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  Durable and fire resistant nonwoven composite fabric based military combat uniform garmentUSPTO Application #: 20060035555Title: Durable and fire resistant nonwoven composite fabric based military combat uniform garment Abstract: The present invention is directed to the design and manufacture of a durable, fire resistant, comfortable and economical nonwoven composite fabric based garment, which meets the stringent requirements of military combat uniform clothing. The nonwoven based garment is designed to replace the traditional woven textile fabric used in the military and outdoor sporting garments today. The novel garment of the current invention is constructed using a unique nonwoven composite fabric that exhibits mechanical, physical, durability and comfort characteristics similar to or better than that of the current woven military uniform fabric. In particular, the present invention contemplates the nonwoven composite fabric used to make the garment is prepared by combining at least two separate fire resistant nonwoven webs forming the inside and outside layers of the garment. An optional rip-stop element such as a loosely knitted fabric may be sandwiched between the two nonwoven webs to improve the tear resistance of the entire garment. Hydroentangling or needle-punching processes and subsequent thermal calendering/embossing techniques combine the individual nonwoven webs of the garment before dyeing, printing and finishing with traditional textile chemicals to form a composite fabric for stitching to make the garment. (end of abstract) Agent: Tipton L. Randall - Chippewa Falls, WI, US Inventors: Vasanthakumar Narayanan, Gary Arinder, Stephen Szezesuil USPTO Applicaton #: 20060035555 - Class: 442387000 (USPTO) Related Patent Categories: Fabric (woven, Knitted, Or Nonwoven Textile Or Cloth, Etc.), Nonwoven Fabric (i.e., Nonwoven Strand Or Fiber Material), Including An Additional Nonwoven Fabric, Mechanically Interengaged By Needling Or Impingement Of Fluid (e.g., Gas Or Liquid Stream, Etc.) The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060035555. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS, IF ANY [0001] This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. $119 (e) of co-pending provisional application Ser. No. 60/581,794, filed 22 Jun. 2004. Application Ser. No. 60/581,794 is hereby incorporated by reference. STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT [0002] This invention was developed during the course of Contracts No. M67854-04-C-3006 and No. M67854-05-C-6502 for MARCOR SYSCOM of the Department of Defense. REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX, IF ANY [0003] Not applicable. FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0004] The present invention relates generally to the design and manufacture of a unique, durable and fire retardant military combat uniform garment, made from a multi-layered nonwoven composite fabric that exhibits excellent fire resistance, mechanical and physical properties, comfort, and economics. The objective is to displace more expensive and flammable traditional woven fabric based garments with functional nonwoven composite fabrics for military combat uniforms and outdoor sporting garments. Although nonwoven composite fabrics offer numerous technical advantages over the traditional woven fabrics in the area of functional apparel, as that of military uniform fabric, thus far the nonwoven based garments have been used only for disposable medical garments and lab coats because of their lack of textile-like qualities. The success in creating a durable and fire resistant nonwoven composite fabric based military garment is dependent on the appropriate selection and utilization of fibers and fiber blends, additive chemicals, web formation and multiple web bonding or consolidation techniques and finishing treatments. In addition to being lighter weight, soft, durable, highly tear resistant and fire resistant, the nonwoven composite fabric based garment of the current invention offers enhanced breathability or air permeability to provide relief from heat stress in extreme hot weather conditions, good insulation in cold weather, barrier against insects and sand particles, as well as other advantages. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0005] Nonwoven composite fabric manufacturing is the fastest and the most economical way of converting fibers to fabrics. Before discussing the importance of nonwoven composite fabrics for use in military and functional garment applications, it is important to outline the basics of the manufacturing of conventional woven fabrics used in the military garments and outdoor sports gear today to clearly distinguish the difference between the woven and nonwoven fabrics. [0006] Yarn Formation: The manufacturing of conventional woven textile fabric that is presently used to make the military garments is a laborious and multi-step (over 15) process with very slow production speeds. The production of conventional textile fabrics from staple fibers begins with the opening of bales of compacted fibers, synthetic or natural, combing, and then carding, whereby the fibers are individualized and aligned, the web from the doffer of the card then combined to form a thick rope called sliver. Multiple strands of sliver are then processed on drawing frames to further align the fibers, blend, improve uniformity and reduce the sliver's diameter. The