Composite textile material for the manufacturing of thermoformed products, method and machinery for its manufacturing

Abstract

A composite material developed for manufacturing thermoformed products has applications in furniture making, automotive industry, etc. The composite material for thermoforming is made of a thermoplastic fibrous component consisting of 4-60 mm long and 7-16 DEN polypropylene fibers representing 40% to 50% of the total material weight, and a plant fiber component which can be hemp, jute, sisal, coconut, etc., or a mix of natural fibers which is 70-80 DEN and 5 to 100 mm in length and represents 60% to 50% of the total material weight. Manufacturing the composite material comprises proportioning the components, followed by mixing and coarse defibering, then fine mixing in a four-chamber module which also opens the natural fibers to 70-80 DEN, followed by the consolidation of the fibers and rolling of the resulting fabric in a roll. The machinery for manufacturing the composite material has a modular structure, comprising two modules (1 and 2) for feeding the components, two modules (3 and 4) for weighing and proportioning the components, a primary mixing and coarse defibering module (5), a module (7) for fine mixing and fiber opening, an interlacing module (8), and a module (9) for pulling and rolling the final fabric.

Claims

1. A manufacturing process for the production of a composite fabric material comprising a) 40-50 wt % of a 1.sup.st component made of thermoplastic fibers (FT) with a length of 4 to 60 mm and a denier of 7-16 DEN; and b) 50-60 wt % of a 2.sup.nd component made of plant fibers (FV) with a denier of 70-80 DEN and a fiber length of 5 to 100 mm; the manufacturing process including the followings steps: a) cutting the plant fibers (FV) to lengths of 5 to 100 mm using a rotating blade chopping machine, b) weighing the plant fibers (FV) resulting from the previous step in one weighing hopper, weighing the thermoplastic fibers (FT) in another weighing hopper, opening corresponding chutes and periodically releasing a quantity between 0.5 and 2 kg of each fiber on a conveyor belt in order to obtain a mix in which the plant fibers represent 50-60% of the total mass, c) coarsely mixing the plant and thermoplastic fibers, defibering the plant and thermoplastic fibers by means of a fiber opener, and transferring the plant and thermoplastic fibers to a mixer having multiple chambers, d) mixing the first and second components and finely opening their fibers using nail rollers, each of the rollers taking out one fiber layer at a time from a corresponding chamber of the mixer and laying the fiber layer onto a conveyor belt, thus creating multiple overlaid fiber layers, and transferring the overlaid fiber layers by means of compressed air to two perforated rollers spinning in opposite directions to one another to create a homogenous composite fabric, e) consolidating the composite fabric by interlacing using a machine with barbed needles, and f) rolling the consolidated composite fabric for packaging as a roll.

Description

(1) The following presents an example of such a machinery with the help of FIGS. 1 and 2 which represent:

(2) FIG. 1 represents the modular structure of the machinery for the manufacturing of the composite material

(3) FIG. 2 represents the technological schematic of the machinery for the manufacturing of the composite material.

(4) The machinery for the manufacturing of the composite textile material is made of the following modules: module 1, which takes the plant fibers from the bale, chops them to the predetermined length and feeds them to the next module; module 2, which feeds the thermoplastic fibers to the next module; module 3, for weighing and periodical feeding of the plant fibers on a conveyor belt 5a of module 5, for primary homogenization; module 4, for weighing and periodical feeding of the thermoplastic fibers on a conveyor belt 5a of module 5; module 5, for the homogenization and primary opening of the textile fibers; module 6, for the homogenization and fine defibering to a value of 70-80 DEN; module 7 for the compressing and forming of the composite fabric; module 8, for the interlacing; module 9, for the rolling of the obtained fabric.

(5) Module 1 consists of a conveyor belt 1a that has a roller 1b at one end, which feeds the plant fibers FV to a chopper 1c, with rotating blades 1d. Chopper 1c cuts the plant fibers FB to a length between 5 and 100 mm. The length of the fibers is set by tuning the speed of the conveyor belt 1a with the speed of the rotating blades 1d. The shortened plant fibers FV go through a pressing device 1e and are then transferred on a horizontal conveyor belt 1f, then onto an inclined conveyor belt 1g. Conveyor belt 1g has nails which prevent the material from sliding on it. This way conveyor belt 1g takes a great part of the fiber quantity and the formed fibrous layer will be equalized by the equalizing roller 1h that rotates opposite to the travel direction of the inclined conveyor belt, and the excess material will fall onto conveyor belt 1g which will homogenize the fibrous material.

(6) Plant fibers FV are transferred in the direction of arrows A1 and B1 of module 3 at a constant flow.

