Highly uniform spunbonded nonwoven fabrics

Abstract

A catheter anchoring system, apparatus and method for securing a catheter to a patient's skin, having two flexible side members and a cross-member therebetween to which a retaining assembly is mounted. The retaining assembly may hold a catheter hub at an angle for patient comfort. Gripping tabs secure to each retaining assembly side are gripped while advancing a cannula guide needle into the patient's vein and while attaching the catheter hub to a medical accessory, such as intravenous (I.V.) tubing, for increased patient comfort, reduction of the risk in contamination and patient infection, and to more easily and quickly start an I.V.

1 . An article, comprising:
 a nonwoven fabric comprising a plurality of continuous fibers;   wherein each fiber of the plurality of continuous fibers comprises a single polymer, the single polymer comprises a polyester, and the continuous fibers are randomly thermally bonded throughout the nonwoven substrate.   
     
     
         2 . An article, comprising:
 a nonwoven fabric comprising a plurality of fibers;   wherein the nonwoven fabric has a M-4 web uniformity index of at most about 600 and, when the nonwoven fabric has a unit weight of 34 gsm, the nonwoven fabric has a tensile strength of at least about 10 pounds in a cross-machine direction as measured according to ASTM D4595-09.   
     
     
         3 . An article, comprising:
 a nonwoven fabric comprising a plurality of spunbonded fibers;   wherein the nonwoven fabric has a M-4 web uniformity index of at most about 600.   
     
     
         4 . An article, comprising:
 a nonwoven fabric comprising a plurality of fibers;   wherein, when the nonwoven fabric has a unit weight of 34 gsm, the nonwoven fabric has a tensile strength of at least about 10 pounds in a cross-machine direction as measured according to ASTM D4595-09; and   wherein the fibers are randomly thermally bonded throughout the nonwoven fabric.   
     
     
         5 . The article of  claim 3 , wherein each fiber comprises a single polymer. 
     
     
         6 . The article of  claim 4 , wherein the single polymer comprises a polyester. 
     
     
         7 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein the single polymer is a polyethylene terephthalate, a polybutylene terephthalate, a polytrimethylene terephthalate, a polyethylene naphthalate, a polyglycolide, a polylactide, a polycaprolactone, a polyethylene adipate, a polyhydroxyalkanoate, or a copolymer thereof. 
     
     
         8 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein the single polymer has an intrinsic viscosity of at least about 0.5 dl/g and at most about 0.7 dl/g. 
     
     
         9 . (canceled) 
     
     
         10 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein at least some of the fibers have a circular cross-section. 
     
     
         11 . The article of  claim 10 , wherein the circular cross-section has an average diameter of from about 6 μm to about 20 μm. 
     
     
         12 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein at least some of the fibers have a trilobal, quadrulobal, pentalobal, or octalobal cross-section. 
     
     
         13 . The article of  claim 12 , wherein the cross-section has an average diameter of from about 1 μm to about 6 μm. 
     
     
         14 . The article of  claim 2 , wherein the fibers are randomly bonded throughout the nonwoven substrate. 
     
     
         15 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein, when the nonwoven fabric has a unit weight of 34 gsm, the nonwoven fabric has a tensile strength of at least about 10 pounds in a cross-machine direction as measured according to ASTM D4595-09. 
     
     
         16 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein the nonwoven fabric has a M-4 web uniformity index of at most about 600. 
     
     
         17 - 22 . (canceled) 
     
     
         23 . A product, comprising the article of  claim 1 , wherein the product is a membrane filtration medium. 
     
     
         24 . The product of  claim 23 , wherein the product is a reverse osmosis filtration medium. 
     
     
         25 . A method, comprising:
 extruding a composition containing a single polymer to form a plurality of unbonded continuous fibers, the single polymer comprising a polyester;   mechanically drawing the unbonded continuous fibers; and   area bonding the unbonded continuous fibers to form a nonwoven fabric comprising a plurality of bonded continuous fibers.   
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the area bonding comprises through-air bonding the unbonded continuous fibers to form the nonwoven substrate. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the area bonding is carried out at a temperature of at least about 145° C. and at most about 250° C. 
     
     
         28 . (canceled) 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the mechanically drawing comprises passing the unbonded continuous fibers through at least two draw rolls to form oriented fibers. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 29 , wherein each of the two draw rolls has a fiber speed of at least about 1,800 meters per minute. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein, after area bonding the unbonded continuous fibers, the method further comprises calendering the nonwoven substrate to form a calendered product. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the calendering is carried out at a temperature of at least about 145° C. and at most about 215° C. 
     
     
         33 - 34 . (canceled) 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the bonded continuous fibers comprise spunbonded fibers. 
     
     
         36 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein the continuous fibers are randomly thermally bonded by area bonding. 
     
     
         37 . The article of  claim 4 , wherein the fibers are thermally bonded by area bonding. 
     
     
         38 . The article of  claim 4 , wherein the nonwoven fabric does not comprise a polymer having an intrinsic viscosity higher than about 0.64 dl/g. 
     
     
         39 . An article, comprising:
 a nonwoven fabric comprising a plurality of continuous, spunbonded fibers;   wherein each fiber of the plurality of continuous, spunbonded fibers comprises a single polymer, the single polymer comprises a polyester, and the continuous fibers are randomly thermally bonded throughout the nonwoven substrate;   wherein the nonwoven fabric has a M-4 web uniformity index of at most about 600 and, when the nonwoven fabric has a unit weight of 34 gsm, the nonwoven fabric has a tensile strength of at least about 10 pounds in a cross-machine direction as measured according to ASTM D4595-09.