JP2616984B2 - Artificial water moss - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to artificial water moss, artificial water moss used as a water retention material for cultivation soil, and the like.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, as artificial artificial moss used for cultivation of houseplants and orchids, etc., it is used for porous substrates such as nonwoven fabric (Japanese Patent Publication No. 62-44889), nonwoven fabric, woven fabric, etc. Impregnated with a water-insoluble water-absorbing resin (JP-A-58-84804).
No.) etc. are known.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

The water absorption and water retention materials described above are useful as artificial water moss and the like because the water absorption is as high as about 3000 to 8000%. The nonwoven fabric artificial moss is supplied as a roll having a width of about 1 m to 3 m. If necessary, for example when using as artificial moss
It is necessary to cut into slits of 5 to 30 mm. Even when embedded in ridged soil and used as a soil water retention material, it is necessary to similarly cut into slits. Therefore, there is a problem that the handleability is poor.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a string-shaped artificial moss which does not have the above-mentioned problems and is excellent in handleability.

[Means for solving the problem]

According to the present invention, a water-absorbent fiber bundle containing at least 20% by weight of superabsorbent fibers is wound into a helical shape with reinforcing fibers containing at least 30% by weight of a heat-adhesive conjugate fiber, and the water-absorbent fiber bundle and the reinforcing fibers are bonded. It is a water retention material for agriculture characterized by having.

The water-absorbing fiber bundle used in the present invention is 20% by weight of the high water-absorbing fiber.
This is a bundled fiber composed of the above and other fibers of 80 wt% or less.
Superabsorbent fiber means a water absorption of 1000% or more, preferably 20% or more.
Fibers having at least 00%, such as starch grafted with acrylic acid or acrylonitrile, cross-linked carboxymethylcellulose with epichlorohydrin, etc., hydrophilic polyacrylate (for example, hydrolyzing polyacrylic acid or polyacrylic acid ester) Etc.), cross-linked polyalkylene oxide, PVA-polyacrylate, isobutylene-
Examples thereof include those in which a polymer such as a maleate salt is formed into a fibrous form, and those in which the above polymer is applied to fibers.

Other fibers include polyolefin / low melting point polyolefin, PET / polyolefin, PET / polyamide,
Examples include thermoadhesive conjugate fibers such as PET / low-melting PET, and various natural fibers and thermoplastic fibers. Of these, heat-adhesive conjugate fibers are particularly preferred.

When the amount of super absorbent fibers in the water-absorbing fiber bundle is less than 20 wt%,
The absorbability of the obtained artificial moss is insufficient. When the heat-adhesive conjugate fiber is mixed, it is heat-treated and the fibers are heat-bonded to each other, whereby a stable fiber bundle in which hair removal due to water absorption or the like hardly occurs can be obtained.

The fineness of the water-absorbing fiber and other fibers is about 1 to 30 D / f
Is preferred. Specific examples of fiber bundles include slivers, spun yarns, multifilaments, spun yarns, and the like. The total fineness of the fiber bundle is preferably about 1000-
500,000 D.

The reinforcing fiber used in the present invention is a fiber containing 30 wt% or more of the above-mentioned heat-adhesive conjugate fiber. Examples of the form of the fiber include a spun yarn, a multifilament, and a monofilament. If the composite fiber is less than 30 wt%, the bonding strength between the reinforcing fiber and the water-absorbent fiber bundle is insufficient,
It is not preferable because hair removal occurs during embedding in the soil or after water absorption. The preferred fineness of the reinforcing fiber is about 70-2000D
It is.

An example of a method of winding the reinforcing fibers into a wrap around the water-absorbent fiber bundle will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing a method for producing artificial moss of the present invention,
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing one example of the artificial moss.

In FIG. 1, a fiber bundle 1 such as a sliver or a multifilament passes through a guide roll 2 and a feed roll 3,
It is fed below the take-up roll 7 through the hollow shaft of the hollow spindle 6. The hollow spindle 6 is provided with a cone 4 wound with reinforcing fibers, and the rotation of the hollow spindle 6 causes the reinforcing fibers 5 to be wound around the fiber bundle 1. The number of turns is preferably about 20 to 200 turns / m. The wound fiber is wound on a paper tube by a surface drive type winder 9 from a take-up roll 7 through a free roll 8, and the cheese is wound.
10 is obtained.