(7) Module 2, for the feeding of the thermoplastic fibers FT is composed of a conveyor belt 2a and a conveyor belt 2b, that is inclined and has nails. The thermoplastic fibers FT are transferred in the direction of arrows A2 and B2 towards module 4 at a constant flow that is tuned by the equalizing roller 2c.

(8) Module 3 consists of a decompressing roller 3a, which takes plant fibers FV from conveyor belt 1g, and a weigh hopper 3b. Weigh hopper 3b weighs and releases equal quantities of plant fiber FV onto conveyor belt 5a.

(9) Weigh hoppers 3b and 4b open periodically and empty onto conveyor belt 5a the necessary quantity of each component of the composite in order to obtain the right mix percentages.

(10) Module 5, used for the homogenization and primary opening of the textile fibers, takes quantities of each material component from conveyor belt 5a periodically and, with the help of roller 5b which is a nail decompressor, the material is transferred into compressor 5c. The material passes between two feeding rollers 5d to fiber opener 5e, and then together with two other feeding rollers 5f goes to a horizontal fiber opener 5g. The horizontal opener ensures that the fibers get opened up to 150-200 DEN fine.

(11) A pressure switch 5h controls the feeding of condenser 5c depending on the value of the pressure inside it.

(12) The mix is sent from the horizontal opener 5g through tubing 5i to module 6 for homogenization and fine defibering.

(13) Module 6 is fed with a mix of fibers through the upper part of the four vertical chambers 6a, 6b, 6c and 6d. Each vertical chamber 6a, 6b, 6c and 6d is fitted with two feeder rollers 6e and fiber opener roller 6f.

(14) For a better homogenization of the textile fibers with the thermoplastic fibers, conveyor belt 6g periodically releases approximately equal quantities of mixed material from each of the chambers 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d by controlling the timing of the feeder rollers 6e of the chambers using photocells 6h.

(15) From conveyor belt 6g the fibrous material mix goes to fiber opener 6i which opens the material to 70-80 DEN, and from here, through tubing 6j, the material goes to compression module 7.

(16) Compression module 7 contains compressor 7a. The fibrous material is detached from condenser 7a and falls into the aspiration bunker that controls the flow using photocell 7b, and is then taken by the feeding rollers 7c and opened by the fiber opener roller 7d.

(17) A rigid gasket with saw like teeth sends fiber packages to the surfaces of the two perforated rollers 7e which rotate opposite to one another (arrows 7g) thus obtaining a uniform thickness of the fabric which is then detached by a deflecting shield. Thus, the fabric is lead onto conveyor belt 7h and from here on to module 8, for the interlacing.

(18) Module 8 contains 3 interlacing machines 8a, 8b and 8c. Each machine has a set of barbed needles that pass the fibers from the upper layer to the lower layer and vice-versa, thus obtaining a consolidation of the fibrous material through the interlacing of the fibers.

(19) Next the consolidated material is taken up by a rolling module 9 with the help of rollers 9a and lead to the rolling system that consists of two lower rollers 9b which rotate in the same direction and package the composite material in the form of roll 9c.

(20) The main differences in the proposed technological process as compared to the known solutions are presented in table 1.

(21) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Operation Existing solution Proposed solution Component fiber opening uses a double card which subjects uses a nail fiber opener with the fibers to stress and results a rigid gasket that protects the in fibers of different lengths fibers' characteristics fibers with a high wood content a large array of fibers can cannot be opened be used, including plants with more than 20% plant fiber content Machinery cost more expensive and higher maintenance shorter workflow machinery easier maintenance limited carding capability 2-3 times higher capacity high energy consumption 60% of the energy consumption of the existing processes Component mixing double card four chamber mixing around 30-40% waste results from module the opening and mixing stage waste is under 10% Fibrous layer making the forming is done by plying the the forming of the fibrous layer fibrous layer that exits the card makes fibers with multiple orientations limited capacity due to the chopping 2 to 3 times greater processing capacity speed of the plyer
The textile material can be used for various applications: automotive industry: dashboards, front bumpers, door interiors, consoles, trunks, etc. furniture industry: sofas, tables, furniture, hangers, mirror frames, chairs, drawers products for home use: trays, dishes, etc.
By applying the invention the following advantages are obtained: obtaining recyclable materials, that do not contain toxic compounds, with multiple applications (automotive industry, furniture industry, home goods, etc.) rapid growth raw materials are used which can grow anywhere on earth reduced dependency on hydrocarbons reduced water consumption in both the production of the raw material as well as in manufacturing reduced electric energy consumption/kg of material low workforce needed and fast productivity growth the manufacturing process uses machinery specific to plant fibers which is easy to build and run the technology doesn't pollute because the waste can be reused in the manufacturing of new material and doesn't give off toxic gases into the atmosphere.