JP2006225785A - Blended yarn and antimicrobial woven or knitted fabric using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an antimicrobial woven or knitted fabric having both of antimicrobial properties and mildness to a human body while having practical performance as the woven or knitted fabric for clothing. <P>SOLUTION: The blended yarn includes 1.0-20.0 mass% chitin fiber and/or chitosan fiber. The antimicrobial woven or knitted fabric is obtained by using the blended yarn, and has ≥2.2 bacteriostat activity value measured by an antimicrobial test method regulated by JIS L1092. The antimicrobial woven or knitted fabric is not only excellent in the antimicrobial properties and safety to the human body, but also excellent in feeling and appearance quality, and is suitable for clothing application. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a blended yarn and an antibacterial woven or knitted fabric.

  Clothing that comes into direct contact with the human body, such as socks, underwear, or futons, will be exposed to sweat, and when given moderate temperature and humidity, microorganisms such as bacteria will grow and give off bad odors, discolor the fabric and become brittle. There are often problems such as

  In response to the current situation, as a woven or knitted fabric having antibacterial properties, a woven or knitted fabric using fibers in which an antibacterial agent is kneaded, a woven or knitted fabric coated with an antibacterial agent, and the like have been proposed.

  Antibacterial agents used for these include organic silicon quaternary ammonium salts and aromatic halogen compounds. However, there is a concern that these synthetic antibacterial agents may cause hypersensitivity such as rash depending on the individual constitution.

On the other hand, products using chitin and chitosan are known as antibacterial fiber products with high safety to the human body. Specifically, a medical nonwoven fabric used for wound healing protection such as trauma and burn has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In addition, sheets for bedding made of a nonwoven fabric made by coating fibers by adding chitosan to a fiber base material or kneaded into an adhesive have been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
JP-A-2-307915 JP 2004-195000 A

  The inventors of the present invention have made various studies in developing antibacterial fiber products suitable for apparel using the antibacterial action of chitin and chitosan. However, the conventional antibacterial fiber products using chitin and chitosan as described above have a problem when applied to clothing. In what is known as a medical non-woven fabric, the fields of use are completely different, and of course, practical performances such as strength, texture, and quality required for clothing are not taken into consideration. In addition, fibers with chitosan added to the fiber base material or fibers kneaded into the adhesive are also problematic in terms of texture, quality, durability, etc. when used for woven and knitted fabrics for clothing. Many.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an antibacterial fiber product having both antibacterial properties and gentleness to the human body while having practical performance as a woven or knitted fabric for clothing.

  The inventor of the present invention has arrived at the present invention as a result of intensive studies to solve the above problems. That is, the gist of the present invention is, firstly, a blended yarn comprising 1.0 to 20.0% by mass of chitin fibers and / or chitosan fibers. Secondly, an antibacterial woven or knitted fabric characterized in that the blended yarn is used and the bacteriostatic activity value according to the antibacterial test method specified in JIS L1092 is 2.2 or more.

  The blended yarn of the present invention can be used for a woven or knitted fabric to produce a practical woven or knitted fabric excellent in antibacterial properties and safety to the human body. In addition, the antibacterial woven or knitted fabric of the present invention is an antibacterial woven or knitted fabric that is excellent in antibacterial properties and safety to the human body, is excellent in texture and quality, and is suitable for clothing use.

  The blended yarn of the present invention contains chitin fibers and / or chitosan fibers as part of the constituent fibers. The chitin fiber and chitosan fiber used in the present invention will be described. Before that, chitin fiber and chitin and chitosan forming the chitosan fiber will be described.

  In the present invention, as chitin and chitosan, those obtained by removing ash and protein by treating hydrochloric acid and caustic soda with exoskeletons such as crustaceans and insects and derivatives thereof can be used.

  In the first place, chitin is typically a polysaccharide in which many N-acetyl-D-glucosamine residues are β- (1,4) -linked, and its deacetylated product is called chitosan, but chitin is a partially acetyl group. It is normal to lose. On the other hand, chitosan is typically a β- (1,4) -polymer of D-glucosamine residues, but like chitin, it usually has some acetyl group and is called chitosan. Is common sense (for example, “The Last Biomass Chitin, Chitosan”, 1988, published by Gihodo).

