JP7331725B2 - WEB COMPRESSION METHOD AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING VEHICLE INTERIOR MATERIAL - Google Patents

Description

The present invention provides a web compression method for producing a fiber board by compressing a web containing vegetable fibers and thermoplastic resin fibers, and a vehicle interior material for producing a fiber board provided in the vehicle interior material by the web compression method. related to the manufacturing method of More specifically, a web compression method capable of producing a fiber board from a web without mechanical entangling such as needle punching, and a vehicle for producing a fiber board provided in a vehicle interior material by the web compression method The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an interior material.

BACKGROUND ART In recent years, in consideration of environmental problems, fiber boards using fiber composites containing vegetable fibers such as kenaf and thermoplastic resins have been used as interior materials for vehicles such as door trims.
As shown in FIG. 8, this fiber board is produced by forming a mixture 17 of vegetable fibers and thermoplastic resin fibers into a web 15, compressing the web 15, and performing a mechanical entanglement process such as a needle punch 7 to obtain an entangled material 18. Then, a part of the thermoplastic resin fiber is melted by the heat treatment device 8 to fix the vegetable fiber and the thermoplastic resin fiber, thereby obtaining the fiber board 19 . (See, for example, Patent Document 1.).
However, since the entangling process and the heating process require different equipment 7 and 8, respectively, they cannot be performed at the same time, and it is desired to integrate them into one equipment. Moreover, the metal needles used for the needle punch 7 may break and be mixed into the web. Since a web containing needle fragments cannot be used as a product, it was necessary to provide at least one metal detector 9 and further increase the number of steps. For example, in the process shown in FIG. 8, metal detectors 9 are installed before and after the heat treatment device 8 to detect metal.
In addition, since the vegetable fiber is strong, the needles are frequently worn, the needles are frequently replaced, the consumption of the needles is large, and the production is frequently interrupted due to the replacement of the needles. Furthermore, since the vegetable fibers are damaged by the needles and their strength decreases, it was necessary to prepare the web in anticipation of this decrease in strength.

As a fixing means different from other heating means for fixing fibers by heating and melting, a method of blowing a high-pressure water jet onto the web is known. It was not suitable for manufacturing because it had to be dried in the air.

On the other hand, ultrasonic vibration welding is known. Vibration welding has been used for face-to-face welding, and has been unable to bond the fibers when the fibers are simply stacked and welded to very large voids, such as webs. For example, in Patent Document 2, the fibers are dispersed by irradiating the web with ultrasonic waves, but a conventional bonding method such as a needle is used as a method for fixing the fibers.

JP 2019-70213 A JP-A-08-325930

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and provides a web compression method capable of producing a fiber board from a web without mechanical entangling such as needle punching, and a fiber included in a vehicle interior material. An object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing an interior material for a vehicle in which a board is manufactured by the web compression method.

In order to solve the problem, the invention according to claim 1 provides a web forming step of forming a web containing vegetable fibers and thermoplastic resin fibers, and pressing the web in the thickness direction to form a web compression. a web compression step to obtain, and while pressing a vibrating roller vibrated by ultrasonic waves against the web compression in the thickness direction, part of the thermoplastic resin fibers is melted to combine the vegetable fibers and the thermoplastic resin fibers. and a fiber fixing step of fixing to obtain a fiber board.
The gist of the invention according to claim 2 is that in the invention according to claim 1, the melting in the fiber fixing step is performed in a pressurized state.
The invention according to claim 3 is based on the invention according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the web compression step is performed by a pressing roller arranged in parallel with the vibrating roller, and the vibrating rollers are spaced apart in the width direction of the web. The gist is that one row is configured with a space between and one or more rows of the rows are arranged.
The invention according to claim 4 is the invention according to claim 3, wherein the vibrating rollers are arranged in two or more rows at intervals in the width direction of the web, and the vibrating rollers in each row The gist is that the position of the web in the width direction is positioned above the gap between the vibrating rollers of the other row.
A method for manufacturing an interior material for a vehicle, which is the invention according to claim 5, is a method for manufacturing an interior material for a vehicle comprising a fiber board containing vegetable fibers and thermoplastic resin fibers, The gist is provided with a heating forming step of heating the fiber board produced by the web compression method described in (1) and forming it into the shape of an interior material for a vehicle.

