GB1219009A - Improved method for forming a compressible product - Google Patents

Abstract

1,219,009. Compressible laminate. W. R. GRACE & CO. 16 May, 1968, No. 23347/68. Heading B5N. [Also in Division F2] A compressible porous laminate comprises a plurality of layers of parallel filaments 21 the filaments of each layer being at an angle to those of the adjacent layer(s), the filaments being joined at their cross-over points by an elastomeric binder material 22 and the filaments defining void spaces 23 in the laminate. The laminate may be in the form of a roll produced by winding on a core or may be a sheet formed by cutting such a roll axially of the core. In one method of making the laminate a filament is coated by passing it through a bath of elastomeric binder or by means of a coated roller, the coating is dried by heated air or infra-red lamps, and the filament is wound on a core where the binder is cured. In a second method uncoated filament is wound on a core and the binder material applied to each wound layer by spraying. More than one filament may be wound at a time. The layers may be wound at different angles. An abrasion resistant coating or layer 20 e.g. of butadiene/ acrylonitrile, or butadiene/acrylonitrile/styrene copolymer, PVC, polyvinylidene chloride, epoxy or polyurethane resin may be applied to the wound filaments in solution or as a latex or as a preformed film or tape or a shrinkable film. The filaments may be of natural or synthetic fibres such as glass, modacrylic, polyester, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinylidene chloride, fluorocarbon polymer, rayon, nylon, acrylic, cotton, or wool fibre. The filament may include a plurality of strands. The elastomeric binder may be nitrile rubber, neoprene, natural rubber or butadiene/styrene rubber and is preferably applied in solution, or as an aqueous latex. The binder may include a foaming agent and be foamed after application. When forming the laminate on a core a layer of compressible foam material e.g. neoprene, polyurethane or natural rubber, may be first applied to the core. The core may be of steel, rubber, or plaster, or may be collapsible, or perforated, i.e. in the form of a hollow perforated cylinder. The core may be slid out or dissolved out of the layers of filaments. The wound material may be cut to form a lithographic blanket. Alternatively the filaments may be wound on a tyre rim and coated with a rubber tread compound to form a tyre, or may be removed from the core and inserted in a conventional tyre carcase.