Microporous films having zoned breathability

US6277479A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Stephen Michael Campbell · Winneconne, US
• Howard M. Welch · Woodstock, US
• Larry Ned Barnett, Jr. · Church Hill, US
• Carol Ann Blaney · Roswell, US
• David Arthur Fell · Menasha, US
• Sarah Jane Marie Freiburger · Kaukauna, US
• William Bela Haffner · Kennesaw, US
• Marianne Keevill Leick · Appleton, US
• Ann Louise McCormack · Cumming, US
• Douglas H. Tulley, Jr. · Atlanta, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Sep 30, 1998
• Grant date: Aug 21, 2001
• Expiry date: Sep 30, 2018

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10T442/647
• WIPO field: Medical technology
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

Breathable microporous films are provided having controlled regional breathability with thick high WVTR regions and thinner low WVTR regions. The zoned breathable microporous films can be made by selectively applying heat and/or pressure to specific regions the microporous film such as by feeding a microporous film through a pair of heated nip rollers with one of the rolls having a raised surface area or by applying a focused stream of hot air. Monolayer microporous films and multilayer films having at least one microporous layer can be treated to impart zoned breathability to the film.