drawn sliver is then fed into a roving machine to produce roving with false twist to provide some integrity. The roving is then fed into the ring or rotor spinning machine to be spun into yarn. The smaller yarn packages from the spinning machines are placed onto a winder where they are transferred into larger spools. The yarns are then wound onto a warp beam to be woven into fabrics. [0007] Woven Fabric Formation: The woven fabric from the loom consists of warp and weft yarns. The warp yarns run in the machine direction whereas the weft yarns run in the cross direction or perpendicular to the warp yarns. The warp beams supply the warp yarns by unwinding and the weft yarns are inserted by high-speed shuttle, air or water to complete the fabric design. The warp yarns themselves are subjected to a sizing treatment with starch to provide some stiffness and abrasion resistance to take them through the process of weaving. The sizing treatment is removed by scouring and bleaching after the fabric is made on the loom before the fabric can be dyed and finished. One of the limiting factors of woven fabrics, apart from being a multi-step process, is the very slow production speed, i.e. a few feet (1-2) per minute even on the most modern looms. [0008] On the other hand, nonwoven composite fabrics, when properly designed and processed, offer both the technical and economic advantages, especially in the area of functional apparel. From an economics standpoint, the production of nonwoven fabrics and their composites using spunlaid and carded webs is known to be more efficient than traditional textile processes, with many fewer steps (less than 5) and faster production rates with machine speeds in the hundreds of yards per minute. From a technology standpoint, multiple layers of fibers with varying functionalities, such as water repellent or absorbent and fire retardant, can be incorporated to provide unique structures that are not possible to manufacture by traditional yarn spinning and weaving techniques. [0009] Nonwoven Composite Fabric/Garment: Nonwoven composite fabrics based garments should be suitable for use in a wide variety of military and outdoor applications where the efficiency with which the garments/fabrics can be manufactured provides a significant economic advantage for these fabrics versus traditional woven textiles. However, nonwoven fabrics have been unable to penetrate the functional and everyday wear garment markets because of the commonly known disadvantages such as poorer aesthetics, abrasion resistance, launderability, tear resistance, recovery after stretching etc. when compared with woven fabrics. Many of the nonwoven processes are intended for creating disposable articles such as pillow covers, baby diapers, sanitary napkins, medical gowns etc. None of the currently available nonwoven technologies, when used alone, offer a durable fabric for apparel or garment end use application. The challenge has been to judiciously use several known bonding methods and finishing treatments while using proper fiber blends, additive, finishing chemicals and fabric construction. Attempts have been made to develop nonwoven fabrics for everyday wear such as shirts and pants as referenced in U.S. Pat. No. 3,933,304 where a washable spunlaced nonwoven cloth containing binder chemicals has been disclosed. U.S. Pat. No. 3,988,343 discloses a nylon fabric treated with binder chemicals, U.S. Pat. No. 5,874,159 discloses a spunlaced fabric containing a net made of a polymer that melts at lower temperature than base fibers and bonds with the nonwoven layers and thus providing the necessary durability during the end use application. More recently, U.S. Patent Application No. 2003/0166369 A1 describes a durable nonwoven garment with elastic recovery where a carded web is hydroentangled and modified with very high levels of acrylic binder before being assembled into a garment. The absence of any of these materials from the prior art in the commercial marketplace is an indication that there is still a need for further improvement and enhancement that is required with respect to the processing, finishing and assembling of nonwoven based materials for apparel usage, especially for stringent military applications. [0010] Hydroentangled/Spunlaced Nonwovens: It is an established fact that the best nonwoven bonding technology that is available on a commercial basis today to create fabrics that somewhat mimic the properties of woven fabrics, is the hydroentangled or spunlaced nonwoven fabric technology. The entanglement and the twisting of the fibers that occur in the case of spunlace fabrics is somewhat similar to the twist in the yarns of the woven fabrics and thus, spunlace fabrics provide the best drape characteristics among the commercially available nonwoven fabrics. The use of the right type of nozzles, their length, design, diameter and number of holes per jet strip coupled with the position of the jet manifolds, the number of manifolds per side of the fabric and the water jet pressure critically impact the final fabric properties especially the bonding of fibers and thus the abrasion resistance. Even the spunlace nonwoven composites exhibit a higher degree of elongation or stretch than desired and poorer recovery from deformation. In addition, spunlace fabrics without any post thermal and chemical treatment have shown much poorer launderability and abrasion resistance compared to the woven fabrics. The loose end surface