The transportation industry currently uses moldable materials in a variety of applications which require both thermal and sound insulating performance features.

In a number of applications the primary purpose of these materials is to act as a heat shield to vehicle components or occupants. Examples of heat shielding parts would include vehicle hood liners, firewall barriers, automotive transmission tunnel insulators, etc.. Often a heat shield will have a moldable foam core, a resinated fiberglass core, a resinated cotton shoddy core, or other to give the shield volume and aid in the in absorption of heat and sound. The heat shield may also include a textile shell material enclosing the moldable core. The shell material gives the composite a desired aesthetic appearance and can provide an oil and water impermeable surface.

The present invention uses a blended synthetic fiber core to provide the heat shield with volume and moldability. A blend of common synthetic fibers and fibers of partially oxidized polyacrylonitrile are used to construct a low weight skin that is subsequently attached to the core on one or both sides. The invention has superior molding process performance, superior sound and heat absorptive performance, and the potential to be recycled. All of these benefits were achieved at competitive costs and weight to the existing products.

Brief Description Of The Drawings These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings where: FIG. 1 shows an enlarged cross-section of a one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 shows an enlarged cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the present invention; and,

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a process for forming the moldable heat shield in FIGS. 1 and 2.

Detailed Description Referring now to the figures, and in particular to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown an enlarged cross-sectional view of a moldable heat shield 100 illustrating an embodiment of the present invention. The non-woven textile 100 generally includes a core 130 with a first shell layer 110 and a second shell layer 120. The first and second shell layers 110,120, are from about 5% to about 50% of the total weight of the moldable heat shield 100.

Referring now to FIG. 1, the first and second shell layer 110,120, are a nonwoven material of entangled blend of first shell fibers 111, 121, second shell fibers 112,122, respectively. The first shell fibers 111,121, are staple fibers of partially oxidized polyacrylonitrile (PAN). The second shell fibers 112,122, are synthetic thermoplastic staple fibers. In a preferred embodiment, the second shell fibers 112,122, are polyester. The first shell fibers 111,121, are from about 25% to about 90% of the combined total weight of respective the first or second shell layer 110,120.

In another embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the first and second outer shell layer 110,120, also have an outer zone that the first shell fibers 111, 121, the second shell fibers 112,122, and third shell fibers 113,123 have been fused to form an outer surface layer 115,125, respectively. The third fibers are a synthetic thermoplastic polymer with a lower melting temperature than the second shell fibers 112,122. In a preferred embodiment, the third shell fibers 113,123, are a low melt polyester fiber. In this embodiment, the first fibers 111 can comprise from about 25% to about 90% of the total combined weight of the respective first or second shell layer 110,120, and the third fibers 113,123, can comprise from about 5% to about 40% of the total combined weight of the respective first or second shell layer 110, 120.

Still referring to FIG. 2, the outer surface layers 115,125, can provide water and oil repellency without the use of additional chemistries, such as fluorocarbons.

The fusing of these fibers can commonly be done on a standard hot oil calendar.

Typically the fibers are fused to a point to reduce the air permeability of the skin material to below 50cfm at 125 pascals.

Referring now to FIG. 1 and 2, the core 130 comprises a nonwoven of blended first and second core fibers 131 and 132. The first core fibers 131 are staple fibers of a thermoplastic polymer. In a preferred embodiment first core fibers 131 are polyester of denier 6dpf or greater. In a further preferred embodiment first core fibers 131 are hollow-fill. The relative large denier and hollow-fill characteristics give the heat shield 100 volume and rebound for the molding process. The second core fibers 132 are lower melt temperature thermoplastic fibers, and provide the core 130 with moldable characteristics. The second core fibers 132 are from about 5% to about 40% of the total weight of the core layer 130. The second core fibers 132 can be selected to be the same polymeric material as used in first core fibers 131, with a lower melt temperature. Additionally, in the embodiment in FIG 2, the first core fiber 131 can be chosen such that they are of the same polymeric material as second shell fibers 112,122 ; and that second core fibers 132 are the same as third shell fibers 113 and 123. In this manner, the percent of partially oxidized polyacrylonitrile in the heat shield 100 is maintained at a low weight percent of the entire product, typically less than 10 percent, and the recyclability of the heat shield 100 is improved.

Referring now to FIG 1 and 2, the first and second shell layers 110,120, are connected to the core 130 by the cross-entanglement of fibers from the respective layers. The core layer 130 has a first core layer entanglement zone 137 adjacent to the first shell layer 110, where fibers from the first shell layer 110 entangle with fibers in the core layer 130. The core layer 130 also has a second core layer entanglement zone 138 adjacent to the second shell layer 120, where fibers from the second shell layer 110 entangle with fibers in the core layer 130.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a method for forming the moldable heat shield 100 in FIG. 1 and 2.

In the process illustrated in FIG. 3, the shell layers 110,120 are formed in steps 210 and 220 as a needled nonwoven material with the appropriate blend and weight of fibers. In a preferred embodiment in which the outer surface of the shell materials are calendared, as previously described, the shell layers 110,120, are calendared in steps 215 and 225 at a temperature above the melt temperature of the low melt shell

thermoplastic fibers 113 and 123. In step 230, the core layer 130 is formed as a separate needled nonwoven material, with the appropriate blend and weight of core fibers 131 and 132. The nonwoven material of the shell layers 110,120, are located on opposite surfaces of the core layer 130 in step 240. In step 250, the shell layers 110,120, are joined to the core layer 130 by needling the composite from the outer surface of the shell layers 110,120, into the core layer 130. During the needling in step 250, the needle stroke is set such that the barbs of the needles do not pass through the core layer 130 into the shell layer 110,120, of the opposite side. This is done to prevent core fibers from reaching the outer surface of shell layers 110,120.

In another embodiment of steps 240 and 250, the shell layers 110,120, can be bonded to the core layer 130 by placing an adhesive material between the core nonwoven mat and each shell nonwoven mat, and heating the collective shell nonwoven mats, core nonwoven mat, and adhesive to a temperature which activates the adhesive.

Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred versions thereof, other versions are possible.

Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred versions contained herein.