JP4787484B2 - Patterned dry nonwoven fabric and wet paper using this dry nonwoven fabric - Google Patents

Description

  In the present invention, a patterned dry mixed nonwoven fabric suitably used for wet paper such as wet tissues, wet towels, and wet towels, and a translucent pattern manufactured using the patterned dry mixed nonwoven fabric are formed. The present invention relates to wet papers such as wet tissues, wet towels, and wet towels.

Recently, disposable hand towels made of non-woven cloth or the like have been widely used for business purposes in place of cloth hand towels in hotels, restaurants, coffee shops, and the like. As a disposable hand towel for business use, (1) heat embossed dry nonwoven fabric such as pulp nonwoven fabric (for example, see Patent Document 1), (2) heat embossed with a polyethylene film sandwiched between two tissues (For example, refer patent document 2), (3) What carried out the heat embossing of the tissue and the dry-type nonwoven fabric (for example, refer patent document 3), etc. are known.
JP-A-5-98594 JP 49-13446 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-155797

  Examples of quality characteristics required for the base paper used for disposable hand towels include wet paper strength, hand feeling, flexibility, water absorption, and the like. In particular, in order to produce a hand feeling, paper towels and the like need to be bulky, and therefore, heat embossing using two uneven embossing rolls is generally performed. For the base paper, the above (2) is the cheapest, so the amount used is large, but the wet towel using the dry nonwoven fabric of (1) is high in cost but closer to the characteristics of the cloth wet towel Therefore, there is a demand as a luxury product. At home, wet tissues and towels made of non-woven fabrics are widely used for wiping off soils containing moisture such as infant excrement and spilled food on the table, and hand wiping.

  In general, as a nonwoven fabric material used for wet paper, natural cellulose fibers such as paper, pulp and cotton, regenerated cellulose fibers such as cupra, viscose rayon and polynosic rayon, and other synthetic fibers are used. Natural cellulose fibers are advantageous in terms of cost, but they are disadvantageous in that they have low wet strength and lack flexibility compared to synthetic fibers. Addition of chemicals to improve wet strength further reduces flexibility. Therefore, as raw materials, a balance between quality such as wet strength and flexibility and cost is achieved by appropriately combining cellulose fibers and synthetic fibers. On the other hand, bulky dry non-woven fabrics are generally used as wet towels or the like with a flat surface without being subjected to uneven embossing. These bulky nonwoven fabrics used as base paper for wet paper are manufactured by an appropriate method such as a method in which fibers are dispersed in the air to form a mat and bound with a binder. In addition, for the purpose of enhancing paper strength, etc., cellulosic fibers and synthetic fibers are mixed, and the heat-melting characteristics of the blended synthetic fibers are used without using a binder, or if necessary, using a binder. A dry nonwoven fabric that binds fibers is also known, but this nonwoven fabric has a problem that it is more expensive than a conventional nonwoven fabric.

  In this way, conventional wet paper such as wet towels, wet tissues, and wet towels are manufactured using various base papers, but all of them are white evenly in the dry or wet state. It is common to have a shape. In the case of disposable hand towels, especially paper towels, in order to create a hand feeling, uniform uneven embossing is also applied to the entire base paper as necessary, but it is normal practice to add patterns of any shape. Even if a pattern is formed by hot embossing, the conventional wet paper base paper remains generally the same white in both a dry state and a wet state. For this reason, the pattern attached to the paper towel is visually recognized due to the difference in surface texture or the presence or absence of shadows due to irregularities. There is little to be directed to the pattern. If we can put a pattern that can be easily seen in a moderately wet state, for example, a wet state where a disposable hand towel is wet, by a simple manufacturing method on wet paper, it will be effective for use as an advertising medium and design properties. It is possible to produce rich wet paper at low cost, add high added value to wet paper, and use high quality and high cost base paper for wet paper, further promoting the use of wet paper The effect that it is done can be expected.

  The present invention has been made to meet such a demand, and when it is in a moderately wet state, the pattern can be easily visually recognized, for example, a logo mark such as a company name or a product name, a flower pattern, a geometric pattern, etc. Suitable for forming wet paper, wet towel, wet paper such as wet towel, and wet paper with a pattern that looks like a watermark on a white background of a wet paper base. The object is to provide a non-woven fabric with a pattern.