The present invention comprises a web forming step of forming a web containing vegetable fibers and thermoplastic resin fibers, a web compressing step of compressing the web in the thickness direction to obtain a web compression, and applying ultrasonic waves to the web compression. a fiber fixing step of melting a part of the thermoplastic resin fibers and fixing the vegetable fibers and the thermoplastic resin fibers to obtain a fiber board while pressing a vibrating roller vibrating with the By sequentially providing the fibers, a fiber board can be produced without mechanically interlacing the fibers.
Since the web formed in the web forming process has large gaps between fibers, the web is compressed in the web compression process, and then the thermoplastic resin fibers and other fibers are pressed in the thickness direction in the welding process. The fibers are brought into contact with each other and rubbed against each other to partially melt the thermoplastic resin fibers, and the melt can fix the vegetable fibers and other plastic resin fibers. In addition, since vegetable fibers that do not melt in this process are scattered in the web, the vegetable fibers maintain the shape of the compressed web, and even if some of the thermoplastic resin fibers are melted and softened, the web can not be compressed. It is possible to prevent a situation in which the shape of an object is lost, the thermoplastic resin fibers cannot be melted, and the fibers cannot be fixed.
In addition, by using a vibrating roller that vibrates with ultrasonic waves, even if the web compression product obtained by the web compression process gradually restores its shape and increases in thickness, it is gradually recompressed with the rotation of the roller and vibrates. The fibers are brought into close contact with each other and easily rubbed against each other, so that the thermoplastic resin fibers can be fixed by the molten material. Furthermore, compared to mechanical fiber entangling processing such as needle punching, there is no need to provide separate manufacturing equipment for fixing (entanglement) and fixing, and it is possible to combine them into one equipment and handle the compressed web. can be reduced. In addition, the operation noise during fixing is small, and equipment required for noise countermeasures can be reduced in size or eliminated.

When the melting in the fiber fixing step is performed in a pressurized state, by compressing in the thickness direction, the gaps between the fibers can be reduced and the fibers can be rubbed together, and the fibers can be bonded more firmly. can be dressed.
The web compression step is performed by a pressing roller arranged in parallel with the vibrating roller, and the vibrating rollers are arranged in one row at intervals in the width direction of the web, and one or more rows are arranged. If so, suitable sized vibrating rollers as resonators can be placed at non-intrusive intervals to bond the fibers across the width of the web. In addition, since the fibers are not fixed by the vibrating rollers in one row in the entire width direction of the web, even if there is an unfixed area that is not fixed, the non-fixed area can be fixed by the vibrating rollers in the back row. By repeating this more than once, the entire width of the web can be fixed. Even if there is an unfixed region where no fiber is fixed, the fiber fixed by the adjacent fixed region extends into the unfixed region, so the fiber can be held to such an extent that it does not fall off easily.

The vibrating rollers are arranged in two or more rows at intervals in the width direction of the web. When positioned above the gap, by sequentially changing the portion to be fixed in the width direction of the web, it is possible to eliminate or reduce the unfixed portion in the width direction of the web.
A method for producing a vehicle interior material comprising a fiber board containing vegetable fibers and thermoplastic resin fibers, wherein the fiber board produced by the web compression method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 is heated, Moreover, according to the manufacturing method of the vehicle interior material including the heat forming step of forming the shape of the vehicle interior material, it is possible to use a fiber board that is free from contamination with foreign matter due to mechanical entangling such as needle punching. It is possible to eliminate the need to check for the presence or absence of foreign matter. In addition, before the heat forming process, the fiber board (1) can be easily handled, for example, by rolling it into a roll, and after the heat forming process, the necessary strength as a product can be obtained.

