1. A printed business card forming method, comprising:
sheet-feeding a business card sheet into a printer or copier;
the business card sheet including: a paper sheet having a front side and a back side; a polymer carrier layer attached directly to the back side in a manner so as to prevent separation therefrom; and a grid of cut lines through the paper sheet but not through the business card sheet to form at least portions of perimeters of a plurality of business cards;
the sheet-feeding including the printer or copier printing desired indicia on the front side or on an ink jet or laser receptive coating on the front side;
after the printing, folding the business card sheet on one of the cut lines with a single folding action so that the polymer carrier layer due to stress and elongation properties thereof snap breaks through the polymer carrier layer and along the one of the cut lines to form a separate business card sheet portion which includes a first edge of a printed business card;
the printed business card having at least a portion of the desired indicia thereon and including a portion of the paper sheet and a portion of the polymer carrier layer attached directly to the portion of the paper sheet in a manner so as to prevent separation therefrom;
after the folding, folding the separate business card sheet portion or a snap-broken portion thereof on another one of the cut lines with a single folding action so that the polymer carrier layer portion of the separate business card sheet portion or the snap-broken portion thereof, due to the stress and elongation properties, snap breaks along the another one of the cut lines to form a smaller separate business card sheet portion which includes a second edge of the printed business card which is perpendicular to the first edge; and
the another one of the cut lines being perpendicular to the one of cut lines.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the single folding actions are forward folds towards the paper sheet.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the sheet-feeding includes sheet-feeding the business card sheet from a stack of the business card sheets.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the single folding actions are each between 45 and 165 degrees.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein none of the cut lines of the grid of cut lines penetrates into the polymer carrier layer.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the paper sheet is cardstock and the polymer carrier layer comprises polymethylpentene which is extruded onto the card stock.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the polymer carrier layer includes a polymer and a nucleating agent.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the paper sheet is a card stock sheet.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein the grid of cut lines includes intersecting horizontal cut lines and vertical cut lines.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein the polymer carrier layer includes a polymer selected from the group of polymethylpentene, polyolefins, polyesters, polypropylene, polyethylenes, copolymers of propylene and ethylene, polymethyl methacrylate, polystyrene, and compatible mixtures thereof.
11. The method of claim 1 wherein the business cards are arranged in two columns with business cards in each column abutting adjacent business cards.
12. The method of claim 1 wherein the printer or copier is an inkjet printer or a laser printer.
13. The method of claim 1 further comprising printing desired indicia on a side of the business card sheet opposite to the front side with a printer or copier.
14. The method of claim 1 wherein the polymer carrier layer includes a tie layer.
15. The method of claim 1 wherein a side of the business card sheet opposite to the front side is printable by a handheld writing instrument, and further comprising printing on the opposite side with the handheld writing instrument.
16. The method of claim 1 wherein the polymer carrier layer has a multi-layer construction, the multi-layer construction includes two polymer layers.
17. The method of claim 1 wherein the polymer carrier layer is roughened on a side opposite to the paper sheet.
18. The method of claim 1 wherein a portion of a bottom surface of the polymer carrier layer defines a bottom surface of the printed business card.
19. The method of claim 1 wherein an antistatic layer is on a back side of the business card sheet.
20. The method of claim 19 wherein the single folding actions are forward folds towards the paper sheet.
21. The method of claim 19 wherein the sheet-feeding includes sheet-feeding the business card sheet from a stack of the business card sheets.
22. The method of claim 19 wherein the single folding actions are each between 45 and 165 degrees.
23. The method of claim 19 wherein the polymer carrier layer includes a tie layer.
24. The method of claim 19 wherein none of the cut lines of the grid of cut lines penetrates into the polymer carrier layer.
25. The method of claim 19 wherein the paper sheet is cardstock and the polymer carrier layer comprises polymethylpentene which is extruded onto the cardstock.
26. The method of claim 19 wherein the polymer carrier layer includes a polymer and a nucleating agent.
27. The method of claim 19 wherein the paper sheet is a cardstock sheet.
28. The method of claim 19 wherein a side of the business card sheet opposite to the front side is printable by a handheld writing instrument, and further comprising printing on the opposite side with the handheld writing instrument.
29. The method of claim 19 wherein the grid of cut lines includes intersecting horizontal cut lines and vertical cut lines.
30. The method of claim 19 wherein the polymer carrier layer has a multi-layer construction, the multi-layer construction includes two polymer layers.
31. The method of claim 19 wherein the polymer carrier layer is roughened on a side opposite to the paper sheet.
32. The method of claim 19 wherein the polymer carrier layer includes a polymer selected from the group of polymethylpentene, polyolefins, polyesters, polypropylene, polyethylenes, copolymers of propylene and ethylene, polymethyl methacrylate, polystyrene, and compatible mixtures thereof.
