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Methods of increasing the loft of a multi-ply thermoplastic film include stretching thermoplastic films with different rebound ratios, non-continuously laminating the films together, and releasing the films to create puckers in one or more of the films. The puckers can comprise billowing of one of t

Methods of increasing the loft of a multi-ply thermoplastic film include stretching thermoplastic films with different rebound ratios, non-continuously laminating the films together, and releasing the films to create puckers in one or more of the films. The puckers can comprise billowing of one of the films. The non-continuous laminated areas can maintain the puckers in the films. The puckers can increase the loft of the film, improve the feel of the film, and/or modify the look of the film. The loft of such multi-ply puckered thermoplastics films vary independent of the basis weight of the films. Thus, multi-ply puckered thermoplastics films with increased loft of one or more implementations can look and feel thicker while using reduced amounts of thermoplastic material.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A multi-ply, puckered thermoplastic film comprising: a first ply of a first thermoplastic material having a first ply maximum gauge, wherein the first ply has been cold formation stretched to form comprises alternating thick linear areas of un-stretched material and that alternate with thin linea

1. A multi-ply, puckered thermoplastic film comprising: a first ply of a first thermoplastic material having a first ply maximum gauge, wherein the first ply has been cold formation stretched to form comprises alternating thick linear areas of un-stretched material and that alternate with thin linear areas of stretched material;a second ply of the first thermoplastic material having a second ply maximum gauge and adjacent to the first ply, wherein the second ply is a flat ply;a plurality of non-continuous bonds securing the thick areas of the first ply directly to the second ply such that the multi-ply, puckered thermoplastic film is devoid of layers between the first ply and the second ply, wherein the bonds between the first ply and the second ply are formed with the first ply in the stretched condition; anda plurality of puckers in the second thermoplastic ply, the puckers being located between and maintained by adjacent laminated areas and the puckers having a height of at least 1.25 times the sum of the first ply maximum gauge and the second ply maximum gauge;wherein a loft of the multi-ply, puckered thermoplastic film is increased between 4.3% and 33% while a basis weight of the multi-ply, puckered thermoplastic film has a percent decrease between 10% and 30% compared to a combination of the first and second plies in an un-stretched state. 2. The multi-ply film of claim 1, wherein the puckers have a height of at least 2 times the sum of the first ply maximum gauge and the second ply maximum gauge. 3. The multi-ply film of claim 1, wherein the alternating thick areas and thin areas of the first ply are formed by MD ring rolling. 4. The multi-ply film of claim 1, wherein the alternating thick areas and thin areas of the first ply are formed by both MD ring rolling and TD ring rolling. 5. The multi-ply film of claim 1, wherein the bonds are formed by a cold formation process selected from the group consisting of MD ring rolling, TD ring rolling, strainable network formation, and combinations thereof. 6. The multi-ply film of claim 1, wherein the bonds are formed by a process selected from the group consisting of embossing, adhesive bonding, and combinations thereof. 7. The multi-ply, puckered thermoplastic film as recited in claim 1, wherein the bonds are discontinuous. 8. A multi-ply, cold-formed puckered thermoplastic film comprising: a first ply of thermoplastic material having a first ply maximum gauge, wherein the first ply has been cold formation stretched by MD ring rolling to form alternating thick layers of un-stretched material and thin areas of stretched material;a second ply of thermoplastic material having a second ply maximum gauge and adjacent to the first ply;a plurality of non-continuous, non-heat, pressure bonds securing thick areas of the first ply to the second ply wherein the bonds are formed with the first ply in the stretched condition; anda plurality of puckers in the second thermoplastic ply, the puckers being located between and maintained by adjacent non-continuous, non-heat, pressure bonds and the puckers having a height of at least 1.25 times the sum of the first ply maximum gauge and the second ply maximum gauge;wherein a loft of the multi-ply, puckered thermoplastic film has a percent increase between 4.3% and 33% while a basis weight of the multi-ply, puckered thermoplastic film has a percent decrease between 10% and 30% compared to a combination of the first and second plies in an un-stretched state. 9. The multi-ply film of claim 8, wherein the second ply has been stretched prior to lamination and wherein the stretched second ply has a smaller rebound ratio than the first ply. 10. The multi-ply film of claim 8, wherein the second ply is a flat ply. 11. The multi-ply film of claim 8, wherein the non-continuous, non-heat, pressure bonds are formed by a process selected from the group consisting of MD ring rolling, TD ring rolling, strainable network formation, embossing, adhesive bonding, and combinations thereof. 12. A multi-ply, puckered thermoplastic film formed from first and second thermoplastic films, comprising: a first ply of thermoplastic material having a first rebound ratio, wherein the first ply has been cold formation stretched to form a first plurality of alternating thick areas of un-stretched material and thin areas of stretched material extending in a transverse direction;a second ply of thermoplastic material having a second rebound ratio differing from the first rebound ratio and adjacent to the first ply, wherein the second ply has been cold formation stretched to form a second plurality of alternating thick areas of un-stretched material and thin areas of stretched material extending in the transverse direction;a plurality of non-continuous laminated areas bonding some thick areas of the first ply to the second ply wherein the laminated areas are formed with the first ply in the stretched condition the plurality of bonds extending in the machine direction; anda plurality of puckers in the second thermoplastic film ply, the puckers being located between and maintained by adjacent laminated areas due to relaxation of the first ply, wherein a loft of the puckers is greater than a sum of the first gauge and the second gauge;wherein a machine direction of the first ply of thermoplastic material is parallel to a machine direction of the second ply of thermoplastic material;wherein a loft of the multi-ply, puckered thermoplastic film is increased between 4.3% and 33% while a basis weight of the multi-ply, puckered thermoplastic film has a percent decrease between 10% and 30% compared to a combination of the first and second plies in an un-stretched state. 13. The multi-ply, puckered thermoplastic film as recited in claim 12, wherein the thermoplastic material of the first ply is the same as the thermoplastic material of the second ply. 14. The multi-ply, puckered thermoplastic film as recited in claim 12, wherein the first thermoplastic film has been stretched to a greater extent than the second thermoplastic film during formation of laminated areas. 15. The multi-ply, puckered thermoplastic film as recited in claim 12, wherein the first thermoplastic film and the second thermoplastic film have been MD ring rolled. 16. The multi-ply, puckered thermoplastic film as recited in claim 12, wherein the laminated areas are formed by TD ring rolling. 17. The multi-ply, puckered thermoplastic film as recited in claim 12, wherein the laminated areas are formed by SELFing. 18. The multi-ply, puckered thermoplastic film as recited in claim 12, wherein the laminated areas are formed by embossing.