As described above, the distinction between chitin and chitosan is not necessarily strict, and it is not necessary to strictly distinguish them in the present invention. For example, as one guideline, a substance that dissolves in an acid due to its high degree of deacetylation may be referred to as chitosan, but is not necessarily limited thereto. Therefore, the chitin and chitosan used in the present invention include chitin which may partially lose the acetyl group, chitosan which may contain some acetyl groups, and further the —OH group of those glucosamine residues. And derivatives in which the —CH ₂ OH group is modified by esterification, etherification, carboxymethylation, O-ethylation, etc. are included, and in the following description, these are collectively referred to as “chitins”. May be called.

  Moreover, as chitin fiber and chitosan fiber used for this invention, if it is formed with either of the above-mentioned chitins, it corresponds to either chitin fiber or chitosan fiber. Accordingly, chitin fibers and chitosan fibers may be collectively referred to as “chitin fibers” in the following description.

  In the chitin fiber used in the present invention, the degree of deacetylation of chitins is preferably 30 to 100%. Chitin can be deacetylated by a well-known method of alkali-treating chitin, and the degree of deacetylation can be easily adjusted by appropriately changing the alkali concentration, treatment temperature, treatment time, etc. used. .

  Here, the degree of deacetylation can be measured by the following method. That is, about 2 g of a sample is put into 200 ml of 2N-hydrochloric acid aqueous solution and stirred at room temperature for 30 minutes. Next, after filtering with a glass filter to remove the aqueous hydrochloric acid solution, the solution is put into 200 ml of methanol and stirred for 30 minutes. This is further filtered through a glass filter, put into 200 ml of fresh methanol, and stirred for 30 minutes. After repeating this washing operation with methanol four times, about 0.2 g of air-dried and vacuum-dried material is precisely weighed, taken into a 100 ml Erlenmeyer flask, added with 40 ml of ion-exchanged water, and stirred for 30 minutes. Then, this solution is subjected to neutralization titration with a 0.1N sodium hydroxide aqueous solution. At this time, phenolphthalein is used as an indicator. Deacetylation degree (A) is calculated | required by following Formula.

  Where a is the mass (g) of the sample, f is the titer of the 0.1N-caustic soda aqueous solution, and b is the titration (ml) of the 0.1N-caustic soda aqueous solution.

  The chitin fiber used in the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it is a fibrous fiber formed of chitins. For example, if chitin or chitosan obtained from nature is fibrous, it can be used as it is. In terms of availability of industrially stable performance, it is preferable that chitin or chitosan is dissolved in a solvent and then coagulated with a coagulating liquid to form a fiber, that is, manufactured by a wet spinning method.

  What is necessary is just to select suitably as a solvent in this wet spinning method according to the kind of chitin. For example, for chitin as a natural product and chitin with a relatively low degree of deacetylation, a mixture of halogenated hydrocarbon and trichloroacetic acid, a mixture of N-methylpyrrolidone or N, N-dimethylacetamide and lithium chloride Is preferably used, and an acid solution such as acetic acid is preferably used for deacetylated chitosan.

  As a method of dissolving chitins in a solvent and then forming fibers, a method used in a normal wet spinning method can be employed. For example, chitins are dissolved in the above solvent to prepare a dope, filtered through a filter such as a stainless steel net to remove insoluble parts and foreign matters, and then metered and transported with a gear pump, etc., and water is discharged from a nozzle having a large number of pores. Then, it is solidified by being extruded into a coagulating liquid such as alcohols, ketones or alkaline liquid. A chitin fiber can be obtained by pulling the coagulated material at a constant speed with a rotating roller or the like.

  The single yarn fineness of the chitin fiber used in the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it can be spun, but is preferably 0.27 to 9.0 dtex, more preferably 0.45 to 4.5 dtex. 0.6 to 2.7 dtex is particularly preferable. Further, the fiber length of the chitin fiber is not particularly limited as long as it can be spun, but is preferably 10.0 to 80.0 mm, more preferably 15.0 to 70.0 mm, and more preferably 20.0. ˜60.0 mm is particularly preferred.