  As a result of earnest examination and research, the present inventor, as a result of the dry blended nonwoven fabric of cellulosic fibers and heat-sealing synthetic fibers, using a heat roll having a desired pattern, the extent that capillary action occurs in the embossed part When heat embossing is performed under moderate heating and pressurizing conditions so that gaps between fibers are formed, the pattern is difficult to visually recognize because it is entirely white when dried, but when the nonwoven fabric is wetted When this fine hole is filled with water, the embossed part becomes translucent. On the other hand, the surrounding area remains white, so that the translucent part of the embossed part appears to be raised, and the embossed part is easy as a pattern. It was found that it can be visually recognized. It has also been found that this patterning can improve the strength compared to those without such a pattern. The present invention has been made based on these findings.

That is, the present invention relates to a dry-mixed nonwoven fabric comprising cellulosic fibers and heat-sealed synthetic fibers, and when the fibers are impregnated with water, capillarity occurs and micropores that become translucent portions are formed by hot embossing. The dry mixed paper is characterized in that the thickness of the planar portion is 0.2 to 0.3 when the thickness of the dry mixed nonwoven fabric before hot embossing is 1. It is a nonwoven fabric.

In the present invention, when water is impregnated between fibers, a capillary phenomenon occurs, and micropores that become translucent portions are formed in a surface shape by hot embossing , and the thickness of the surface portion is the dry mixed paper. The dry blended non-woven fabric containing cellulosic fibers and heat-sealable synthetic fibers, which is 0.2 to 0.3 when the thickness of the nonwoven fabric before hot embossing is 1 , is impregnated with water. It is a featured wet paper.

  Moreover, the present invention is characterized in that in the dry-mixed non-woven fabric or wet paper, the cellulosic fiber is pulp.

  The present invention is also characterized in that, in the dry-mixed non-woven fabric or wet paper, the heat-fusion synthetic fiber is a polyester fiber.

  Moreover, the present invention is characterized in that the wet paper is a wet towel.

  In the wet paper, the present invention is characterized in that the wet paper is a wet tissue.

  In the wet paper, the present invention is characterized in that the wet paper is a wet towel.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail. In the present invention, a dry-mixed non-woven fabric of cellulosic fibers and heat fusion synthetic fibers is used as the non-woven fabric. As the cellulosic fiber, any of the cellulosic fibers conventionally used for producing a nonwoven fabric can be used, and an appropriate one may be adopted according to required water absorption, paper strength, and the like. Examples of cellulosic fibers include natural cellulose fibers such as cotton, pulp and hemp, and regenerated cellulose fibers such as rayon fiber, tencel fiber, and cupra. These cellulosic fibers can be used alone or in combination of two or more. Of these cellulosic fibers, cotton, rayon fiber, pulp or tencel fiber is preferably used from the viewpoint of improving the touch of the nonwoven fabric, but pulp is preferable from the viewpoint of imparting a pattern.

  The pulp preferably used in the dry-mixed non-woven fabric of the present invention may be any cellulose pulp that is usually used when paper is made, for example, wood fibers such as conifers, hardwoods, Manila hemp, kenaf, bagasse, etc. Non-wood fibers, regenerated fibers such as rayon, and the like. For pulping cellulose fibers, chemical pulp methods such as kraft pulp method and sulfite pulp method, semi-chemical pulp method, mechanical pulp method and the like are known, but any method may be used. Cellulose fibers can be used in a generally employed manner, and can be bleached, semi-bleached, or unbleached, and these can be used alone or in combination of two or more.

  On the other hand, the heat-sealing synthetic fiber constituting the dry-mixed nonwoven fabric of the present invention is used in the form of long fiber continuous filaments or short fiber staple fibers (fiber length of 20 to 51 mm) depending on the method for producing the nonwoven fabric. The fineness of the heat-fusible fiber is appropriately selected according to the texture of the nonwoven fabric to be obtained, and for example, a fineness of about 1.0 to 3.0 denier is used. The heat-sealable synthetic fiber may be any thermoplastic fiber that can be melted and fused in the manufacturing process of the nonwoven fabric, and a single fiber such as polyester, vinylon, or nylon, or a core made of polyethylene, polypropylene, or polyester, and a sheath. However, a so-called core-sheath type composite fiber such as polyester or ethylene / vinyl acetate may be used alone, or two or more of these may be used in combination. When the heat-fused synthetic fiber is dry-blended, the synthetic fiber is melted and softened by heating, and the synthetic fiber is spot-bonded with a cellulosic fiber, for example, pulp, thereby forming a bulky nonwoven fabric and improving paper strength. And since the cellulosic fiber is mutually joined by the melt softening of the synthetic fiber, even if it absorbs water, a part of nonwoven fabric will not peel off.

