JPS61171503A - Method for centrifugal molding of yarn bundle end part of hollow yarns - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the disturbance in the arrangement or interval of a yarn bundle end parts caused by the levitation of the yarn bundle end part from a resin solution, by fixing a wt. plate to the cut surface of the end part of the hollow yarn bundle by an adhesive before centrifugal molding. CONSTITUTION:After the end parts of a hollow yarn bundle 1 were cut, wt. plates 4, 4' comprising iron are fixed to the cut surfaces 2, 2' by adhesives 5, 5' so as to entirely cover said surfaces 2, 2' and, at the same time, the opening parts of hollow yarns at the cut surfaces are hermetically sealed with the adhesives 5, 5'. Next, this yarn bundle is inserted in the molds 7, 7' of the rotatable support 6 mounted in a centrifugal molding apparatus and a curable resin solution is supplied into the molds 7, 7'. The support 6 is rotated at a high speed by the motor contacted with a rotary shaft 9 and the resin solution around the yarn bundle end part is solidified by centrifugal molding to form a hollow yarn element.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field of the Invention] This invention relates to a fiber bundle obtained by bundling a large number of hollow fibers (membranes) having gas separation performance etc. by an appropriate method.
The ends of the yarn bundle (either one end or both ends are fine) are centrifugally molded with a (thermo)setting resin, and the ends of the yarn bundle are sealed and bonded. After cutting the resin wall formed on the resin wall to open the individual hollow fibers, the fibers are inserted into the outer tube for the module, which has a gas inlet and a gas outlet, and then an appropriate seal is applied to perform gas separation. It is possible to form modules (fluid separation units) such as

[Description of prior art]

Conventionally, the method of centrifugally molding the end of a bundle of hollow fibers with a curable resin to form a resin wall at the end of the bundle of fibers includes, for example,
Japanese Patent Publication No. 44-5526, Japanese Patent Publication No. 50-14958
This was known in Publication No. 5, etc.

In the known centrifugal molding method, for example, the tips of the ends of the hollow fiber bundle are sealed in some way, and the fiber bundle is placed on a rotatable support of a centrifugal molding device and simultaneously fixed to the support. Inserting the end of the yarn bundle into a mold, and supplying a curable resin into the inner mold into which the end of the yarn bundle is inserted.
Generally, a resin wall is formed at the end of the yarn bundle by centrifugal molding while rotating the support.

However, in the known method, during the rotation of the rotating support of the centrifugal molding device, the ends of the fiber bundles whose tips are sealed are light (low specific gravity) because each hollow fiber contains air. Moreover, as the resin liquid in the mold is subjected to a large centrifugal force due to rotation, the ends of the yarn bundle are lifted from the resin liquid in the mold, and as a result, the shape of the yarn bundle in the middle may be deformed, or the yarn bundle may be deformed. The problem is that the packing density of the bundle partially changes, or the ends of the yarn bundle move or bend due to the above-mentioned lifting, which disturbs the arrangement, spacing, etc. of the ends of the yarn bundle. It occurs.

In addition, with known methods, it is difficult to place the end of the yarn bundle in the center of the mold and to form a uniform gap between the periphery of the yarn bundle and the inner surface of the mold, and the position cannot be determined. In order to do this, some kind of means was needed to hold the prefecture, and as a result, the centrifugal molding equipment had a complicated structure and its operation was complicated.

[Requirements and effects of the present invention]

As a result of intensive research into a method that does not cause the problems of the known centrifugal molding methods described above, the inventors fixed a "weight plate" to the cut surface of the end of the bundle of hollow fibers with an adhesive.
We have discovered that the above-mentioned problems can be solved at once by a method of centrifugal molding using a centrifugal molding device using a yarn bundle with a weight plate fixed to the end and a curable resin liquid.
The centrifugal molding method of this invention has been completed.
1. That is, this invention involves cutting the end of a fiber bundle in which a large number of hollow fibers are bundled in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of the fiber bundle, and cutting the ends of the fiber bundle into a plane in which each hollow fiber is open. Next, a weight plate capable of completely covering the cut surface of the yarn bundle is fixed to the cut surface with an adhesive, and at the same time, the opening of the hollow fiber on the cut surface is closed with the adhesive. Then, the yarn bundle is placed on a rotatable support built in a centrifugal molding device for centrifugally molding the ends of the yarn bundle, and the yarn bundle is fixed to the support. Pushing the end of the yarn bundle into a mold, and further supplying a curable resin liquid into the mold into which the end of the yarn bundle is inserted, centrifugally molding the end of the yarn bundle. The present invention relates to a method for centrifugal molding of the end portion of a bundle of hollow fibers.

According to the method of the present invention, since the weight plate j is fixed with adhesive to the cut surface of the end of the bundle of hollow fibers to be inserted into the mold of the centrifugal molding device, the support of the centrifugal molding device is rotated. Even if centrifugal force is applied to the entire mold, the centrifugal force applied to the weight plate j as described above will cause the yarn bundle to be strongly pulled in the direction of its tip (towards the bottom of the mold), It is possible to completely prevent the end of the resin from floating up due to buoyancy within the resin liquid.

