Fabric material

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to fabric materials and particularly to woven fabric materials including tapes of stretchable synthetic resinous material. The present invention is an improvement in and modification of one aspeet-ofthe invention disclosed in our European Patent Application No. EP-A-70176 which was filed on 9.7.82 and published 19.1.83.

[0002] In the said European patent application there is disclosed in relation to Figures 1 and 2 a woven construction formed from flat polypropylene tapes which constitute both the warp and weft elements of a base fabric material. The weft tapes are produced with longitudinal zones of weakness which are localised weakened areas extending longitudinally in each weft tape before the tape is woven into the base fabric material. After weaving these weft tapes with longitudinally extendable warp tapes the woven fabric material is heated to a temperature which the synthetic resinous material becomes softened, and is tensioned in the warp direction to stretch the fabric in the warp direction to approximately twice its original length.

[0003] As the heated warp tapes are stretched and extend longitudinally they interact on the weft tapes with which they are in frictional contact so that the weft tapes tend to split, either continuously or intermittently, along the weakened areas or zones into strips which are pulled apart. When the degree of stretch of the warp tape is sufficient, each longitudinally weakened weft tape splits into a series of narrow strips so that the number of weft tapes in the fabric is multiplied. On subsequent cooling of the stretched fabric under tension, the warp tapes bond to the subdivided weft tapes at the intersections to give a final product which is a stretched fabric with a high degree of dimensional stability.

[0004] Instead of providing continuous longitudinally extending localised weakened areas, for example continuous grooves extending longitudinally in the weft tape, the method according to the present invention provides for the formation of discontinuous longitudinally extending localised weakened areas in each weft tape.

[0005] The discontinuous longitudinally extending localised weakened areas may be arranged in groups of such areas with untreated portions of the tape between each group. Alternatively the discontinuous longitudinally extending localised weakened areas may be staggered so that most, if not all, of the length of the tape has one or more longitudinally extending area of laterally localised weakening within it.

[0006] When a woven fabric with weft tapes having discontinuous longitudinally extending localised weakened areas is heated and stretched under tension in the warp direction, the weft tapes tend to split at these discontinuous weakened areas so that each weft tape is broken down into a series of interconnected strips. The strips are pulled apart from one another by frictional contact with the warp tapes so that each weft tape takes on the appearance of a network, which may be regular or irregular depending on the arrangement of the discontinuous weakened areas in the original weft tape.

[0007] If the degree of stretch of the tape is very high, the splits formed at the discontinuous weakened areas may be propagated lengthwise so that substantial lengths, and possibly the whole length, of the wefttapes are subdivided into separate weft tapes.

[0008] The treatment of the woven fabric formed with weft tapes as described is carried out substantially as described in European Patent Application No. EP-A-70176 and the resulting product has similar advantages to those described for the product of the said co-pending patent application, including greater tenacity of the fabric (in grammes/dtex) in the warp direction, greater area of fabric for a given quantity of material, and good dimensional stability of the fabric when stretching of the fabric is undertaken under conditions permitting bonding of the warp and weft tapes at their intersections.

[0009] Instead of using the tapes with the discontinuous longitudinally extending localised weakened areas as weft tapes, they may be used as warp tapes in a fabric which is stretched transversely instead of longitudinally.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing a fabric material comprising the steps of forming a woven base fabric of warp and weft tapes, stretching the base fabric to stretch longitudinally either the warp or the weft tapes and thereby obtain a stretched fabric having greater area than the original base fabric, characterised in that the other of the warp and weft tapes include discontinuous longitudi- mally extending zones of weakness and that, during stretching, at least some of the other tapes split at the zones of weakness.

2. A method according to Claim 1, characterised in that the weft tapes include discontinuous longitudinally extending localised weakened areas.

Ansprüche

1. Verfahren zum Herstellen eines Gewebes, enthaltend folgende Schritte: Ausbilden eines Grundgewebes aus Kett- und Schußbändern, Dehnen des Grundgewebes, um entweder die Kettbänder oder die Schußbänder in Längsrichtung zu dehnen und dadurch ein gedehntes Gewebe zu erhalten, das eine größere Fläche als das ursprüngliche Grundgewebe hat, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die Schußbander bzw. die Kettbänder diskontinuierliche, sich in Längsrichtung erstreckende geschwächte Zonen enthält und daß während des Dehnens wenigstens einige dieser Bänder an den geschwächten Zonen aufspalten.

2. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die Schußbänder diskontinuierliche, sich in Längrichtung erstrekkende, begrenzte, geschwächte Bereiche aufweisen.

Revendications

1. Procédé de fabrication d'un article textile comprenant les étapes de former un article textile de base tissé de rubans de chaîne et de trame, étirer l'article textile de base pour étirer longitudinalement soit les rubans de chaîne, soit les rubans de trame et, ainsi, obtenir un article textile étiré ayant une surface plus grande que l'article textile de base d'origine, caractérisé en ce que les autres des rubans de chaîne et de trame comportent des zones s'étendant longitudinalement discontinues d'affaiblissement et en ce que, pendant l'étirage, au moins quelques uns des autres rubans se déchirent dans les zones d'affaiblissement.

2. Procédé selon la revendication 1, caractérisé en ce que les rubans de trame comportent des zones affaiblies localisées s'étendant longitudinalement discontinues.