Prodn. of highly absorbent fibrous web - by forming gel of solvent and chemically modified cellulose, removing unbound solvent, spraying to separate fibre and forming web

摘要

A highly absorbent fibrous web is made by (a) mixing chemically-treated cellulosic fibres with a solvent to form a fibre gel mixture; (b) removing unbound solvent from the gel to the extent that the amt. remaining is with 5 g/g fibre of the fibre (c) satn. pt. spraying the mixture in an air stream onto a moving carrier and drying the web on the carrier. The spraying acts to dry the mixture sufficiently to separate it into discrete fibres. The softness weight etc. of the web can be controlled by altering the various spraying parameters, e.g. air stream velocity, and directing the rate of movement of the carrier. The chemically-treated cellulose must be (i) cellulose that has been chemically substituted, etherified or esterified (and opt. crosslinked) or (ii) cellulose that has been grafted without dissolving the fibres to the extent that they are not identifiable.