In addition, the weight plate 1 at the end of the yarn bundle also has the role of positioning the yarn bundle by properly arranging and fixing the end of the yarn bundle at the center inside the mold. In order to place the yarn bundle in the proper position within the mold, no special means for holding it for positioning is required.

Furthermore, since the weight plate J at the end of the yarn bundle is fixed with adhesive, the opening at the tip of the yarn bundle is inevitably sealed with adhesive. The step of sealing the opening of the fiber bundle can be omitted, and the arrangement of each hollow fiber at the end of the fiber bundle can be maintained appropriately even during centrifugal molding.

In other words, in the method of the present invention, the above-mentioned three effects can be achieved at the same time by using a particularly important requirement: ``fixing the weight plate'' to the cut surface of the tip of the yarn bundle with adhesive. It is a very practical and effective method.

[Detailed Description of the Present Invention] Hereinafter, the method of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an example of a bundle of hollow fibers used in the method of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a state in which the adhesive is fixed.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of a rotatable yarn bundle element in the centrifugal molding device.

In the method of the present invention, first, as shown in FIG. A direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of the yarn bundle 1 at an angle of 90° ±5°, particularly preferably at an angle of 90° to the longitudinal direction of the yarn bundle 1
The hollow fibers are cut in the transverse direction at an angle of ±1°°, and each hollow fiber is opened in a fixed plane, and the surface formed by the tip of each hollow fiber is substantially planar. This creates a cutting surface of 2.2°.

The hollow fiber bundle 1 is made of, for example, an organic material (thermoplastic polymeric material such as cellulose, polypropylene, acryloniloryl, It is obtained by using hollow fibers for fluid (gas, etc.) separation made of heat-resistant polymer materials such as polysulfone, aromatic polyamide, aromatic polyimide, etc.) or inorganic materials, and converging the hollow fibers using a known method. The yarn bundle may be either a yarn bundle with a core tube inside or a coreless yarn bundle, or a “yarn bundle in which each hollow fiber has a cross arrangement” obtained by a known method.
, or "a fiber bundle in which each hollow fiber is arranged substantially in parallel."

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the aforementioned yarn bundle 1 is a yarn whose periphery is bound in 1 to 5 places with a suitable binding material 3, preferably an elastic binding material. It may be a bundle.

The hollow fibers may have an outer diameter of about 50 to 1000 μm and a tube wall thickness of about 10 to 500 μm, and may be formed by converging the hollow fibers. The above-mentioned yarn bundle has an outer diameter of about 1 to 50 cm,
In particular, it is about 5 to 40010, and its length is about 20 to 5
00cI111 In particular, it may be about 25 to 400 cm. In addition, the "filling density of hollow fibers", which indicates the ratio of the area occupied by all hollow fibers to the total cross-sectional area of the fiber bundle, is
It may be about 20 to 80%, especially about 25 to 70%.

In the method of the present invention, after cutting the ends of the yarn bundle 1 as described above, as shown in FIG.
A weight plate 4.4°j, which can cover the entire area, is fixed to the cut surface using an adhesive 5.5°, and at the same time, the opening of the hollow fiber on the cut surface is sealed with the adhesive. This requirement is particularly important.

In the method of this invention, the one-weight plate 4.4" must always form cut surfaces at both ends of the yarn bundle, and must not adhere to either of the cut surfaces, as shown in FIG. For example, although not shown in the figure, cut surfaces are formed at both ends of the yarn bundle, and a weight plate 1 is fixed to only one of the cut surfaces, or the yarn bundle is It is also possible to form a cut surface only on one side and fix a "weight plate" only to that cut surface.

The above-mentioned "weight slope" has sufficient specific gravity and weight to prevent the ends of the yarn bundle from lifting up as described above, and is capable of covering the entire cut surface of the yarn bundle. If so, the material and structure thereof are not particularly limited. In this invention, the above-mentioned "weight plate" is made of iron,
Metals such as copper, aluminum, lead, zinc, nickel, and tin, as well as alloys containing these as main ingredients, such as brass,
゛It may be a disk-shaped one made of an alloy such as aluminum alloy, stainless steel, or solder, and a part or whole of the metal disk may be made of a suitable resin (such as the one used for the adhesive mentioned above). It may also be a disc-shaped material coated with a similar curable resin, heat-resistant resin, etc.). In this invention, the "weighted material" has a thickness of usually about 1 to 5011 mm, particularly about 5 to 4 Qmm, and a diameter of 1.00 to 1.50 times the outer diameter of the yarn bundle. Especially 1
．． It is preferable that it be in the form of a disc with a size of about 0.01 to 1.30 times.

Any type of adhesive may be used as the adhesive 5.5 as long as it can fix the bundle of hollow fibers and the weight plate and seal the opening of each hollow fiber. often,
In particular, it may be either a room temperature curable resin or a thermosetting resin, and the rotational viscosity at the time of adhesion is about 0.01 to
Liquid adhesives with a poise of 10,000 poise, particularly about 0.05 to 1,000 poise, are suitable, such as adhesives made of urethane resins, epoxy resins, acrylate resins, silicone resins, and phenolic resins. be able to.