fibers need to be bound to the matrix of the fabric by both thermal and chemical bonding techniques. [0011] The art of combining various nonwoven layers with and without support scrim through hydroentangling for multiple end use application is already established in the literature. Different nonwoven layers or webs, such as spunlaid or spunbonded, carded, wet-laid and needle-punched, can be combined with and without reinforcing scrim or nonwovens as referenced in U.S. Pat. No. 5,240,764, U.S. Pat. No. 5,334,446, U.S. Pat. No. 5,587,225, U.S. Pat. No. 6,669,799, U.S. Pat. No. 6,735,832 B1, and U.S. Patent Application No. 2005/0022321 A1 to provide unique composite structures for various end use applications. U.S. Patent Application No. 2004/0016091 by Rivera et al. discloses a method of forming a two-sided, nonwoven composite intended for use in durable three-dimensional imaged surfaces that is resistant to washing. The composite of the Rivera et al. application has been designed for applications other than functional apparel as the fibrous and scrim elements incorporated in the application do not withstand the rigors of the military and outdoor end use. In addition, according to the Rivera et al. application, the fiber layers are separated by the scrim to avoid intermixing of the layers, which leads to delamination and failure of the composite based garment. The current invention addresses the need for intimate bonding, additional thermal calendaring and chemical treatment for enhancing the abrasion resistance and wash durability, as well as the use of appropriate fiber blends, including fire retardant treatment to avoid melt drips, which is highly objectionable in the end use application. [0012] Needle-Punched Nonwovens: Needle-punching is one of the oldest methods of bonding fibrous layers to create nonwoven and nonwoven composite fabrics. All types of fibers, synthetic and natural, can be used for needle punching. As in the case of hydroentnagling, the finer and longer the fiber, the better is the ability to needle and entangle with other fibers in the nonwoven matrix. There is an abundance of literature on the use and application of needle punching manufacturing methods for various end use applications. However, because of the fuzz created by the process the needled fabrics have been used for wiping cloths and shoe liners etc. and not considered for apparel garment applications. By the proper selection of the fiber blends, process conditions and subsequent thermal bonding and finishing treatment, it is possible to create a nonwoven composite fabric useful for military and outdoor garment applications. Modern needle looms are capable of running at over 2000 strokes per minute, with double needle beds providing production rates in hundreds of yards per minute. [0013] Spunlaid Nonwoven: Spunlaid nonwoven webs comprise continuous synthetic filaments that are formed by melt extrusion of thermoplastic polymers, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT), and nylon 6 or nylon 66, or polypropylene, through a spinneret assembly, creating a plurality of continuous thermoplastic filaments. The filaments are then drawn, cooled, and entangled into a mat before being collected to form a nonwoven web. The web at this stage is unbonded and lacks any strength or integrity. Typically, the spunlaid webs are bonded by using thermal calendaring rolls by fusing the fibers at intermediate points to create a stronger fabric. These webs are called spunbonded webs and are used in a variety of applications ranging from baby diaper top sheets to geotextiles. The cross section of the filaments and the polymer blend composition can be varied as in traditional melting spinning. Several bicomponent filament configurations are commercially available in the marketplace. The most common being a core/sheath configuration spinneret die design that provides continuous spunlaid filaments with a higher melting polymer, such as polyester or nylon 66, in the core and a lower melting polymer, such as nylon 6 or polyethylene, on the sheath. The stronger polymer in the core contributes to the mechanical properties, whereas the polymer in the sheath contributes to bonding using thermal calendering and provides tie points among filaments by the applied heat and pressure. Another configuration of importance is the segmented pie die design with 4, 8, 16, 32 and even 64 segments that are contained within the cross section of the extruded continuous filaments. The polymers chosen to be included in the pies are completely immiscible with each other and are split into very fine denier, and sometimes even nanofibers, by the action of mechanical force such as those encountered during spunlacing. For spunlaid webs, the useful fiber denier ranges from 1-3 dpf and basis weight of the fabric ranges from 0.5 oz/yd.sup.2 to 6 oz/yd.sup.2. One such spunlaid and hydroentangled nonwoven made from splittable bicomponent spunlaid webs, known as "EVOLON", is commercially available from Freudenberg Nonwovens. Another prior art as referenced in U.S. Pat. No. 6,692,541 B2 discloses the method of making nonwoven fabric comprising splittable staple fibers. The main difference between this described material and the EVOLON product is that the latter is made from continuous spunlaid nonwoven filaments as opposed to splittable staple fibers as in the case of U.S. Pat. No. 6,692,541. Although attempts have been made to the use of nonwoven fabrics, prepared by these