Process of making a woven fabric for vehicle airbags

摘要

Disclosed herein is the preparation of woven fabrics suitable for use in manufacturing vehicle airbags. Such fabrics are woven from a plurality of polymeric, e.g., polyamide, warp and weft tapes which have preferably been slitted, preferably in the machine direction, from a thermoplastic polymer film, and preferably from such a film which has been drawn at least in the machine direction. The resulting fabrics exhibit both the relatively low basis weight, stiffness and small packing volume typical of nylon films, and the relatively high tear strength and high damage tolerance of yarn-based woven airbag fabrics.

主权项

1. A process for preparing a slit film-based woven fabric suitable for use in manufacturing vehicle airbags, said process comprising:
A) providing a thermoplastic polymeric film having a machine direction and a caliper of from about 80 to about 240 microns; B) drawing said film at least in the machine direction using a draw ratio of from about 2to about 6; C) slitting said drawn film in the machine direction to form a plurality of thermoplastic polymer tapes each having a width of from about 3 to about 15 mm and a tensile strength of at least about 200 MPa; and D) utilizing said plurality of thermoplastic polymer tapes as both warp and weft tapes to weave a fabric therefrom, said fabric having a basis weight of from about 40 grams/m2 to about 140 grams/m2, characterized in that said thermoplastic polymeric film comprises a polyamide film.