CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a national phase entry under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No. PCT/JP2018/026482 filed Jul. 13, 2018, which claims the priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2017-153880 filed in the Japanese Patent Office on Aug. 9, 2017, the entire disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to emboss fabrication.

BACKGROUND ART

Technologies related to emboss fabrication have been disclosed. For example, a method of manufacturing a vehicle seat-skin material having a concavo-convex pattern is disclosed in Patent Literature 1. In the manufacturing method, a lamination sheet passes between an emboss roll and a heat roll while being pressed. The emboss roll is set to a temperature of 100 to 250° C. The heat roll is set to a temperature of 100 to 250° C. A processing speed is 0.3 to 10 m/min. The manufacturing method can be performed also in a state described below. The aforementioned state is a state in which a calendar roll is disposed on a side opposite to the heat roll while contacting the emboss roll. Furthermore, the aforementioned state is a state in which the lamination sheet contacts the emboss roll across ½ of the circumference.

A sheet embossing method is disclosed in Patent Literature 2. In the aforementioned method, a sheet-shaped object is provided with pressurized embossing by an emboss roll and then forcibly peeled off. The sheet-shaped object includes a surface layer made of thermoplastic resin. The peel-off is performed in a direction at an angle of 10 to 60° toward a back roll relative to a tangent line of the emboss roll at a peeling point. Patent Literatures 3 to 7 are listed as conventional technologies in Patent Literature 2. Patent Literatures 3 to 7 are related to a method described below. The aforementioned method is a method of providing an embossing pattern to a front face of a sheet-shaped object including a porous layer by heated emboss.

An emboss carrier tape manufacturing device is disclosed in Patent Literature 8. In the emboss carrier tape manufacturing device, part of a base material resin tape on which an emboss portion is formed is cooled by heat transfer to a rotary mold and cooling air from a cooler. Accordingly, the shape of the aforementioned part is fixed. The emboss carrier tape manufacturing device includes an auxiliary roller. The auxiliary roller prevents the base material resin tape after the cooling from demolding from the rotary mold.

A method of manufacturing a seat-skin material is disclosed in Patent Literature 9. The seat-skin material is formed by providing an emboss pattern to a front face of an elongated material. The manufacturing method includes a process of pressing the elongated material. In this process, the elongated material passes between an emboss roll and a flat roll. The emboss roll is provided with a plurality of embossing portions protruding from a base surface. As the elongated material passes between the emboss roll and the flat roll, a front face fabric, a back face fabric, and a cushion material are thermally fused with each other through heating and pressing by the embossing portions. Furthermore, since the emboss roll and the flat roll are both heated, the front face fabric and the back face fabric are thermally fused with the cushion material. A thermally fused part of the cushion material becomes compressed. A concave portion is formed on the front face fabric side of the seat-skin material through heating and pressing by the embossing portions. A concave portion is formed on the back face fabric side of the seat-skin material at a position corresponding to the concave portion of the front face fabric. A seat-skin material having an emboss pattern described below is formed by emboss fabrication. The aforementioned emboss pattern is a pattern in which a plurality of concave portions are formed on the surface of the front face fabric and the surface of the back face fabric.

CITATION LIST

Patent Literature

Patent Literature 1: JP-A-2007-276285

Patent Literature 2: JP-A-H7-329175

Patent Literature 3: Japanese Patent Publication No. 47-24662

Patent Literature 4: Japanese Patent Publication No. 55-6754

Patent Literature 5: Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-23036

Patent Literature 6: Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-23037

Patent Literature 7: Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-55380

Patent Literature 8: JP-A-2004-167726

Patent Literature 9: Japanese Patent No. 5913755

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

A decorative sheet is practically used. The decorative sheet is a dressing sheet having a concavo-convex pattern on a front face of a base material. The base material is a sheet material having an elongated shape. The base material includes, for example, various sheet materials different from each other in one or both of thickness and material. The base material is a laminated body in some cases. When the base material is a laminated body, the base material is formed by, for example, bonding a front face material to a front face of a middle material. Alternatively, the aforementioned base material is formed by bonding a front face material to the front face of a middle material and also bonding a back face material to a back face of the middle material.