technologies, to create textile apparel, successful commercialization of these fabrics to displace the traditional woven and knitted fabrics has not been realized. [0014] Carded Nonwoven: The carded nonwoven webs contain staple or cut fibers. Unlike the filaments of spunlaid nonwovens, it is possible to use both synthetic fibers such as polyester, nylon or polypropylene, natural fibers, such as cotton, and regenerated fibers, such as rayon and cellulose acetate. For carded webs, the useful fiber denier ranges from 1-6 dpf and the fiber length ranges from 0.5-3 inches. Basis weight of the fabric ranges from 0.5 oz/yd.sup.2 to 6 oz/yd.sup.2. The fabric properties are determined by the optimization of fiber denier, length and construction. The compacted fibers from the bales are fed into various pre-opening and blending stations before being fed to the licker-in roll of the carding machine. The difference in surface velocity between the main cylinder and the numerous worker rolls or flat circulating wire strip located above the main cylinder is the reason for the thorough opening, individualization and parallel alignment of fiber web. The web can be cross-laid at a 45-degree angle using multiple layers to provide balanced properties in the machine and cross direction. As in the case of spunlaid web, the web integrity is possible only by bonding employing thermal calendering, needle punching or spunlacing techniques. One such nonwoven fabric commercially available from PGI Nonwovens that is used in various applications is called "MIRATEC" fabrics. As in the case of EVOLON fabrics, MIRATEC has been unable to penetrate the textile apparel markets either because of its poorer aesthetics, technical design or economics. Thus far, the products have been contemplated for use in non-durable garments or for industrial applications. [0015] Military Uniforms and Outdoors Garments: The use of nonwovens in the military sector has been mostly for special and niche applications such as disposable apparel and shoe interlinings. Military garments made using nonwoven composites have the potential to offer relief from heat stress and better insulation from extreme weather conditions combined with good economics. However, the military and outdoor sporting applications require functional garments with specific performance attributes. The functional properties of current woven uniforms are fixed by the properties of the individual yarns that lie in a two-dimensional plane. The three-dimensional, nonwoven, composite, fabric offers numerous possibilities of utilizing various fibers and fiber blends and additive chemical technology to impart specific functional characteristics for the intended use. [0016] Dyeing and Printing: The polyester based nonwovens are traditionally dyed using disperse dyes where heat is applied to open the fiber structure for mechanical incorporation of dye molecules. In the case of nylon-based nonwovens, the fabrics can be dyed using acid or basic dye molecules. Viscose rayon fibers can be dyed using direct or sulfur dyes. Deep shade is not a requirement for the military and outdoor garment fabrics; however, deep dyeing is possible with nylon-based garments. [0017] Finishing Treatments: The finishing treatments consist of imparting abrasion resistance, wash durability, water repellency and fire resistance based on the needs of the end use application. The finishing treatments can be carried out using commonly known chemicals such as silicone, acrylate, melamine, urethane, etc. using spraying, padding and curing or knife coating techniques commonly known in the industry. Spraying or padding intumescent fire retardant finishing chemicals can provide additional improvements in the fire resistance characteristics. Whatever the finishing treatment may be, care must be taken to avoid stiffening the fabric and reducing breathability and physical properties. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0018] The present invention is directed to the design and manufacture of a durable and fire resistant nonwoven based garment that meets the stringent performance requirements of military combat uniform clothing and outdoor sporting garments. In particular, the present invention contemplates that a durable garment is formed from a fire resistant, nonwoven composite fabric that consists of at least two fire resistant nonwoven fibrous webs that form the inside and outside layers of the garment with an optional rip-stop layer made from a loosely knitted fabric, sandwiched between the individual nonwoven webs/layers. All of the assembled layers are subjected to intimate mechanical bonding by hydroentanglement process using fluid energy or needle punching process to avoid delamination of the individual layers. In addition, the nonwoven composite fabric is subjected to thermal calendering/embossing and adhesive treatments to further enhance the durability during the end use application, especially in laundering. By formation of a nonwoven composite in this fashion, a durable and fire resistant garment is tailored for military and outdoor use. Continue reading... Full patent description for Durable and fire resistant nonwoven composite fabric based military combat uniform garment Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Durable and fire resistant nonwoven composite fabric based military combat uniform garment patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. 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