METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING ARTICLES WITH NON-UNIFORM DISCONTINUOUS PATTERNED COATINGS

A process for applying a coating material onto a substrate as a non-uniform discontinuous pattern of coating material, the method including the present disclosure describes a method of applying a coating material onto a substrate, including providing a first distribution manifold having a cavity and a multiplicity of first dispensing outlets in fluid communication with the cavity, creating relative motion between a substrate and the dispensing outlets in a first direction; dispensing a first coating material from the dispensing outlets while maintaining the relative motion and translating the multiplicity of dispensing outlets in a second direction non-parallel to the first direction, and varying a rate of dispensing of the first coating material in a predetermined fashion to form a discontinuous pattern of the first coating material on a major surface of the substrate. Useful non-uniformly patterned coated articles can be prepared using the process.