  Cellulosic fibers such as pulp and heat-synthetic synthetic fibers are mixed with water absorption, strength, and good embossing of the pattern applied by heat embossing, as well as embossability and pattern retention by embossing. The ratio may be set appropriately in consideration of the formability of the nonwoven fabric. For example, the cellulosic fiber and the heat-sealable synthetic fiber are 50 to 90% by weight, preferably 70 to 80% by weight of the cellulosic fiber, and 50 to 10% by weight, preferably 30 to 20% by weight of the heat-sealable synthetic fiber. It is common that If the blending ratio of the heat-synthesizing synthetic fiber is less than 10% by weight, for example, the paper strength as a hand towel is insufficient. On the other hand, if it exceeds 50% by weight, for example, the flexibility as a hand towel is lost and the cost increases. Not suitable. This ratio is the same in the case of other wet papers such as wet tissues and wet towels.

  In the present invention, the nonwoven base paper before the patterning process by hot embossing may be subjected to wet crepe treatment or dry crepe treatment as needed for the purpose of assisting flexibility.

  The non-woven fabric base paper of the present invention has a thermoplastic fiber other than the above-mentioned heat-fusible fiber for the purpose of increasing the strength or texture of the non-woven fabric (that is, a thermoplastic fiber that is not melted or fused by heat applied in the process of producing the non-woven fabric). ) May be included. Examples of such thermoplastic fibers include polyester fibers having a high melting point (such as PET fibers) and acrylic fibers. The thermoplastic fibers are used in the form of long fiber continuous filaments or short fiber staple fibers (fiber length 20 to 51 mm) depending on the method for producing the nonwoven fabric. The fineness of the thermoplastic fiber is appropriately selected according to the texture of the resulting nonwoven fabric, and preferably 1.0 to 3.0 denier, more preferably 1.3 to 1.5 denier. The content of the thermoplastic fiber is preferably 1 to 10% by weight, preferably 8 to 10% by weight, based on the weight of the nonwoven fabric, from the balance between improvement in strength of the resulting nonwoven fabric and prevention of touch reduction. More preferably. As the nonwoven fabric base paper of the present invention, for example, trade name FA Jaysoft (Havix Co., Ltd.) is preferable.

  In the present invention, the base paper is appropriately crushed by heating and pressurizing the non-woven base paper using a hot embossing roll or the like, and a region having micropores where capillary action occurs is formed into a planar shape. A pattern is formed by a combination of the processing regions. The size of the surface only needs to be a size that can be clearly recognized visually when the processing region contains water and becomes translucent. The shape may be circular, linear, or any other shape But you can. For example, when the hot embossing region for forming the pattern is circular, the diameter of the embossed portion is preferably about 1 to 2 mm or more.

  A hot embossing process for patterning a nonwoven fabric will be briefly described with reference to FIG. 1. Between a hot roll 1 having a convex pattern such as a desired character, logo, or pattern and a smooth hot roll 2. Then, the nonwoven fabric raw fabric 3 is fed into and heat embossing is performed at the roll facing portion. Although the embossing roll in FIG. 1 consists of the combination of the roll which has a convex pattern, and a smooth roll, the aspect of the hot embossing in this invention is not restricted to this. For example, two convex pattern rolls formed so that their convex patterns overlap each other at the roll facing portion may be used, and the nonwoven fabric may be fed between the two rolls to heat and pressurize the nonwoven fabric. Moreover, you may use a flat plate type | mold instead of roll shape. FIG. 2 shows a partial plan view of a hot embossed nonwoven fabric. In FIG. 2, the composite pattern which consists of the embossing area | region 5 which consists of the diagonal diagonal line of 2 directions comprised from a small round point, and the embossing area | region 6 of a petal pattern is attached | subjected. FIG. 2 is merely an example of a pattern, and an arbitrary pattern can be applied to the nonwoven fabric by changing the pattern of the embossing roll.

  In the present invention, during hot embossing, it is necessary to form micropores, i.e., gaps, between the fibers that have capillarity in the embossed portion of the nonwoven fabric. (Embossed portion gap), it is necessary to perform the sheet passing speed under controlled conditions so that such fine holes are formed. The heating temperature and the heating pressure vary depending on various conditions such as the type and blending amount of cellulosic fibers and heat-fused synthetic fibers used in the nonwoven fabric, and the thickness of the base paper. For example, pulp is used as the cellulosic fiber, polyester fiber having a melting temperature of about 130 ° C. or polypropylene having a melting temperature of about 160 ° C., and a sheath having a core / sheath structure of polyester having a melting temperature of about 130 ° C. When a non-woven fabric having a thickness of about 1 mm using about 30% of the total fiber is used, for example, a heating temperature of about 150 to 170 ° C. and a hot embossing of about 0.2 to 0.3 mm What is necessary is just to perform the embossing for patterning by the feed rate of about 20-60 m / min. However, this is merely an example, and the embossing conditions are not limited to those described above because they vary depending on various conditions such as the material used, the thickness of the nonwoven fabric, and the basis weight. For example, if the melting temperature of the hot-melt resin is low, the feed rate can be increased, or the roll gap can be increased or decreased depending on the thickness and basis weight of the nonwoven fabric. In short, the heat embossing conditions for patterning may be any conditions as long as micropores having a size that causes capillary action in the embossed portion of the nonwoven fabric, that is, gaps are formed between the fibers during heat embossing. It is.