The present invention will be further described in the following detailed description by way of non-limiting examples of exemplary embodiments according to the invention and with reference to the mentioned drawings, wherein like reference numerals indicate Similar parts are shown throughout the several figures.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a schematic diagram explaining the outline of the web compression method of this invention. It is a schematic diagram explaining arrangement|positioning of each roller in the web compression process of this invention, and a fiber fixing process. It is a schematic diagram explaining arrangement|positioning of each roller in the web compression process of this invention, and a fiber fixing process. It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the web obtained by the web formation process of this invention. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a fiber board obtained in the fiber fixing step of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 5; It is a schematic diagram explaining the heat forming process of this invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a schematic diagram explaining the outline of the manufacturing method of the fiber board by mechanical fiber entanglement processing.

The material presented herein is intended to be exemplary and illustrative of the embodiments of the invention and is believed to be the most effective and readily comprehensible description of the principles and conceptual features of the invention. It is stated for the purpose of providing what it seems. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the invention beyond those necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention, and the description in conjunction with the drawings will illustrate some aspects of the invention. It will be clear to those skilled in the art how it is actually implemented.

The web compression method according to the present embodiment comprises a web forming step of forming a web (15) containing vegetable fibers (11) and thermoplastic resin fibers (12), and pressing the web (15) in the thickness direction. A web compression step to obtain a web compression (16), and a portion of the thermoplastic resin fibers (12) while pressing a vibrating roller (41) that vibrates with ultrasonic waves against the web compression (16) in the thickness direction. and a fiber fixing step of melting and fixing the plant fibers (11) and the thermoplastic resin fibers (12) to obtain the fiber board (1).

(1) Web Forming Process The vegetable fibers 11 used in the web forming process are plant-derived fibers that do not melt in the fiber fixing process. The vegetable fibers include kenaf, jute hemp, manila hemp, sisal hemp, ganpi, mitsumata, mulberry, banana, pineapple, coconut palm, corn, sugar cane, bagasse, palm, papyrus, reed, esparto, sabaigrass, flax, Vegetable fibers obtained from various plants such as hemp, wheat, rice, bamboo, various conifers (such as cedar and cypress), broad-leaved trees, and cotton.
These vegetable fibers may be used alone or in combination of two or more. Among these, kenaf (that is, kenaf fiber as vegetable fiber) is preferable. This is because kenaf is an annual plant that grows extremely fast and has excellent carbon dioxide absorption properties, so that it can contribute to the reduction of the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the effective use of forest resources, and the like. In addition, the part of the plant body used as the vegetable fiber is not particularly limited, and may be any part of the plant body, such as the woody part, the non-woody part, the leaf part, the stem part and the root part. Furthermore, only a specific site may be used, or two or more different sites may be used in combination.

The kenaf is a plant that has a woody stem and is classified into the Malvaceae family. Kenaf includes scientific names such as hibiscus cannabinus and hibiscus sabdariffa, and common names such as satin, cuban kenaf, hemp, tykenaf, mesta, vimli, ambari hemp and bombay hemp.
Also, the jute is a fiber obtained from jute hemp. This jute hemp is intended to include jute (Corchorus capsularis L.) and hemp and plants of the linden family including tuna (tunaso), striped hemp and mulukhiya.

The shape of the vegetable fiber 11 may be linear, curved, spiral, or the like. Moreover, the fibers having these shapes may be used alone or in combination.
The fiber length of the vegetable fiber 11 is usually 10 mm or more. When the fiber length is 10 mm or more, the fiber board 1 having higher strength (bending strength, bending elastic modulus, etc., the same shall apply hereinafter) can be produced. The fiber length is preferably 10 to 150 mm, more preferably 20 to 100 mm, still more preferably 30 to 80 mm. Also, the fiber diameter is usually 1 mm or less, preferably 0.01 to 1 mm, more preferably 0.05 to 0.7 mm, still more preferably 0.07 to 0.5 mm. When the fiber diameter is within the above range, the fiber board 1 having particularly high strength can be obtained.

