The present invention relates generally to elastic materials and, more particularly, to an apparatus for fabricating an elastic nonwoven material.
Elastic nonwoven materials are utilized in a variety of articles including personal care articles (e.g., adult briefs, baby diapers, child/adult pull-on pants, contour fit hygiene products, etc.) and medical garments (e.g., masks, caps, gowns, footwear, etc.).
At least some conventional methods for fabricating elastic nonwoven materials include adhesively bonding elastic strands between layers of nonwoven fabric when the elastic strands are in tension. Once the elastic strands are permitted to contract, the elastic strands gather areas of the nonwoven fabric such that the nonwoven fabric functions with an elastic property. However, the durability of elastic nonwoven materials made by these conventional methods is less than desirable because the adhesive bonds are prone to creep, which can result in a loss of elasticity over time. Moreover, it can be overly expensive to fabricate elastic nonwoven materials using these conventional methods. It would be useful, therefore, to provide a system for fabricating a more durable elastic nonwoven material in a more cost effective manner.