  On the other hand, the fiber to be blended with the chitin fiber is not particularly limited. For example, natural fibers such as cotton, silk, wool and other animal hair, regenerated fibers such as rayon and lyocell, and semi-synthetic fibers such as acetate. Any of synthetic fibers such as nylon and polyester may be used. Biodegradable synthetic fibers such as polylactic acid, which has been attracting attention in recent years due to depletion of petroleum resources and global environmental problems, may be used. From those fiber materials, ones having a fineness and fiber length within a range that can be spun can be appropriately selected and blended with chitin fibers.

  The blended yarn of the present invention is obtained by blending the chitin fiber as described above and a fiber other than the chitin fiber. The content of the chitin fiber in the blended yarn of the present invention is 1 The range is from 0 to 20.0 mass%. When the content of the chitin fiber is less than 1.0% by mass, the antibacterial property is not sufficient. On the other hand, when it exceeds 20.0 mass%, it becomes a thread with a large patch and the quality when it is set as a woven or knitted fabric is impaired.

  As described above, the blended yarn of the present invention contains chitin fibers, but the content thereof is smaller than the content of other fibers that are blended. For this reason, the blended yarn of the present invention can reflect the characteristics of other fibers in dyeability, texture and other characteristics. For this reason, as another fiber blended with a chitin fiber, it can be selected according to the intended purpose and required performance of the blended yarn of the present invention. For example, by selecting and using cotton fibers, a blended yarn having a soft texture and moisture absorption characteristic of cotton can be obtained.

  In producing the blended yarn of the present invention, a generally used method can be adopted as a spinning method for blending chitin fibers and other fibers. In that case, the fibers may be mixed in a blended cotton process, or may be mixed in a drawing process after spinning the fibers individually to the card process.

  As described above, the blended yarn of the present invention is different from the one in which chitin particles are kneaded into fibers or adhered to the fiber surface, and chitin fibers composed of antibacterial chitin itself and Since the blended yarn is mixed with other fibers occupying 80% or more of the mass of the blended yarn, the texture as a spun yarn can be maintained and the chitins are difficult to fall off. Sex persists.

  Next, the antibacterial woven or knitted fabric of the present invention will be described.

  The antibacterial woven or knitted fabric of the present invention is formed using the above-described blended yarn of the present invention, and can be made into a woven or knitted fabric excellent in texture and quality that can be practically used for clothing due to the characteristics of the blended yarn. . The structure, yarn density, and the like can be designed in any way, and a knitted or knitted fabric having a desired structure and form can be obtained as long as it can be used for clothing. Dyeing and post-processing may be performed as necessary as long as the object of the present invention is not impaired. Of course, other yarns may be used in combination as required.

  The antibacterial woven or knitted fabric of the present invention can maintain antibacterial properties as long as the chitin fiber does not fall off as described above. Therefore, the antibacterial property excellent in washing durability can be expressed.

As the antibacterial property of the antibacterial woven or knitted fabric of the present invention, the bacteriostatic activity value according to the antibacterial test method specified in JIS L1092 needs to be 2.2 or more, and preferably 3.0 or more. The bacteriostatic activity value here refers to inoculating a standard sample and test sample with a fixed number of test bacteria, and B (cells / ml) of the standard sample after incubation for a certain period of time. It is represented by logB-logC where the viable cell count of the later test sample is C (cells / ml). Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538P (Staphylococcus aureus) is used as the strain used. As a test method, 0.4 g of a sterilized sample placed in a vial was inoculated with 0.2 ml of a bacterial solution adjusted to a viable count of (1 ± 0.3) × 10 ⁵ cells / ml as uniformly as possible. Incubate at 18 ° C. for 18 hours. Next, 20 ml of physiological saline supplemented with 0.2% nonionic surfactant (Twin 80) is added and stirred to wash out the bacteria. Then, 1 ml of the washing solution is collected with a pipette, a dilution series is prepared by a 10-fold dilution method, mixed with a nutrient agar medium, and cultured at 37 ° C. for 24 hours or more. Count the number of colonies in the dilution series in which 30 to 300 colonies appeared, and calculate the number of viable bacteria.