Further, the thermoplastic resin fibers 12 used in the web forming process are fibers made only of a thermoplastic resin, or thermoplastic resins and additives (antioxidants, plasticizers, antistatic agents, flame retardants, antibacterial agents, It is a fiber made of a mixture of antifungal agents, coloring agents, etc.).
The thermoplastic resin is not particularly limited, but polyolefins such as polypropylene, polyethylene, and ethylene/propylene random copolymers; aliphatic polyester resins such as polylactic acid, polycaprolactone, and polybutylene succinate, polyethylene terephthalate, and polytrimethylene. Polyester resins such as aromatic polyester resins such as terephthalate and polybutylene terephthalate; polystyrene; acrylic resins obtained using methacrylates, acrylates, etc.; polyamide resins; polycarbonate resins; The resin may be a modified resin to increase its affinity for the surface of vegetable fibers. Only one kind of the resin may be used, or two or more kinds thereof may be used in combination.
Among the thermoplastic resins, polyolefin and polyester resins are preferred, and polyolefin is more preferred.

The shape of the thermoplastic resin fiber 12 may be straight, curved, spiral, or the like. Moreover, the fibers having these shapes may be used alone or in combination.

In the web forming step, a web 15 is formed from a mixed fiber consisting of vegetable fibers 11 and thermoplastic resin fibers 12 mixed in a predetermined ratio in advance (see FIGS. 2 and 4). The formation of this web includes a dry method such as an air lay method and a card method. This is because the drying process can be made unnecessary by using the dry method. Among the dry methods, the air lay method is particularly preferred. The air-lay method is a method in which the unraveled mixed fibers are dispersed and projected onto, for example, the surface of a conveyer by an air flow to form a fiber sheet, ie, a web, on the surface of the conveyer.

In the web forming step, the proportions of the vegetable fibers and thermoplastic resin fibers used are not particularly limited. The preferred ratio of vegetable fibers and thermoplastic resin fibers is preferably 10 to 95% by mass, more preferably 20 to 90% by mass, and still more preferably 30% by mass, when the total of both is 100% by mass. ~80% by mass. The reinforcing effect of the fiber board 1 can be improved by setting the proportion of the vegetable fiber within the above range.

The basis weight of the web formed in the web forming step is not particularly limited, but preferably 200 to 2,500 g/m ² , more preferably 800 to 1,500 g/m ² . Also, the thickness of the web is preferably 80-300 mm, more preferably 100-200 mm.

(2) Web Compression Process The means for compressing the web 15 in the web compression process is not particularly limited. Compression by the pressing rollers 31 is performed by passing the web 15 between two pressing rollers 31 arranged one above the other, as illustrated in FIG. Each pressing roller 31 is a roller having the width of the web 15 and is generally axially grooved along its circumference. It is also pressed by the air cylinder 32 . The pressurization conditions can be arbitrarily selected, and can be, for example, 0.5 to 10 kg/cm ² . The thickness of the web compact 16 obtained by the web compaction process is preferably 5-30 mm, more preferably 8-15 mm.
Since the fibers of the compressed web 16 have not yet adhered to each other, the thickness of the compressed web 16 is restored to the original thickness of the web 15 with the lapse of time. For this reason, the web compression step is provided immediately before the fiber fixing step. In addition, when the fiber fixing process is performed in a plurality of times (when the vibrating rollers 41 are provided in a plurality of rows), the web compression process can be provided immediately before each fiber fixing process. This is because the web in the unbonded region can be recompressed and the thickness of the manufactured fiber board 1 can be made uniform.
Furthermore, the web compression process is not limited to producing the web compression product 16 only by compression by the pressing roller 31, and other compression means may be used in combination. For example, a belt 33 (see, for example, FIGS. 1 and 2) or a pressing means such as a spatula may be provided in front of the pressing roller 31 to press the web 15 to an arbitrary thickness that can be pressed by the pressing roller 31 .

