JPH0228800Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to a fiber aggregate for filling. More specifically, the present invention aims to provide a fiber aggregate for filling that is bulky, lightweight, flexible, and has excellent heat retention properties.

Conventionally, feathers, fiber cotton, and the like have been used as filling materials for filling the inside of pillows, mats, sofas, cushions, quilting, and the like. Feathers are the best material for such applications, but production cannot keep up with increasing demand and they are extremely expensive.
On the other hand, although fiber cotton is inexpensive, it is inferior to feathers in terms of lightness, flexibility, and heat retention. Attempts have been made to artificially create filling materials that have properties similar to feathers. For example, a plurality of short fibers bent into a loop shape are concentrated at one point, and at the concentration point, the concentrated short fibers are It is known that it is fixed in one piece. However, such batting materials have low impact resilience and tend to lose bulk due to overlapping loops during use as padding.

As a result of intensive research on filling materials that do not have such problems, the inventor of the present invention has developed a method of bending or buckling a ring-shaped fiber aggregate to break it, and then fixing the fibers to each other at the broken part to make them integrated. By doing so, we have discovered that fiber aggregates suitable for filling materials can be obtained with high production efficiency, and have arrived at the present invention.

That is, the present invention is a broken cylindrical fiber aggregate in a circular or polygonal shape in which all of the constituent fibers are bent or buckled, and the fibers are fixed to each other and integrated at the broken part. This is a fiber aggregate for filling, which is characterized by the following.

The fibers forming the "filling fiber aggregate" of the present invention include synthetic fibers (e.g., polyamide, polyester, polyacrylonitrile, etc.), man-made fibers (e.g., rayon, acetate, etc.), natural fibers (e.g., cotton, wool, etc.), Animal hair, etc.) may be used, and these fibers may be used alone or in combination of two or more. These fibers may or may not be crimped. The cross section of these fibers may be of any shape, and those with a so-called irregular cross section can also be used, and it is particularly preferable to use a hollow irregular cross section because the bulkiness of the resulting fiber aggregate is particularly large. . Further, the single yarn denier of these fibers is preferably 3 to 100 deniers.

There are two methods for producing the "fiber aggregate for filling" of the present invention: a method using long fibers and/or spun yarn (fancy yarn can also be used), and a method using short fibers.

In the method of using long fibers and/or spun yarn, the long fibers or/and spun yarn are wound around the outer circumferential surface of a cylindrical or prismatic heating drum (which may be hollow), and the long fibers and/or spun yarn are wrapped around the drum. A procedure is adopted in which the wound fiber aggregate is heat set, and the loop of the fiber aggregate wound around the drum is cut with a heated knife, so that the fibers are fixed to each other and integrated at the cut portion. . This method is particularly suitable when using synthetic fibers that can be melted, but when using other fibers (such as rayon, cotton, polyacrylonitrile, etc.), it is necessary to apply a heat-sealable adhesive to these fibers in advance. By coating or mixing self-adhesive fibers into these fibers, it is possible to secure and integrate the fibers at the heat set and cut portions. If a cylindrical drum is used, the fiber assembly can be curved, and if a prismatic drum is used, the fiber assembly can be buckled.

In the method of using short fibers, a cylindrical or prismatic drum (the outer circumferential surface has many holes for sucking air, the inside is hollow, and the hollow part is connected to the suction drum) is used. The short fibers are sprayed onto the outer circumferential surface of the drum, spraying an adhesive onto the circumferential surface of the drum if necessary, while rotating the drum (having a mold circumferential surface), and forming a fiber aggregate wound around the drum. The ring is cut with a heated knife, thereby causing the fibers to stick together and integrate at the cut.

Adopt this procedure. This method is particularly suitable when meltable synthetic fibers are used, in which case heat setting can be performed by blowing hot air onto the outer peripheral surface of the drum and drawing the hot air from the drum surface into the drum interior. When using non-meltable fibers, the fibers are mixed with self-adhesive fibers, and at the same time, hot air is blown onto the outer circumferential surface of the drum to draw the hot air into the inside of the drum.
It is possible to achieve fixation and integration between fibers at the heat setting stage and the cutting section at the stage. If a cylindrical drum is used, the fiber aggregate can be curved, and if a prismatic drum is used, the fiber aggregate can be buckled.

In both the method using long fibers and/or spun yarn and the method using short fibers, when only meltable synthetic fibers are used as the fibers, self-adhesive fibers may be used as part of the fibers if necessary. can also be mixed in, thereby improving the shape retention of the fiber aggregate of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing the structure of an embodiment of a "fiber aggregate for filling" having a curved and broken shape according to the present invention. In this diagram,
Reference numeral 1 denotes individual fibers forming the fiber aggregate, and these plurality of fibers 1 are arranged in substantially the same direction. Both ends of the fiber aggregate are broken parts 2,
A plurality of fibers 1 are fixed to each other at a broken portion 2 and are integrated. An adhesive can also be used to fix the fibers 1 together at the break 2. The adhesive preferably contains a thermoplastic as an active ingredient, and is preferably applied to the fiber aggregate before the breaking treatment. In portions other than the broken portion 2, the fibers 1 may be fixed to each other in places or throughout the fibers if necessary, but they do not need to be fixed to each other.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing the structure of an embodiment of the "fiber aggregate for filling" having a buckled and broken shape according to the present invention. In this figure, 1
are individual fibers forming the fiber aggregate, and these plurality of fibers 1 are lined up in substantially the same direction. Both ends of the fiber assembly are broken portions 2, and a plurality of fibers 1 are fixed to each other at the broken portions 2 and are integrated. An adhesive similar to that used in FIG. 1 can also be used to secure the fibers 1 together at the break 2. In portions other than the fracture portion 2, the fibers 1 may be fixed to each other in places or throughout the fibers if necessary, but they do not need to be fixed to each other. Reference numeral 3 denotes buckling portions formed throughout the width direction of the fiber assembly at various locations. Second
The fiber aggregate shown in the figure is obtained by forming a fiber aggregate on the peripheral surface of a quadrangular prism-shaped drum, heat-setting it, and breaking the fiber aggregate at one of the four buckling portions 3 formed.

