Process for making bamboo fiberfill and articles thereof

Abstract

A process for producing bamboo fiberfill from raw bamboo fiber includes, obtaining a bale of the raw bamboo fiber, picking up and separating the raw bamboo bale fiber into tufts of bamboo fiber with a bale opener, feeding the bamboo fiber tufts into a blending hopper configured to blend the bamboo fiber tufts, feeding the blended bamboo fiber tufts into a beater configured to open the bamboo fiber tufts, and feeding the opened bamboo fiber tufts into a fine opener configured to reduce the size of the opened bamboo fiber tufts and refine the opened bamboo fiber tufts into the bamboo fiberfill, wherein the bamboo fiberfill has a fiber length of about 30 millimeters to about 60 millimeters and a linear density of about 0.5 denier to about 5.0 denier.

1 . A process for producing bamboo fiberfill from raw bamboo fiber, comprising:
 obtaining a bale of the raw bamboo fiber;   picking up and separating the raw bamboo bale fiber into tufts of bamboo fiber with a bale opener;   feeding the bamboo fiber tufts into a blending hopper configured to blend the bamboo fiber tufts;   feeding the blended bamboo fiber tufts into a beater configured to open the bamboo fiber tufts; and   feeding the opened bamboo fiber tufts into a fine opener configured to reduce the size of the opened bamboo fiber tufts and refine the opened bamboo fiber tufts into the bamboo fiberfill, wherein the bamboo fiberfill has a fiber length of about 30 millimeters to about 60 millimeters and a linear density of about 0.5 denier to about 5.0 denier.   
   
   
       2 . The process of  claim 1 , further comprising forming the bamboo fiberfill into a nonwoven bamboo web, wherein forming the web comprises carding, garnetting, air-laying, dynamic random carding, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing methods. 
   
   
       3 . The process of  claim 2 , further comprising layering the nonwoven bamboo web, wherein layering the web comprises longitudinal layering, cross-layering, perpendicular layering, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing methods. 
   
   
       4 . The process of  claim 3 , further comprising bonding the nonwoven bamboo web, wherein bonding the web comprises needlepunching, stitch bonding, thermal bonding, chemical bonding, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing methods. 
   
   
       5 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein feeding the bamboo fiber tufts into the blending hopper further comprises feeding the bamboo fiber tufts between an inclined needle apron and an evener roll. 
   
   
       6 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein feeding the blended bamboo fiber tufts into the beater further comprises feeding the blended bamboo fiber through an opener roll comprising a lag pin. 
   
   
       7 . A nonwoven filling made by the process of  claim 1 . 
   
   
       8 . A household article employing the nonwoven filling of  claim 7 . 
   
   
       9 . The household article of  claim 8 , wherein the article comprises a pillow, a quilt, a comforter, a furniture cushion, a blanket, a garment, an air filter, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing articles.