The decorative sheet is manufactured by an emboss fabrication apparatus. The inventor recognizes that a sufficient concavo-convex pattern is not shaped on the front face of the base material when emboss fabrication is performed on the front face of the base material at a manufacturing site. The inventor thinks that the aforementioned problem is likely to occur when the base material is thick. The inventor knows that it is difficult to shape a concavo-convex pattern including a concave portion described below and a convex portion adjacent to the concave portion, for example, when the base material is a laminated body in an aspect described below. The aforementioned aspect is an aspect in which a thin front face material is bonded to a front face of a thick middle material having a cushion characteristic and a thin back face material is bonded to a back face of the aforementioned middle material. The aforementioned concave portion is such a concave portion that the front face material and the back face material bonded to the front and back faces of the middle material closely contact each other. The inventor thinks that various kinds of problems occur in some cases when the aforementioned concavo-convex pattern is shaped.

For example, assume that the shaping of the concavo-convex pattern is divided into two processes. In this case, it is assumed that misalignment occurs between shaping positions of the concavo-convex pattern in the processes. Thus, the inventor discussed about an emboss fabrication technology capable of shaping the concavo-convex pattern having a desired stereoscopic shape on the front face of the base material even when the base material is a laminated body as described above. In the discussion, the inventor considered a point that the aforementioned positional misalignment can be reduced when the concavo-convex pattern is shaped through a plurality of times. The discussed emboss fabrication technology is applicable to various kinds of base materials. For example, the emboss fabrication technology is applicable not only to a base material as a laminated body of two or more layers but also to a base material of a single layer.

The present invention is intended to provide an emboss fabrication apparatus and an emboss fabrication method that can manufacture a decorative sheet having a stereoscopic concavo-convex pattern.

Solutions to Problems

An aspect of the present invention is an emboss fabrication apparatus including: an emboss roll that includes, on an outer periphery, a molded portion having a concavo-convex shape and is configured to rotate in a first rotational direction along a circumferential direction; a first backup roll provided on a first side of the emboss roll in a first disposition direction along a radial direction of the emboss roll and configured to contact a back face of a base material having an elongated shape, sandwich, together with the emboss roll, the base material while a front face of the base material is pressed against the molded portion, and rotate in a second rotational direction opposite to the first rotational direction; a first heating unit provided to the first backup roll and configured to heat the first backup roll; a second backup roll provided further on a second side of the emboss roll in the first disposition direction than the first backup roll and configured to contact the back face of the base material, sandwich, together with the emboss roll, the base material having passed between the emboss roll and the first backup roll and being conveyed on the outer periphery of the emboss roll in a conveyance direction corresponding to each of the first rotational direction and the second rotational direction while the front face of the base material is pressed against the molded portion, and rotate in the second rotational direction; and a contact unit provided opposite to the emboss roll in a first range of the outer periphery of the emboss roll and configured to contact the back face of the base material being conveyed in the conveyance direction in the first range, the first range being a range between a first position and a second position, the first position being a position where the base material passes between the emboss roll and the first backup roll, the second position being a position where the base material enters between the emboss roll and the second backup roll.

According to this emboss fabrication apparatus, peel-off (demolding) of the base material from the emboss roll while the base material is conveyed in the first range can be restricted by the contact unit. In the base material being conveyed in the first range, the amount of thermal contraction differs between sides closer to the front face and the back face. Thus, the base material is likely to peel off from the emboss roll halfway through conveyance in the first range due to the aforementioned difference in the amount of thermal contraction. When the base material being conveyed in the first range has peeled off from the emboss roll, positional misalignment between a first shaping position and a second shaping position is likely to occur. The first shaping position is a position on the front face of the base material at which pressing is performed by the emboss roll and the first backup roll. The second shaping position is a position on the front face of the base material at which pressing is performed by the emboss roll and the second backup roll. As for this point, in the above-described emboss fabrication apparatus, since peel-off of the base material from the emboss roll is restricted, the positional misalignment between the first shaping position and the second shaping position can be reduced.

