Provided herein is a method for aligning discontinuous fibres comprising: providing a stream of discontinuous fibres in a dispersion medium; applying a shear stress to the dispersion medium to align at least a portion of the discontinuous fibres; and disposing the at least a portion of the aligned discontinuous fibres on a substrate thereby providing a layer of substantially aligned discontinuous fibres. Also provided are discontinuous fibres aligned by such method and a composite material formed from the aligned discontinuous fibres.

A precursor fiber sheet includes short carbon fibers having an average length of 3 to 10 mm, natural pulp having an ash content of 0.15 mass % or less, and a heat-carbonizable resin, and a porous carbon sheet is obtained by carbonizing the precursor fiber sheet. This enhances gas diffusibility and water removal properties of the porous carbon sheet and has high mechanical strength and few appearance defects even when the bulk density of the porous carbon sheet is lowered.

The present invention relates to a packaging material for use in a pouched product for oral use in order to enclose a filling material. The packaging material is a saliva-permeable nonwoven material comprising fibres. The packaging material is a wetlaid nonwoven material, or, alternatively, the fibres are carded and the nonwoven material is hydroentangled, or, alternatively, the fibres are carded and the packaging material has a basis weight ≤30 g/m.sup.2. 50%-100% of the fibres are cellulose-based staple fibres, and 0%-50% of the fibres are thermoplastic fibres, with % numbers being based on total weight of fibres at 21° C. and 50% RH. The packaging material further comprising at least 10% of a binder, taken as a wt % of a total weight of the packaging material. The present invention also relates to a pouched product for oral use comprising such a packaging material. The present invention further relates to a method for manufacturing of a packaging material for a pouched product for oral use.

The present invention relates to a packaging material for use in a pouched product for oral use in order to enclose a filling material. The packaging material is a saliva-permeable nonwoven material comprising fibres. The packaging material is a wetlaid nonwoven material, or, alternatively, the fibres are carded and the nonwoven material is hydroentangled, or, alternatively, the fibres are carded and the packaging material has a basis weight ≤30 g/m.sup.2. 50%-100% of the fibres are cellulose-based staple fibres, and 0%-50% of the fibres are thermoplastic fibres, with % numbers being based on total weight of fibres at 21° C. and 50% RH. The packaging material further comprising at least 10% of a binder, taken as a wt % of a total weight of the packaging material. The present invention also relates to a pouched product for oral use comprising such a packaging material. The present invention further relates to a method for manufacturing of a packaging material for a pouched product for oral use.

A non-woven sheet (10) comprises at least one zone of reinforcement (20a, 20b, 20c, 20d) in which fibers and/or filaments constituting the sheet are bonded together in a reinforcing pattern (22) comprising a plurality of geometric shapes (24), the zone of reinforcement extending over the entire length (L) of the sheet measured in the longitudinal direction (X1), and over a width (l1, l2) strictly less than the width (l) of the sheet (10) measured in a lateral direction (Y1) orthogonal to the longitudinal direction (X1). The sheet (10) thus further comprises at least one non-reinforced zone (30a, 30b). Because of the bonding between the fibers and/or filaments, the elongation of the reinforced zone (20a, 20b, 20c, 20d) under the effect of a given force exerted in a longitudinal direction of the sheet (10) is less than the elongation of the non-reinforced zone under the effect of the same force. Such a sheet (10) may be used in particular for fabricating a laminated assembly.

A non-woven sheet (10) comprises at least one zone of reinforcement (20a, 20b, 20c, 20d) in which fibers and/or filaments constituting the sheet are bonded together in a reinforcing pattern (22) comprising a plurality of geometric shapes (24), the zone of reinforcement extending over the entire length (L) of the sheet measured in the longitudinal direction (X1), and over a width (l1, l2) strictly less than the width (l) of the sheet (10) measured in a lateral direction (Y1) orthogonal to the longitudinal direction (X1). The sheet (10) thus further comprises at least one non-reinforced zone (30a, 30b). Because of the bonding between the fibers and/or filaments, the elongation of the reinforced zone (20a, 20b, 20c, 20d) under the effect of a given force exerted in a longitudinal direction of the sheet (10) is less than the elongation of the non-reinforced zone under the effect of the same force. Such a sheet (10) may be used in particular for fabricating a laminated assembly.

A method of forming a fiber reinforced composite material includes cutting a plurality of reinforcing fibers to a selected length, directing the plurality of reinforcing fibers through a fiber alignment mechanism, orienting the plurality of reinforcing fibers in a selected direction via the fiber alignment mechanism, and adhering the aligned plurality of reinforcing fibers to a substrate material to form the fiber reinforced composite material. A system for manufacturing a fiber reinforced composite material includes a feed mechanism to direct a substrate material along a selected path, a cutting mechanism to cut a plurality of reinforcing fibers to a selected length, and a fiber alignment mechanism to orient the plurality of reinforcing fibers in a selected direction before adhering the plurality of reinforcing fibers to the substrate material.

A nonwoven fabric for manufacturing an oral pouched product, where the nonwoven fabric is chewable to increase its liquid permeability. When the nonwoven fabric is used to form a pouch, it may thus control the release of substances from within the pouch. The nonwoven fabric can be formed by applying a diffusion restricting treatment to a base nonwoven fabric. The diffusion restricting treatment may include any of (a) incorporating a digestible compound; (b) incorporating a superabsorbent polymer; (c) incorporating a hydrophobic material; and (d) forming a deformable barrier layer.

A nonwoven fabric for manufacturing an oral pouched product, where the nonwoven fabric is chewable to increase its liquid permeability. When the nonwoven fabric is used to form a pouch, it may thus control the release of substances from within the pouch. The nonwoven fabric can be formed by applying a diffusion restricting treatment to a base nonwoven fabric. The diffusion restricting treatment may include any of (a) incorporating a digestible compound; (b) incorporating a superabsorbent polymer; (c) incorporating a hydrophobic material; and (d) forming a deformable barrier layer.

A method of making mounting mats comprising the steps of: (i) supplying inorganic fibers through an inlet of a forming box having an open bottom positioned over a forming wire to form a mat of fibers on the forming wire, the forming box having rollers for breaking apart clumps of fibers and an endless belt screen; (ii) capturing clumps of fibers on the endless belt; (iii) conveying captured clumps of fibers on the endless belt so as to enable captured clumps to release from the belt and be broken apart by the rollers; (iv) transporting the mat of fibers out of the forming box by the forming wire; and (v) compressing and restraining the mat of fibers to thereby obtain a mounting mat having a desired thickness suitable for mounting a pollution control element in a pollution control device.