In the present invention, the bonding between the water-absorbing fiber bundle and the reinforcing fiber is preferably performed by thermal bonding, but the heat bonding treatment involves heating the cheese 10 to a temperature equal to or higher than the heat bonding temperature of the heat-adhering fiber between the water-absorbing fiber bundle and the reinforcing fiber. It is performed by This heat treatment can be performed by using an independent heat treatment machine, or the free roll 8 shown in FIG.
A heat treatment machine may be provided between the winder 9 and the winder 9 so that the heat treatment can be performed simultaneously with the winding.

The winding of the reinforcing fiber may be not only a single winding as shown in FIG. 1 but also a double winding in which the reinforcing fiber is once wound in the S direction and further wound in the Z direction.

The artificial water moss obtained in this manner becomes a string-like material in which the reinforcing fibers 5 are wound around the water-absorbent fiber bundle 1 as shown in FIG. The string may be cut to about 10-200 mm depending on the application. Although secondary processing can be performed on a knitted product, a laminated product, and the like, it is better to keep the cord shape in consideration of processing cost and handling. For example, as a soil water retention material for house cultivation, it can be used by being embedded in the soil as it is in a string form. In addition, as artificial water moss such as houseplants, the length is about 10-20
It can be cut to 0 mm before use.

The artificial moss according to the present invention has a high water retention property and can be used in any form of a string or a cut piece, so that it can be used at the time of embedding, removal from soil, and when used as artificial moss. Excellent in nature.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to examples. In addition, the measurement of each physical property was performed on condition shown below.

Water retention: 150 ml of tap water is taken in a 300 ml beaker. Put about 0.25 to 0.30 g of water retention material cut into appropriate lengths with scissors and put 1
Absorb with stirring for 0 minutes. Then, the water retention material is taken out, and left horizontally for 5 minutes on a 32 mesh wire net to drain. Let the weight after draining be a (g).

Tensile strength: according to JIS-L-1013, test length 10cm, tensile speed 10
It was measured under the condition of cm / min.

Examples 1 to 4 100% of Lanseal F (trade name of Xlan Co., 5D × 51 mm; water absorption 4500%), which is an acrylic-based water-absorbent fiber, and a polyolefin of 3D / f × 64 mm as the water-absorbent fiber Heat-adhesive composite fiber [PP, melting point 168 ° C (core) /
HDPE, melting point: 132 ° C. (sheath)] were mixed at a ratio of 30%, 20%, and 5%, respectively, and applied to a card machine to form a sliver of 1 meter count, thereby obtaining a water-absorbing fiber bundle. Using this sliver, a composite monofilament having a fineness of 100 D / f [PP, melting point 168 ° C. (core) / HDPE, melting point 132 ° C. (sheath)] is used as a reinforcing fiber, and the number of turns is 130 to 200 using an apparatus as shown in FIG.
Twist / m helical wound fiber was produced and once wound on cheese.
Next, the fiber was pulled out from this cheese, heat-treated for 2 minutes 30 seconds using a hot air dryer set at 145 ° C., wound up with a winder, and the water-absorbent fiber bundle and the reinforcing fiber were heat-bonded in a helical shape, about 4 mm in diameter. A string-like water retention material was obtained. Table 1 shows the physical properties of this water retention material such as the water retention amount.

Table 1 shows that the water-absorbent fiber bundle was mixed with the heat-adhesive conjugate fiber (No. 1, 2, 3), and the reinforcing fiber was wound more times without mixing (No. 4). It can be seen that the water retention rate is as high as 1600% or more, and the strength is as high as 5000g or more. Therefore, the product according to the present invention is excellent in handleability when used as artificial water moss and a water retention material for soil. In Nos. 1, 2, and 3, the core fiber bundle itself was also thermally bonded.

〔The invention's effect〕

The agricultural water retention material of the present invention has a high water retention rate and a high strength. Moreover, since it can be used in the form of a string or in the form of a cut piece, the handleability is excellent.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an apparatus for producing a water retaining material of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sketch showing an example of the water retaining material. 1 ... fiber bundle, 2 ... guide, 3 ... feed roll, 4 ...
... cone, 5 ... reinforcing fiber, 6 ... hollow spindle, 7
...... Taking roll, 8 ... Free roll, 9 ... Winder, 10 ... Cheese.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A water-absorbent fiber bundle containing at least 20% by weight of superabsorbent fibers is wound into a helical shape with reinforcing fibers containing at least 30% by weight of a heat-adhesive conjugate fiber, and the water-absorbent fiber bundle and the reinforcing fibers are bonded together. Artificial water moss characterized by being made. 2. The water-absorbent fiber bundle contains 20 to 95% by weight of the high water-absorbent fiber.
2. The artificial water moss according to claim 1, wherein said artificial water moss is made of 80 to 5% by weight of a heat-adhesive conjugate fiber and is heat-adhered.