  Thus, when the density of a nonwoven fabric is raised by embossing and the micropore of the magnitude | size which a capillary phenomenon produces between the fibers which form a nonwoven fabric is formed, when the embossed nonwoven fabric is impregnated with water, FIG. As shown, in the embossed part in which the micropores are formed, water fills the micropores between the fibers by capillary action, thereby forming the translucent part 7. On the other hand, the non-embossed part of the thermo-drying nonwoven fabric containing cellulosic fibers and heat-sealable synthetic fibers remains white as long as it is below a certain amount of moisture, because capillary action hardly occurs in the film plane direction. The white non-transparent portion 8 is obtained.

  Explaining the embossing of a pattern by taking a hand towel as an example, a disposable hand towel formed of a non-woven fabric usually contains about 500% of the weight of the non-woven fabric. When the nonwoven fabric has such a moisture content, water enters between the fibers in the portions 5, 6, and 7 of the nonwoven fabric crushed by embossing to fill the fine pores between the fibers. As a result, the embossed portion becomes translucent, while the non-embossed portion does not cause capillary action, so that the space between the fibers is not completely filled with water and remains white. For this reason, the translucent pattern clearly appears against the background of the natural white color of the nonwoven fabric. For example, if a wet towel pattern is used as a company name, the company name will appear in the hand towel before use, and an advertising effect will be obtained, and repeated patterns such as flower patterns and geometric patterns will be attached. For example, it can be given to a person who uses an aesthetic effect or a high-class wet towel. When the nonwoven fabric contains about 500% of the weight of the nonwoven fabric, depending on the type of the base paper, the non-embossed portion is not completely white but somewhat translucent, and the pattern is somewhat It may appear out of focus. However, even in such a case, when the hand towel is taken out of the bag and the hand is wiped, for example, when the water content is about 300%, the pattern clearly appears. In any case, when the moisture further evaporates from the hand towel, the embossed portion also becomes white due to the evaporation of moisture from the pattern portion that has been translucent until now, and finally the translucent pattern disappears. For this reason, since the pattern appears or disappears during use of the hand towel, a surprising feeling can be given to a person using the hand towel, and a strong impression of the pattern can be given.

  Furthermore, when the moisture content of the nonwoven fabric is increased, the non-embossed portion is also completely wetted with water, so that the entire hand towel becomes translucent. However, the hand towel with the pattern of the present invention in which the whole is in a translucent state in this way is initially translucent, but the wet towel disappears during use, as described above. Gradually, the non-embossed portion becomes white and opaque, while the embossed portion remains held in a translucent state. For this reason, even in such a case, a pattern appears in the hand towel while using.

The use mode of the patterned non-woven fabric of the present invention has been described by taking a hand towel as an example, but the same applies when wet paper is used in the form of wet tissue or wet towel.
Furthermore, when a nonwoven fabric is used in a dry state, such as a paper towel, and a hand wet with water is wiped with the dried nonwoven fabric, a semi-transparent pattern can be expected to appear on the nonwoven fabric. Another example of using such an effect is, for example, pet sheets. When the dry blended nonwoven fabric of the present invention having a pattern such as a logo mark is used, the logo mark appears immediately when the sheet gets wet, so that the effect that the sheet can be replaced without delay is obtained.

  Further, in the patterned nonwoven fabric of the present invention, since the processed portion has a high density, the capillary action works in the lateral direction, and in addition to the filter effect by longitudinal absorption, which is a feature of the dry blended nonwoven fabric, the entire surface is evenly absorbed. Is possible. This characteristic is effective when a drug is evenly contained in a wet towel or the like.

  In the dry-mixed non-woven fabric of cellulosic fibers and heat fusion synthetic fibers used in the present invention, when a binder is not used, only light fusion of cellulosic fibers with heat fusion synthetic fibers is performed. For this reason, the dry blended nonwoven fabric has a problem that conventional strength does not appear. However, as shown in FIG. 2, by connecting the processed parts with lines or patterns, a strong fused part is formed, and the effect of increasing the strength of the entire dry blended nonwoven fabric is also obtained.

