1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the papermaking arts. More specifically, the present invention relates to fabrics, such as forming fabrics, for use with a paper making machine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
During the papermaking process, a cellulosic fibrous web is formed by depositing a fibrous slurry, that is, an aqueous dispersion of cellulose fibers, onto a moving forming fabric in the forming section of a paper machine. A large amount of water is drained from the slurry through the forming fabric, leaving the cellulosic fibrous web on the surface of the forming fabric.
The newly formed cellulosic fibrous web proceeds from the forming section to a press section, which includes a series of press nips. The cellulosic fibrous web passes through the press nips supported by a press fabric, or, as is often the case, between two such press fabrics. In the press nips, the cellulosic fibrous web is subjected to compressive forces which squeeze water therefrom, and which adhere the cellulosic fibers in the web to one another to turn the cellulosic fibrous web into a paper sheet. The water is accepted by the press fabric or fabrics and, ideally, does not return to the paper sheet.
It should be appreciated that the forming, press and dryer fabrics all take the form of endless loops on the paper machine and function in the manner of conveyors. It should further be appreciated that paper manufacture is a continuous process which proceeds at considerable speeds. That is to say, the fibrous slurry is continuously deposited onto the forming fabric in the forming section, while a newly manufactured paper sheet is continuously wound onto rolls after it exits from the dryer section.
Press fabrics also participate in the finishing of the surface of the paper sheet. That is, press fabrics are designed to have smooth surfaces and uniformly resilient structures, so that, in the course of passing through the press nips, a smooth, mark-free surface is imparted to the paper.
Press fabrics accept the large quantities of water extracted from the wet paper in the press nip. In order to fill this function, there literally must be space, commonly referred to as void volume, within the press fabric for the water to go, and the fabric must have adequate permeability to water for its entire useful life. Finally, press fabrics must be able to prevent the water accepted from the wet paper from returning to and rewetting the paper upon exit from the press nip.
The paper sheet finally proceeds to a dryer section, which includes at least one series of rotatable dryer drums or cylinders, which are internally heated by steam. The newly formed paper sheet is directed in a serpentine path sequentially around each in the series of drums by a dryer fabric, which holds the paper sheet closely against the surfaces of the drums. The heated drums reduce the water content of the paper sheet to a desirable level through evaporation.
Woven fabrics take many different forms. For example, they may be woven endless, or flat woven and subsequently rendered into endless form with a seam.
The present invention relates specifically to the forming fabrics used in the forming section. Forming fabrics play a critical role during the paper manufacturing process. One of its functions, as implied above, is to form and convey the paper product being manufactured to the press section.
However, forming fabrics also need to address water removal and sheet formation issues. That is, forming fabrics are designed to allow water to pass through (i.e. control the rate of drainage) while at the same time prevent fiber and other solids from passing through with the water. If drainage occurs too rapidly or too slowly, the sheet quality and machine efficiency suffers. To control drainage, the space within the forming fabric for the water to drain, commonly referred to as void volume, must be properly designed.
Contemporary forming fabrics are produced in a wide variety of styles designed to meet the requirements of the paper machines on which they are installed for the paper grades being manufactured. Generally, they comprise a base fabric woven from monofilament and may be single-layered or multi-layered. The yarns are typically extruded from any one of several synthetic polymeric resins, such as polyamide and polyester resins, used for this purpose by those of ordinary skill in the paper machine clothing arts.
The design of forming fabrics additionally involves a compromise between the desired fiber support and fabric stability. A fine mesh fabric may provide the desired paper surface and fiber support properties, but such design may lack the desired stability resulting in a short fabric life. By contrast, coarse mesh fabrics provide stability and long life at the expense of fiber support and the potential for marking. To minimize the design tradeoff and optimize both support and stability, multi-layer fabrics were developed. For example, in double and triple layer fabrics, the forming side is designed for sheet and fiber support while the wear side is designed for stability, void volume, and wear resistance.
Both double layer and triple layer fabrics are commonly used within the paper industry. A typical double layer fabric comprises a set of forming weft yarns (shutes) and a set of wear weft yarns interwoven by a set of warp yarns. Whereas, triple layer fabrics essentially consist of two fabrics, the forming layer and the wear layer, held together by binding yarns. For either type of fabric, the binding is extremely important to the overall integrity of the fabric. One problem with multi-layer fabrics has been relative slippage between the layers which breaks down the fabric over time. In addition, the binding yarns can disrupt the structure of the forming layer resulting in marking of the paper.
Multi-layer fabrics often incorporate a “paired binder yarn” concept in which two binder yarns act together (i.e. as a pair) to effectively weave one unbroken contour in the top surface of the fabric. References describing fabrics with paired binder yarns include U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,195 (the “Ward” patent), U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,627 (the “Seabrook” patent), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,501,303 (the “Osterberg” patent).
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that fabrics are created by weaving, and have a weave pattern which repeats in both the warp or machine direction (MD) and the weft or cross-machine direction (CD).
Multi-layer fabrics, such as triple layer fabrics, may have unacceptable resistance to internal abrasion and/or the weave may loosen (i.e. the yarns may slide from their original positions within the pattern) during use. The present invention provides a fabric which overcomes such disadvantages.