  For the calculation of the bacteriostatic activity value, the above-mentioned test is performed for each of the standard sample (attached fabric for dyeing fastness test specified in JIS L0803) and the test sample, and the bacteriostatic activity value is obtained from the following formula.

  However, B is the number of viable bacteria collected after 18 hours of culture of the standard sample, and C is the number of viable bacteria collected after 18 hours of incubation of the test sample.

  If the bacteriostatic activity value is less than 2.2, the growth of bacteria cannot be suppressed, and the antibacterial property as an antibacterial woven or knitted fabric is not sufficient.

Next, the present invention will be specifically described with reference to examples. Evaluation of the blended yarn and the woven / knitted fabric in Examples and Comparative Examples was performed according to the following method. The antibacterial evaluation, that is, the bacteriostatic activity value was determined according to the method described above.
(1) Yarn spot Using a thread spot tester (manufactured by Keiki Kogyo Co., Ltd., “KET80B”), the variation rate (CV%) of the average spot deviation was measured according to the JISL1095 9.20.1A method.
(2) Washing durability The bacteriostatic activity value was measured according to the above-mentioned antibacterial test method for the sample after 50 washings specified in JIS L0217 103 method.
(3) Texture and quality of knitted and knitted fabrics Ten panelists made a sensory evaluation in three stages: ○: excellent, △: normal, ×: bad. Adopted.

Example 1
As chitosan fibers used in the examples, a chitosan fiber lump composed of short fibers having a single yarn fineness of 2.2 dtex and a fiber length of 38 mm was prepared by wet spinning chitosan obtained from crab shell as a raw material. The degree of deacetylation of this chitosan was 78%. Further, as other fibers blended with the chitosan fiber, a comb sliver (hereinafter referred to as 3.57 g / m) obtained by a normal spinning method using cotton fibers having a single yarn fineness of 1.42 dtex and a fiber length of 32 mm. We prepared "cotton comb river".

  In the blended cotton process, the above-mentioned chitosan fiber lump and cotton comb sliver were mixed at a mass ratio of 50/50, and after the card process, a blended card sliver having a thickness of 3.29 g / m was obtained. Next, in the drawing step, using the blended card sliver obtained above and the cotton comb sliver, mixing at a predetermined ratio so that the content of chitosan fiber is 3.0% by mass, A blended and spun sliver having a thickness of 3.57 g / m and containing 3.0% by mass of chitosan fiber was obtained. Next, in the roving process, the obtained mixed spinning kneaded sliver was twisted with a twist coefficient of 0.95 to obtain a roving yarn having a thickness of 0.595 g / m. Then, in the spinning process, the roving obtained above is given a draft of 42.4 times, subjected to twisting with a twisting factor of 3.5, and the blended yarn of the present invention of 40th (English cotton count) is obtained. Obtained. The blended yarn contained 3.0% by mass of chitosan fiber based on the total mass of the blended yarn.

  Further, using this blended yarn, a tengu knitted fabric was knitted with a 28 gauge circular knitting machine having a hook diameter of 76 cm and subjected to scouring and bleaching with hydrogen peroxide to obtain the antibacterial woven or knitted fabric of the present invention. .

  Table 1 below shows the variation rate (CV%) of the average unevenness of the blended yarn obtained in Example 1 above, the quality of the antibacterial woven or knitted fabric, and the bacteriostatic activity value before and after washing.

  As can be seen from the results in Table 1, the blended yarn of the present invention had little yarn unevenness. In addition, the antibacterial woven or knitted fabric of the present invention using this blended yarn had antibacterial properties excellent in washing durability and excellent in quality and texture.

Claims (2)

  A blended yarn comprising 1.0 to 20.0% by mass of chitin fiber and / or chitosan fiber.   An antibacterial woven or knitted fabric comprising the blended yarn according to claim 1 and having an antibacterial activity value of 2.2 or more according to an antibacterial test method defined in JIS L1092.