Patent ID: 7427434

Claim:
A self-bonded corrugated web comprising a primary pre-bonded web layer of thermoplastic fibers having a substantially uniform thickness in a z direction and having a CD orientation and a MD orientation, the primary pre-bonded web arranged to form corrugations oriented in a corrugation pattern of parallel corrugation lines wherein said corrugations lines are essentially parallel to the MD orientation of said web layer, the corrugated web includes a primary bonding pattern of heat- or melt-fusion bonded regions forming a plurality of first primary bonding pattern continuous lines and second primary bonding pattern continuous lines, the first primary bonding pattern continuous lines are parallel to each other and the second primary bonding pattern continuous lines are parallel to each other, the first primary bonding pattern continuous lines are non-parallel to the second primary bonding pattern continuous lines, the first primary bonding pattern continuous lines and the second primary bonding pattern continuous lines are arranged non-parallel to the corrugation lines, the first and second primary bonding pattern continuous lines intersect at least two of the corrugation lines for stabilizing the corrugations of the corrugated web and wherein the continuous lines of said first primary bonding pattern intersect the continuous lines of said second primary bonding pattern, wherein said first and second primary bonding pattern continuous lines form regions of corrugations that are unbonded by said primary bonding pattern.