33. The method of claim 19 wherein a portion of a bottom surface of the polymer carrier layer defines a bottom surface of the printed business card.
34. The method of claim 19 wherein the business cards are arranged in two columns with business cards in each column abutting adjacent business cards.
35. The method of claim 19 wherein the printer or copier is an inkjet printer or a laser printer.
36. The method of claim 19 further comprising printing desired indicia on a side of the business card sheet opposite to the front side with a printer or copier.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A tampon pledget, comprising:
crosslinked cellulose fibers having microstructures treated to provide improved absorbency and improved wet strength;
wherein the fibers are treated with a crosslinking agent to provide at least one of a molecular weight between crosslinks of from about 10 to about 200 and a degree of crystallinity of from about 25% to about 75%.
2. The tampon pledget of claim 1, wherein the crosslinking agent includes at least citric acid in one percent (1%) by weight based on the total weight of cellulose fibers.
3. The tampon pledget of claim 1, wherein the crosslinking agent further includes at least sodium hypophosphite in one percent (1%) by weight based on the total weight of cellulose fibers.
4. The tampon pledget of claim 1, wherein the crosslinking agent is comprised of a difunctional crosslinking agent.
5. The tampon pledget of claim 4, wherein the difunctional crosslinking agent is comprised of at least one of glyoxal and a glyoxal-derived resin.
6. The tampon pledget of claim 1, wherein the crosslinking agent is comprised of a multifunctional crosslinking agent.
7. The tampon pledget of claim 6, wherein the multifunctional crosslinking agent is comprised of a cyclic urea, glyoxal, polyol condensate.
8. The tampon pledget of claim 1, wherein the crosslinking agent is added in an amount from about a thousandth of one percent (0.001%) to about twenty percent (20%) by weight based on a total weight of cellulose fibers to be treated.
9. The tampon pledget of claim 1, wherein the crosslinking agent is added in an amount of about five percent (5%) by weight based on the total weight of cellulose fibers.
10. The tampon pledget of claim 1, wherein the cellulose fibers are derived from a raw material comprised of eucalyptus pulp and wherein an amount of time, temperature and humidity setting under which the pulp is steeped, dried, shredded, and pre-aged affects an amount of oxidative degradation and an overall average molecular weight of the fibers.
11. A method for forming crosslinked cellulose fibers, comprising
selecting a cellulose raw material;
steeping the raw material in a sodium hydroxide immersion to provide alkali cellulose;
pressing the alkali cellulose;
shredding the pressed cellulose;
aging the shredded cellulose;
reacting the aged cellulose with carbon disulphide to form cellulose xanthate;
dissolving the cellulose xanthate to form viscose;
ripening the viscose;
filtering the ripened viscose to remove undissolved materials;
degassing the filtered viscose;
spinning the degassed viscose through a spinneret to form cellulose filaments;
drawing the filaments to lengthen the cellulose chains;
purifying the drawn filaments;
cutting the purified filaments to form cellulose fibers; and
post-crosslinking by at least one of chemical or hydrothermal treatment;
wherein for a dry crosslinking formation, the method includes adding a crosslinking agent to the pressing step, and for a wet crosslinking formation, the method includes adding the crosslinking agent to at least one of the dissolving and ripening steps.
12. The method for forming of claim 11, wherein the crosslinking agent includes at least citric acid in one percent (1%) by weight based on the total weight of cellulose fibers.
13. The method of forming of claim 12, wherein the crosslinking agent further includes at least sodium hypophosphite in one percent (1%) by weight based on the total weight of cellulose fibers.
14. The method of forming of claim 11, wherein the crosslinking agent is comprised of a difunctional crosslinking agent.
15. The method of forming of claim 14, wherein the difunctional crosslinking agent is comprised of at least one of glyoxal and a glyoxal-derived resin.
16. The method of forming of claim 11, wherein the crosslinking agent is comprised of a multifunctional crosslinking agent.
17. The method of forming of claim 16, wherein the multifunctional crosslinking agent is comprised of a cyclic urea, glyoxal, polyol condensate.
18. The method of forming of claim 11, wherein the crosslinking agent is added in an amount from about a hundredth of one percent (0.001%) to about twenty percent (20%) by weight based on a total weight of cellulose fibers to be treated.
19. The method of forming of claim 11, wherein the crosslinking agent is added in an amount of about five percent (5%) by weight based on the total weight of cellulose fibers.
20. The method for forming of claim 11, further including expanding a duration of the drawing step to further lengthen cellulose chains and improve interchain hydrogen bonds to provide greater areas of crystallinity.
21. The method for forming of claim 11, wherein said post-crosslinking is by hydrothermal treatment.
22. The method for forming of claim 21, wherein said hydrothermal treatment is carried out at a temperature of about 90 to about 150 degrees Celsius.
23. The method for forming of claim 21, wherein said hydrothermal treatment is carried out at a temperature of about 100 to about 125 degrees Celsius.