The "fiber aggregate for filling" according to the present invention is characterized by being bulky, light, flexible, and excellent in heat retention, and in particular having high rebound resilience and no directionality in this resilience. The production efficiency of the fiber aggregate is also high.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to Examples.

Example 1 One crimped filament (hereinafter referred to as fiber A) of polyethylene terephthalate (melting point 255°C) having a single yarn fineness of 6 denier and a U-shaped cross section was placed in a rotating cylindrical drum heated to 160°C. While winding it in a spiral, the copolymerized polyester (melting point 140°C) is used as a sheath, and ordinary polyethylene terephthalate (melting point 255°C) is used as the core, and the two are mixed in a 1:1 ratio.
By winding one self-adhesive filament (hereinafter referred to as fiber B) with a single yarn fineness of 3 deniers (hereinafter referred to as fiber B) composite-spun at a ratio of (weight ratio) around the drum, as shown in FIG. A fiber aggregate 5 was formed on the circumferential surface of 4. 1 is a fiber forming the fiber aggregate 5. A groove is provided on the circumferential surface of the drum 4 in parallel with the axis of the drum 4 so that the edge of a knife for breaking the ring of the fiber aggregate 5 can easily pass therethrough. Next, an adhesive solution is applied to the part of the fiber assembly 5 along the groove 6, and after the adhesive is dried and solidified, the part of the fiber assembly 5 along the groove 6 is applied with the edge of a knife heated to 350°C. was severed. FIG. 4 shows the state in which the fiber aggregate is being cut with a knife. In this figure, parts that are the same as those shown in FIG. 3 are given the same reference numerals, so their explanation will be omitted. 7 is a knife that is cutting the fiber aggregate 5. When the fiber aggregate 5 cut with the knife 7 was removed from the drum 4, a "fiber aggregate for filling material" having a structure as shown in FIG. 1 was obtained. In the case of this example, since the melting point of the sheath part of fiber B is 140°C, which is lower than the temperature of the heated drum (160°C), fiber A fuses with fiber B, causing a gap between fibers 1. Crosslinking is formed to form a network, and the resulting "fiber aggregate for filling" has good shape retention.

Note that even if spun yarn is used instead of fiber A in this example, the "fiber aggregate for filling" of the present invention
can be obtained.

Example 2 Using the apparatus shown in FIG. 5, the "fiber aggregate for filling" of the present invention was created from opened wool having an average fiber length of 60 mm. In the apparatus shown in FIG. 5, the drum 4 can rotate in the direction of the arrow and has a mesh-like peripheral surface. The central axis of the drum 4 has a hollow portion through which air can be sucked, and the hollow portion communicates with a suction drum 8 through which air can be sucked. First drum 4
While rotating, the suction drum 8 sucked in air from the circumferential surface of the drum 4. When the opened fibers 1 (using the above-mentioned wool) are sprayed onto the drum 4 from the tube 9 provided above the drum 4, air is sucked in from the circumferential surface of the drum 4, so the fibers 1 are blown onto the drum 4. were attached to the circumferential surface of the drum 4 so as to be aligned in the rotational direction of the drum 4. At the same time as the fibers 1 are sprayed onto the drum 4, an adhesive solution is sprayed from the spray device 10 provided below the drum 4 onto the fibers 1 attached to the peripheral surface of the drum 4 to make the fibers 1 adhere to each other, and the drum 4 is rotated 4 times. A fiber aggregate 5 was formed on the surface. Next, the rotation of the drum 4 and the suction of air are stopped, and the fiber aggregate 5 is cut at one place in a direction parallel to the rotation axis of the drum 4 and removed from the drum 4, as shown in FIG. A ``fiber aggregate for filling'' with a similar structure was obtained.

In this embodiment, in order to heat set the fiber aggregate 5, the drum 4 is heated with a heater, but it is preferable to blow hot air onto the circumferential surface of the drum 4.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 and 2 are schematic diagrams each schematically showing the structure of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a fiber aggregate formed on the circumferential surface of a drum in an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which the fiber aggregate shown in FIG. 3 is cut with a knife, FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus used to form a fiber aggregate in an embodiment of the present invention. 1...Fiber, 2...Broken part,...Buckling part, 5...
...Fiber aggregate.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A broken cylindrical fiber aggregate in a circular or polygonal shape in which all of the constituent fibers are bent or buckled, and is characterized in that the fibers are fixed to each other and integrated at the broken part. Fiber aggregate for filling.