  When the patterned dry mixed nonwoven fabric of the present invention is used as wet paper for wet toweling, wet tissue, wet towels, etc., the wetting liquid may contain chemicals such as fragrances, bactericides, and antibacterial agents as in the past. it can. In addition, the production of wet towels, wet tissues, wet towels and the like may be performed in the same manner as in the past. For example, wet wet towels are manufactured by patterning a dry mixed nonwoven fabric base paper by hot embossing, then folding it, applying a water shower containing chemicals, cutting it into a predetermined size with a cutter, Is a roll, and flat folds are further folded into two and packed in a film.

Examples of the present invention will be described below, but the present invention is not limited thereto.
Example First, a base paper as a material for hand towels is prepared. In this example, a polyester fiber-containing dry pulp nonwoven fabric (trade name: FA Jaysoft; manufactured by Havicks Co., Ltd.) was used as the base paper. In the hand towel making machine, a heat embossing device shown in FIG. 1 in which a roll 1 having a convex pattern and a smooth roll 2 are opposed to each other with an embossing gap of 0.2 mm is disposed, and the two heated at 160 ° C. A base paper was passed between the embossing rolls 1 and 2 at a speed of 40 m / min to mold a pattern, and then a disposable wet towel was manufactured through the same process as before. A translucent pattern appeared on the wet towel.

[The invention's effect]
The dry blended non-woven fabric of cellulosic fibers and heat-bonded synthetic fibers patterned by the heat embossing of the present invention has a heat-embossed part that is translucent or opaque white depending on the moisture content, and is wet for disposable towels, etc. When used as paper, when the water content is moderate, the embossed part appears as a translucent pattern in the background color of the white non-woven fabric. By embossing, it becomes possible to use wet paper such as disposable hand towels as an advertising medium.

  Also, when using dry mixed nonwoven fabrics with patterns of the present invention as dry paper towels, napkins, wiping papers, sheets, etc., when these wet with water, patterns such as marks will emerge on the nonwoven fabrics, New added value can be added to these papers, including advertising effects, and sheets can be used to see the marks that appear, and wet sheets can be replaced without delay, creating a clean environment. Played.

  Furthermore, the strength of the dry-mixed nonwoven fabric of cellulosic fibers and heat-sealed synthetic fibers can be improved by connecting the processed parts with lines or patterns.

  In addition to the absorption characteristics in the thickness direction of dry-mixed non-woven fabrics of cellulosic fibers and heat-sealed synthetic fibers, it is also possible to absorb the non-woven fabric in the surface direction at the processed part, so that drugs such as wet towels are evenly distributed. This is effective when it is included in the nonwoven fabric.

Explanatory drawing explaining the heat embossing of a nonwoven fabric original fabric. The plane partial view of the patterned nonwoven fabric of this invention. Sectional drawing of the patterned nonwoven fabric of the present invention wetted with water.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Heat roll with convex pattern 2 Smooth heat roll 3 Non-woven fabric 4 Patterned nonwoven fabric 5 Dot-shaped hot embossing part 6 Petal-like hot embossing part 7 Translucent part 8 White non-transparent part

Claims (9)

In a dry blended nonwoven fabric comprising cellulosic fibers and heat-sealed synthetic fibers, micropores that form a translucent portion when capillarity occurs when water is impregnated between the fibers are formed into a planar shape , and A dry mixed nonwoven fabric characterized in that the thickness of the planar portion is 0.2 to 0.3 when the thickness of the dry mixed nonwoven fabric before hot embossing is 1 .   The dry-mixed nonwoven fabric according to claim 1, wherein the cellulosic fibers are pulp.   The dry blended nonwoven fabric according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the heat-sealing synthetic fiber is a polyester fiber. When water is impregnated between fibers, capillarity occurs, and micropores that become translucent portions are formed into a surface shape by hot embossing , and the thickness of the surface portion is before hot embossing of the dry blended nonwoven fabric A wet paper obtained by impregnating water into a dry-mixed non-woven fabric containing cellulosic fibers and heat-sealing synthetic fibers, having a thickness of 1 to 0.2 .   The wet paper according to claim 4, wherein the cellulosic fiber is pulp.   6. The wet paper according to claim 4, wherein the heat-sealing synthetic fiber is a polyester fiber.   The wet paper according to any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein the wet paper is a wet towel.   The wet paper according to any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein the wet paper is a wet tissue.   The wet paper according to any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein the wet paper is a wet towel.

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