(3) Fiber Fixing Process The vibrating roller 41 used in the fiber fixing process is connected to an arbitrary ultrasonic wave supply means 42 and vibrates by ultrasonic waves. The vibrating roller 41 is pressed against the compressed web 16 in its thickness direction, and melts part of the thermoplastic resin fibers 12 of the compressed web 16 to fix the vegetable fibers 11 and the thermoplastic resin fibers 12 together. can be done. That is, the fixing between the thermoplastic resin fibers 12 and the vegetable fibers 11 and the fixing between the thermoplastic resin fibers 12 and other thermoplastic resin fibers 12 are performed.
Examples of the ultrasonic wave supply means 42 include a combination of an ultrasonic oscillator, an ultrasonic transducer, a booster, a resonator (also called a horn), and the like. The conditions for pressing against the compressed web 16 can be arbitrarily selected, but can be, for example, a frequency of 15 to 20 kHz and a pressure of 0.1 to 10 kg/cm ² . The width of the vibrating roller 41 (in the width direction of the web) is appropriately selected according to the wavelength and output of the ultrasonic waves to be used, but is usually much shorter than the width of the web. For this reason, it is preferable to arrange them so as to form one row with intervals in the width direction of the web. By providing a space, it is possible to prevent the adjacent vibrating rollers 41 from vibrating abnormally due to interference of ultrasonic waves. The interval at which the vibrating rollers 41 are provided is appropriately selected, but is usually about the width of the vibrating rollers 41 .
In addition, the vibrating rollers 41 may be provided in two or more rows, and the vibrating rollers 41 in each row may be positioned above the gap between the vibrating rollers 41 in the other row in the width direction of the web. can. By sequentially changing the portions to be fixed in the width direction of the web, unfixed portions in the width direction of the web can be eliminated or reduced.
On the other hand, when a fiber board is produced in which an unfixed region is left in which no fixation is performed in the width direction of the web, or an unfixed region in which the fixation is performed under a weaker condition than other parts is produced, the web remains soft. It becomes easy to absorb noise and vibration, and a fiber board with high so-called NV performance can be obtained. In such a fiber board, the strength of the non-fixed regions is reduced, but since the fibers fixed by the adjacent fixed regions extend into the non-fixed regions, the fibers can be held to such an extent that they do not fall off easily. .

(4) Fiber Board Cross-sectional views of the fiber board (1) produced by this web compression method are shown in FIGS. The fiber board (1) is a fiber composite containing vegetable fibers (11) and thermoplastic resin fibers (12), and the entangled portion of the vegetable fibers (11) is a melt ( 13).
The basis weight of the manufactured fiber board (1) is not particularly limited, but is preferably 800 to 1,500 g/m ² . Also, the thickness is 1 to 10 mm. Furthermore, the maximum bending load is 15-45N. Also, the bending elastic gradient is 50 to 100 N/cm.

(5) Vehicle interior material and its manufacturing method The vehicle interior material comprising the fiber board (1) is not particularly limited, and for example, for automobiles, door base materials, package trays, pillar garnishes, switch bases, quarter panels, Core materials for armrests, door trims, seat structural materials, console boxes, dashboards, various instrument panels, deck trims, bumpers, spoilers, cowlings, etc.
The fiber board (1) used for the vehicle interior material is further heat-treated to further increase the melt (13) of the thermoplastic resin fibers (12) to obtain the vegetable fibers (11) and the thermoplastic resin fibers (12). may be provided with a reheating step for further fixing. Furthermore, by providing a reheating step, before the reheating step, the plant fibers (11) and the thermoplastic resin fibers (12) have few points where they are bonded by the melt (13), so that the flexibility is high and the fibers can be rounded. The fiber board (1) is easy to handle, such as being able to be rolled by pressing, and after the reheating process, the strength required as a product can be obtained by increasing the points bonded by the melt (13). . In addition, a heat forming step is performed in which the heating step and the forming step of forming into a predetermined shape are performed at the same time, thereby facilitating handling of the fiber board (1) before the heat forming step and shortening the entire manufacturing process. can be done. As a means for performing such a heat forming step at the same time, hot press molding can be exemplified. Furthermore, in the heat-forming process, parts such as bosses that regulate changes in the distance from the vehicle body and ribs that reinforce strength are placed on the fiber board (1) and fixed to the fiber board (1) at the same time as heat-forming. You may
The basis weight of the fiber board that has undergone the reheating step or the heat forming step is not particularly limited, but is preferably 800 to 1,500 g/m ² . Also, the thickness is 1 to 10 mm. Furthermore, the maximum bending load is 15-45N. Also, the bending elastic gradient is 50 to 100 N/cm.

