filaments from a spinneret, moving the spun continuous filaments along a travel path having an end, and rotating a collection surface at or proximate to the end of the travel path. The collection surface comprises cavities and land areas. The land areas are tangentially planar with an outer surface of the collection surface. The cavities are recessed with respect to the outer surface of the collection surface. The method comprises applying a fluid pressure to the collection surface and collecting the filaments on the collection surface to create an intermediate three-dimensional web having first regions formed in the cavities and second regions formed on the land areas. The first and second regions differ in at least one intensive property. The method comprises bonding the intermediate web using a bonding operation to form a final three-dimensional web.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of making a three-dimensional web, comprising:
providing a collection surface that does not have photocurable resin; spinning continuous filaments from a spinneret; moving the spun continuous filaments along a travel path having an end; rotating the collection surface at or proximate to the end of the travel path, wherein the collection surface comprises cavities and land areas, wherein the land areas are tangentially planar with an outer surface of the collection surface, and wherein the cavities are recessed with respect to the outer surface of the collection surface; applying a fluid pressure to the collection surface; collecting the filaments on the collection surface to create an intermediate three-dimensional web having first regions formed in the cavities and second regions formed on the land areas, wherein the first regions and second regions differ in at least one intensive property, and wherein values of the intensive property in the first regions and the second regions are both greater than zero; and bonding the intermediate three-dimensional web using a bonding operation to form a final three-dimensional web.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the collection surface comprises raised areas that extend outwardly from the outer surface of the collection surface.

3 . The method of claim 2 , comprising forming apertures in the intermediate three-dimensional web using the raised areas.

4 . The method of claim 2 , comprising forming projections in the intermediate three-dimensional web using the raised areas.

5 . The method of claim 1 , comprising creating a fluid pressure at bottom portions of the cavities that are fluid permeable, but substantially not filament permeable, and comprising building up the filaments in the cavities.

6 . The method of claim 1 , comprising, along the travel path, cooling and stretching the filaments.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the continuous filaments comprise bicomponent continuous filaments having a first component and a second component.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the bicomponent filaments are side-by-side bicomponent filaments or eccentric bicomponent filaments.

9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the first component has a different melting temperature than the second component.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the collection surface is a rotating drum and is not a belt.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the collection surface comprises a three-dimensional sleeve positioned over a rotating member, wherein the three-dimensional sleeve is not a belt.

12 . The method of claim 1 , comprising air-through bonding the intermediate three-dimensional web to create filament to filament bonds in the web and form the final three-dimensional web.

13 . The method of claim 1 , comprising compacting the intermediate three-dimensional web on the collection surface using a compaction roll, wherein a nip is formed intermediate the compaction roll and the collection surface, and wherein the intermediate three-dimensional web is removed from the collection surface downstream of or upon exiting the nip.

14 . The method of claim 1 , comprising applying hot air to the intermediate three-dimensional web to at least partially bond the intermediate three-dimensional web.

15 . The method of claim 1 , comprising combining a second web with the intermediate three-dimensional web to form a laminate.

16 . The method of claim 1 , comprising, subsequent to the collecting step and prior to the bonding step, spinning second continuous filaments from a second spinneret, and collecting the second continuous filaments on the intermediate three-dimensional web to increase the basis weight of the intermediate three-dimensional web.

17 . The method of claim 1 , comprising, subsequent to the collecting step and prior to the bonding step, spinning second continuous filaments from a second spinneret onto a second collection surface, and conveying the second continuous filaments onto the intermediate three-dimensional web to increase the basis weight of the intermediate three-dimensional web.

18 . The method of claim 1 , comprising conveying the final three-dimensional web into an absorbent article manufacturing line.

19 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the intensive property is basis weight, caliper, or volumetric density.

20 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the intensive property is air permeability or opacity.

21 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the web comprises pulp fibers, or wherein the web comprises staple fibers.

22 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the bonding operation comprises calendar bonding, ultrasonic bonding, or combinations thereof.

23 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the final three-dimensional web is not hydroentangled.

24 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the cavities have a higher fluid permeability than the land areas.

25 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is performed on an absorbent article manufacturing line.

26 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the land areas of a portion of the rotating collection surface have a surface texture, Sa, in the range of about 10 μm to about 220 μm, according to the Surface Topography Test Method.

Assignees

• Procter & Gamble

Inventors

• Erdem Gueltekin
• Schmidt Mattias
• Ashraf Arman
• Xu Han

Classifications

• B29C69/001

  a shaping technique combined with cutting, e.g. in parts or slices combined with rearranging and joining the cut parts (for reinforced material B29C70/545; B29C49/4278, B29C51/268 take precedence) · CPC title

• B32B37/203

  One or more of the layers being plastic · CPC title

• B29C2793/0045

  Perforating · CPC title

• D01D7/00

  Collecting the newly-spun products ({D01D5/0076 takes precedence;} collecting newly-spun products with the imparting of twist D01H) · CPC title

• D04H3/018

  characterised by the shape · CPC title