System and method for the construction of bound fibrous mats

摘要

Disclosed is a system and method for constructing fibrous mats. In accordance with the disclosure, continuous lengths of filament are pre-coated with a liquefied thermoplastic. The pre-coated filaments are then laid down upon a belt to form a fibrous mat. The filaments can be laid down in continuous lengths or they can be chopped into discontinuous lengths. The filaments are heated after they have been laid down in order to re-liquefy the thermoplastic and facilitate bonding between intersecting fibers. The disclosure further relates to a system and method for incorporating constructed fibrous mats into a composite building board.

主权项

1. A method of manufacturing a composite building board including one or more fibrous mats, the method comprising:
providing a plurality of spools, each of the plurality of spools including a continuous length of an individual filament, each individual filament being pre-coated with a hot melt thermoplastic; unwinding each of the spools to lay down each individual filament in a randomized pattern upon a forming table, the randomized pattern including a plurality of intersections defined by two or more intersecting filaments; heating the randomized pattern of filaments upon the forming table to a temperature of between approximately 100° F. to 1000° F., the heat melting the hot melt thermoplastic pre-coating upon each length of filament; cooling the randomized pattern of filaments to an ambient temperature, the heating and cooling resulting in the bonding of the filament intersections and the creation of a first fibrous mat; depositing a gypsum slurry upon the fibrous mat, the deposited gypsum slurry forming the core of the composite building board; laying down a second fibrous mat overtop of the gypsum core to form a composite panel; delivering the composite panel to a forming station whereby the composite panel is pressed into a uniform thickness.