JPS5951630B2 - Feather-like polyester fiber - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to feather-like polyester fibers whose physical properties are similar to natural feathers.

Natural feathers are the feathers of waterfowl, the highest grade being the softest part of the feathers called down, the next being the back part called mixed down, and the lower grade being the feathers from the wings. The greatest characteristics of feathers are their fluffy texture and high heat retention.In line with these, feathers automatically contract, expand, absorb moisture, and repel water in response to changes in the outside air, reducing sweat during sleep. It absorbs and releases just the right amount of water, so you always feel refreshed.

Therefore, futons using feathers are considered to exhibit excellent heat retention, bulk, compressibility, recovery properties, and moisture permeability.

In recent years, attempts have been made to develop synthetic fibers for cotton padding that have the characteristics of natural feathers.

One way to do this is, for example, by treating synthetic fibers with various silicone-based finishing agents to lower the coefficient of friction between the fibers, or by changing the crimp characteristics of the fibers themselves.)
There are methods to improve the flexibility, recovery properties, drape properties, etc. of cotton padding, and methods to give a feather-like appearance to the shape of single synthetic fibers or aggregates thereof.

However, in the former method, due to the unique characteristics of synthetic fibers, when used for stuffing, the recovery force and recovery speed after compression deformation are higher than those of natural feathers, and the performance as stuffing is not as good as that of feathers. There is a considerable difference.

Moreover, in the latter method, productivity is low because special processing is required, and the performance as a stuffing material is also insufficient.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide polyester fibers (herein referred to as feather-like polyester fibers) that have physical properties similar to that of feathers, such as bulkiness, recovery rate, recovery speed, and drapability. is a feather-like polyester fiber to which a silicone-based finishing agent and an antistatic agent have been applied, and which is characterized by having a horseshoe-shaped cross-section.

In the present invention, a horseshoe-shaped cross-sectional shape means a circular or elliptical hollow shape with a partially cutout and a substantially uniform wall thickness d, preferably having a circular diameter ab and a cutout as shown in the drawings. The width C is 0.02mm < a < 0.05mm 0.015m
m<b<0.04mm0.005mm<C<
It is in the range of 0.013 mm.

The fibers having such a cross-sectional shape are preferably polyester fibers, and preferably have crimps to facilitate cotton production.

The crimp may be either a mechanical crimp or a natural crimp, and methods for applying the crimp include a method using a push-type or gear-type crimper, a method of applying a crimp to a latent pressure by asymmetric cooling, or composite spinning. After making it clear, a method is adopted to make it obvious.

In the present invention, silicone-based finishing agents include siloxanes such as dimethylpolysiloxane and methylhydrodienepolysiloxane, and modified siloxanes such as aminopolysiloxane and epoxypolysiloxane, and these may be used alone or as a mixture. There may be.

In addition, silicone-based finishing agents containing modified siloxanes can be permanently processed for smoothness and flexibility by curing at 120 to 150°C with modified siloxanes or with amine-based solidifying agents or silane coupling agents. be.

The silicone-based finishing agent is applied to tow-like fibers or single fibers in the form of an emulsion by dipping, spraying, roll coating, etc., but the amount of adhesion to the fibers is 0.1
~0.5% by weight.

This improves the smoothness of the fibers and reduces the coefficient of friction.

When a silicone-based finishing agent is applied to fibers, the smoothness of the fibers is improved, but static electricity damage tends to occur, resulting in poor cotton-making properties.

In other words, due to the generation of static electricity in the fiber manufacturing process,
Various troubles are likely to occur, especially during cotton manufacturing, when cotton gets wrapped around the cylinder of the card, making it impossible to operate, and when using a futon, static electricity problems are also likely to occur.

To solve this problem, it is necessary to mix the antistatic agent with the silicone-based finish or apply it to the fibers after the silicone-based finish has been applied.

As the antistatic agent, surfactants such as alkyl phosphates, polyoxyethylene alkyl ethers, and polyoxyethylene alkylamides are used.

The ratio of silicone finishing agent and antistatic agent applied to the fibers is as follows:
Preferably it is in the range of 5:5 to 8:2.

Note that the fineness and fiber length of the polyester fiber according to the present invention are not particularly limited, and may be a fineness and fiber length that are generally employed for stuffing, for example, a fineness of 3 to 15.
The fiber length is selected within the range of 35 to 105 mm.

When the polyester fiber according to the present invention is used as batting in futons, the physical properties of the batting are extremely similar to those of feathers, but this is because the fibers have a special horseshoe-shaped cross-sectional shape. It is determined that this is due to.

Examples of the present invention will be shown below.

Examples and Comparative Examples Polyethylene terephthalate with an intrinsic viscosity of 0.65 in a phenol/tetrachloroethane (1:1) solvent was heated at 290°C.
The fibers are melt-spun separately using a horseshoe-shaped nozzle hole and a circular nozzle hole, cooled asymmetrically in the cross-sectional direction of the fiber, wound up, stretched by a conventional method, and then heated in a relaxed state.
Four types of crimped fibers were obtained.

These four types of fibers have a viscosity of approximately 20.0 at 25°C.
00 centistokes, aminopolysiloxane 8.5
1.5 parts of γ-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane and 6 parts of cetyl phosphate potash salt was sprayed uniformly so that the solid content was 0.45% by weight based on the fibers. The fibers were then dried by heating at a temperature of 130°C for 30 minutes, and finally dried at 60°C.
It was cut into a length of 4 mm.

Next, take 200g of each of the above four types of fibers, make each web using a test card, and roll these webs into 50cm
The pieces were cut to be 50 cm wide and 50 cm long, and then stacked and filled into bags with cotton broadcloth lining measuring 60 crn x 55 cm to make four types of futons for testing.

For feathers, test futons were made by filling bags in the same way, and a load of 0.2 g/cm was placed on each of these test futons, and the thickness (h/mm) was measured after 1 minute. This was considered bulky.

Then load 5g/cm2.10g 7cm2 and 20
g 7 cm2 was placed on each test futon, the thickness h2 mm) was measured after 1 minute, and the thickness h2 mm was calculated and this was taken as the compression ratio (%) at each load.

Furthermore, a load of 0.2 g 7 cm2, excluding the above load, was placed on each test futon, the thickness h33 mm) was measured after 1 minute, -HX 100 was calculated, and this was calculated as the recovery rate at each load ( %).

Furthermore, 100g each of carded web and feathers made from the above four types of fibers were placed in a bag with a cotton broad lining similar to the above.
Fill the futon separately, make a futon for measuring drape properties, place it on the desk so that the diagonal line of the 7 ton line matches the edge of the desk, place a fall prevention way l- on the desk top of this futon, and let it hang down. The angle between the main direction of the futon and the horizontal line was measured alternately in two diagonal directions of the futon, the average value was calculated, and this was taken as drapability.

The results obtained are as shown in the table below, and from this table it can be seen that the futon using the fibers according to the present invention has high bulkiness, and has values closer to feathers in terms of compression ratio, recovery ratio, drapeability, and feel. That is clear.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show cross-sectional shapes of fibers according to the invention. In the figure, a shows the inner long axis, b shows the inner rectangular diameter, C shows the width of the notch, and d shows the wall thickness.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Feather-like polyester fibers to which a silicone-based finishing agent and an antistatic agent have been applied, and which have a horseshoe-shaped cross-section.