In addition, the fiber board (1) is widely used not only as an interior material for automobiles, but also in any vehicle-related field, ship-related field, aircraft-related field, construction-related field, and the like. The fiber composite of the present invention is suitable for interior materials, exterior materials, structural materials, etc. in the above fields.
In the ship-related field and the aircraft-related field, core materials for armrests, seat structural materials, console boxes, dashboards, various instrument panels, and the like can be mentioned.
In the construction-related field, for furniture, covering materials and structural materials for desks, chairs, shelves, chests of drawers, etc., and for housing, door covering materials, door structural materials, and the like can be mentioned.
In addition, it can also be used as a package, container (tray or the like), protective member, partition member, and the like.

An embodiment of the web compression method of the present invention will now be described.
In this web compression method, kenaf fibers with an average diameter of 0.09 mm and an average fiber length of 65 mm are used as the vegetable fibers 11, and polypropylene fibers with an average diameter of 0.02 mm and an average fiber length of 50 mm are used as the thermoplastic resin fibers 12. Using. Each fiber length of the vegetable fiber and thermoplastic resin fiber is determined by randomly taking out single fibers one by one by a direct method in accordance with JIS L1015, measuring the fiber length on a set ruler, and measuring a total of 200 fibers. is the average value measured for

(Web forming process)
First, as shown in FIG. 1, a mixed fiber 14 composed of vegetable fibers 11 and thermoplastic resin fibers 12 mixed at a mass ratio of 50:50 is subjected to vibration from a storage means 20 as necessary. The mixed fibers 14 are unraveled and supplied to the air laying device 21 . The mixed fibers 14 are then each formed into a web 15 on the surface of a transport conveyor 22 by an air laying device 21 .

(First web compression step)
Next, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the web 15 flowing on the surface of the transport conveyor 22 is pressed by the belt 33 to a constant thickness, and then is stretched between the first set 3a of the pressing rollers 31. A web compact 16 that is passed through and pressed to the thickness of the fiber board 1 is obtained.

(First fiber fixing step)
Thereafter, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the compressed web 16 is passed between a set 4a of a first row vibrating roller 41 vibrated by ultrasonic waves and a pressure roller 31, and heated by ultrasonic waves under pressure. A part of the plastic resin fiber 12 is melted to fix the vegetable fiber 11 and the thermoplastic resin fiber 12 together. The vibrating rollers 41 are arranged in a line with the same interval as the width thereof. For this reason, the compressed web 16 that has passed through the set 4a of the vibrating rollers 41 in the first row passes through the vibrating rollers 41 and has a fixed region 51 to which the vegetable fibers 11 and the thermoplastic resin fibers 12 are fixed, and a pressing roller. Non-fixed areas 52 that are not fixed because they have passed through the gaps between 31 alternately appear at equal intervals in the width direction of the web.

(Second web compression step)
The web compaction 16 is then passed between the second set 3b of pressure rollers 31 and pressed to compress the unbonded areas 52 of the web compaction 16 to the thickness of the fiber board 1 again.

(Second fiber fixing step)
After that, the compressed web 16 is passed between the set 4b of the vibrating roller 41 and the pressing roller 31 in the second row. The vibrating rollers 41 of set 4b are spaced in a single row so as to be positioned over the unbonded areas 52 of the web compaction 16, and the thermoplastic resin fibers 12 of the unbonded areas 52 of the web compaction 16 are displaced. Part of it was melted to fix the plant fibers 11 and the thermoplastic resin fibers 12 .
As a result, a fiber board 1 was obtained in which the entire area of the web compression 16 was the fixed area 51 .