In the emboss fabrication apparatus, the contact unit may be provided opposite to the emboss roll at a third position closer to the first backup roll than the second position in the first range. With this configuration, peel-off of the base material from the emboss roll can be restricted at an early timing after the base material has passed between the emboss roll and the first backup roll.

In the emboss fabrication apparatus, the contact unit may include a first contact roll provided opposite to the emboss roll at the third position and configured to rotate in the second rotational direction while contacting the back face of the base material. With this configuration, the base material can be smoothly conveyed.

In the emboss fabrication apparatus, the contact unit may include a second contact roll provided opposite to the emboss roll at a fourth position closer to the second backup roll than the third position in the first range and configured to rotate in the second rotational direction while contacting the back face of the base material. With this configuration, the base material can be smoothly conveyed while peel-off of the base material from the emboss roll is restricted at the third position and the fourth position.

The emboss fabrication apparatus may further include a guide roll provided opposite to the first backup roll in a second range of an outer periphery of the first backup roll on a fourth side opposite to a third side closer to the first range in a second disposition direction orthogonal to the first disposition direction and configured to supply, toward the first backup roll, the base material to be conveyed in the conveyance direction on the outer periphery of the first backup roll to enter between the emboss roll and the first backup roll. With this configuration, the base material can be smoothly supplied to the first backup roll. A distance by which the base material is conveyed on the outer periphery of the first backup roll can be shortened. The base material can be made closely contact the first backup roll. The base material can be smoothly heated.

The emboss fabrication apparatus may further include a second heating unit provided to the second backup roll and configured to heat the second backup roll. The emboss fabrication apparatus may further include a third heating unit provided to the emboss roll and configured to heat the emboss roll. With this configuration, the base material can be heated. Change in the temperature of the base material after the base material has passed between the emboss roll and the first backup roll can be reduced.

Another aspect of the present invention is an emboss fabrication method including: a first process of sandwiching a base material having an elongated shape between an emboss roll and a first backup roll while a molded portion of the emboss roll, which has a concavo-convex shape presses a front face of the base material and the first backup roll contacts a back face of the base material, the emboss roll including the molded portion on an outer periphery and being configured to rotate in a first rotational direction along a circumferential direction, the first backup roll being provided on a first side of the emboss roll in a first disposition direction along a radial direction of the emboss roll and configured to rotate in a second rotational direction opposite to the first rotational direction; a second process of conveying the base material having passed between the emboss roll and the first backup roll, in a conveyance direction corresponding to each of the first rotational direction and the second rotational direction in a first range of the outer periphery of the emboss roll, the first range being a range between a first position and a second position, the first position being a position where the base material passes between the emboss roll and the first backup roll, the second position being a position where the base material enters between the emboss roll and a second backup roll provided further on a second side of the emboss roll in the first disposition direction than the first backup roll and configured to rotate in the second rotational direction; and a third process of sandwiching the base material conveyed in the conveyance direction in the first range, between the emboss roll and the second backup roll while the molded portion presses the front face of the base material and the second backup roll contacts the back face of the base material, wherein the first process is performed while the first backup roll is heated by a first heating unit provided to the first backup roll, and the second process is performed while a contact unit provided opposite to the emboss roll in the first range contacts the back face of the base material.

According to this emboss fabrication method, peel-off of the base material from the emboss roll while the base material is conveyed in the first range can be restricted by the contact unit. The above-described positional misalignment between the first shaping position and the second shaping position can be reduced.

Advantageous Effects of the Invention

According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain an emboss fabrication apparatus and an emboss fabrication method that can manufacture a decorative sheet having a stereoscopic concavo-convex pattern.