(fiber board)
The obtained fiber board 1 had a board thickness of 3 mm, a basis weight of 1000 g/m ³ , a maximum bending load of 30 N, and a bending elastic gradient of 65 N/cm.
As a comparative example, when each step was performed without supplying ultrasonic waves to the vibrating roller 41, the thickness of the obtained fiber board increased with the passage of time and became substantially the same thickness as the web 15 before compression. . It was also found that when the fiber board was lifted, the vegetable fibers 11 and the thermoplastic resin fibers 12 were easily dropped, and the fibers were not entangled.

(heat forming step)
Next, a heat forming step was performed to form the produced fiber board 1 into the shape of an interior material for a vehicle. In the heat forming process, as shown in FIG. 7, after parts such as bosses of the vehicle interior material are placed on the fiber board 1 (not shown), they are heated by a heating press 6 and formed into the shape of the vehicle interior material. Then, a vehicle interior material 10 was obtained.
The fiber board constituting the vehicle interior material 10 had a board thickness of 3 mm, a basis weight of 1000 g/m ³ , a maximum bending load of 30 N, and a bending elastic gradient of 65 N/cm.

The foregoing description is for illustrative purposes only and is not to be construed as limiting the invention. While the present invention has been described in terms of exemplary embodiments, it is understood that the words used in describing and illustrating the invention are words of description and illustration, rather than words of limitation. Changes may be made within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention in its form, as detailed herein. Although reference has been made herein to specific structures, materials and embodiments in describing the invention, it is not intended that the invention be limited to the disclosure herein, but rather the invention as set forth in the appended claims. It covers all functionally equivalent structures, methods and uses within its scope.

The web compression method of the present invention is widely used in vehicle interior materials, vehicle-related fields, ship-related fields, aircraft-related fields, construction-related fields, and the like. The fiber composite of the present invention is suitable for interior materials, exterior materials, structural materials, etc. in the above fields.
In the vehicle-related fields such as automobiles, door base materials, pillar garnishes, switch bases, quarter panels, core materials for armrests, door trims, seat structural materials, console boxes, dashboards, various instrument panels, deck trims, bumpers, spoilers, etc. Cowling etc. are mentioned.
Ship-related fields and aircraft-related fields include package trays, core materials for armrests, seat structural materials, console boxes, dashboards and various instrument panels.
In the construction-related field, for furniture, covering materials and structural materials for desks, chairs, shelves, chests of drawers, etc., and for housing, door covering materials and door structural materials are exemplified.
In addition, it can also be used as a package, container (tray or the like), protective member, partition member, and the like.

1; fiber board, 10; vehicle interior material, 11; vegetable fiber, 12; thermoplastic resin fiber, 15; web, 16;
21; air array device, 22; transport conveyor,
31; pressing roller, 32; air cylinder, 33; belt,
41; vibrating roller; 42; ultrasonic wave supply means;
51; fixed area, 52; unfixed area,
6; heating press, 7; needle punch, 8; heat treatment device, 9; metal detector.

Claims (5)

a web forming step of forming a web containing vegetable fibers and thermoplastic resin fibers;
a web compression step of compressing the web in the thickness direction to obtain a web compression;
While pressing a vibrating roller that vibrates with ultrasonic waves against the compressed web in the thickness direction, part of the thermoplastic resin fibers is melted to fix the vegetable fibers and the thermoplastic resin fibers to form a fiber board. and a fiber fixing step of obtaining a web. 2. The web compression method according to claim 1, wherein said melting in said fiber fixing step is performed under pressure. The web compression step is performed by a pressing roller arranged in parallel with the vibrating roller,
3. The method of compressing a web according to claim 1, wherein the vibrating rollers are arranged in one row at intervals in the width direction of the web, and one or more rows of the vibrating rollers are arranged. The vibrating rollers are arranged in two or more rows at intervals in the width direction of the web,
4. The web compression method according to claim 3, wherein the vibrating rollers in each row are positioned in the width direction of the web above the gap between the vibrating rollers in other rows. A method for producing a vehicle interior material comprising a fiber board containing vegetable fibers and thermoplastic resin fibers, wherein the fiber board produced by the web compression method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 is heated, and a method of manufacturing an interior material for a vehicle, comprising a heat forming step of forming the shape of the interior material for a vehicle.

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