When attaching the weight plate to the cut surface of the yarn bundle with adhesive as described above, it is necessary to select an appropriate adhesive and adjust the fixing operation so that the adhesive does not penetrate too deeply into each hollow fiber. It is appropriate to do so.

In the method of this invention, as described above, after the weight plate is fixed to the cut surface of the yarn bundle, as shown in FIG. The yarn bundle is placed on a built-in rotatable support 6, and molds 7.7 are installed at both ends of the support 6.
The end of the yarn bundle is inserted and arranged inside the mold 7.7'' into which the end of the yarn bundle is inserted, and a curable resin liquid is supplied to the inside of the mold 7. The support body 6 is connected to the rotating shaft 9
is rotated at high speed in the direction of the arrow by a drive motor (not shown) connected to the support, and each resin liquid around the end of the yarn bundle placed in the mold on this support is solidified by centrifugal molding. ,
A hollow fiber yarn bundle element having both a resin wall 8.8'' and a weight plate 4.4'' at the end of the yarn bundle 1 as shown in FIG. 4 is formed.

When the curable resin is supplied to the mold,
""6""r -aaL"i'ff3 K = J:,
v ”Cti!if(!81af-f& ,,)
Any material may be used as long as it has sufficient strength, and in particular, it may be a room temperature curable resin or a thermosetting resin.
For example, when supplying a curable resin liquid to a mold, the rotational viscosity is about 0.01 to 5000 poise, especially 0.05 to 50 poise.
A liquid resin with a poise of about 0 poise is suitable, and may be the same as the adhesive described above, such as urethane resin, epoxy resin, acrylate resin, silicone resin, or phenol resin. The following curable resins can be mentioned.

Furthermore, as the above-mentioned centrifugal forming apparatus, a centrifugal forming apparatus similar to that conventionally used for forming a resin wall at the end of a yarn bundle can be used, and the type thereof is particularly specified. isn't it.

The hollow fiber bundle element obtained by the method of this invention is
After cutting the middle part of the resin wall formed at the end of the yarn bundle in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the yarn bundle to open each hollow fiber built in the resin wall, Insert the bundle element into the outer tube for the fluid separation unit, seal, and
Therefore, seven fluid separation units can be formed.

[Examples and comparative examples]

Example 1 Polyimide hollow fiber with fluid separation performance (outer diameter 400μ
For the bundle of yarn obtained by converging 5,000 yarns (m, inner diameter 210 μm), both ends of the yarn bundle were cut with a straight blade so that they became planes approximately perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the yarn bundle. ,
Yarn bundle as shown in Figure 1 (outer diameter 4cm, length 37cm)
was created.

On both sides of the yarn bundle, the outer diameter is 5cI11, the thickness is 2cm,
A "weight plate" weighing 85g (average specific gravity 2.2),
The fibers were fixed with an epoxy resin adhesive, and the opening of each hollow fiber on the cut surface of the fiber bundle was sealed (see FIG. 2).

This yarn bundle is placed on a rotatable support of a centrifugal forming device, and after inserting both ends of the yarn bundle into two molds fixed to both ends of the support, the yarn bundle is centrifuged by rotation. Using force, room temperature curing epoxy resin (specific gravity 1.2) is supplied into the two molds, and the ends of the yarn bundle are centrifugally molded to form resin walls at both ends of the yarn bundle. A yarn bundle element with a thread bundle element was manufactured (see Fig. 4).

In the obtained fiber bundle element, the fiber bundle was located at the center of the resin wall, and no bending or disorder of the arrangement of the hollow fibers was observed. When the resin walls molded at both ends of the yarn bundle element were cut in a direction approximately perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the yarn bundle, a yarn bundle in which each hollow fiber passed through the resin wall and opened was obtained. .

Comparative Example 1 A yarn bundle with both ends cut off obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 was used, and only an epoxy resin adhesive was applied to both cut surfaces of the yarn bundle, and the "weight plate" was completely removed. A fiber bundle element having resin walls at both ends was produced in the same manner as in Example 1, except that only the openings of each hollow fiber protruding from the cut surface of the fiber bundle were sealed.

In the obtained fiber bundle element, the tips of each hollow fiber are bent in the direction opposite to the direction of rotation during centrifugal molding of the fiber bundle, and the ends of the hollow fibers are lifted up and do not form in the resin wall. The bundle of hollow fibers had a bulge, and the arrangement of the hollow fibers was disordered.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a bundle of hollow fibers used in the method of the present invention, and Fig. 2 shows a "weight plate" bonded to the cut surface of the end of the bundle of hollow fibers. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a state in which the adhesive is fixed. FIG. 3 is a planar cross-sectional view illustrating a state in which the bundle of hollow fibers shown in FIG. 2 is arranged in a rotatable support and a mold fixed to this support in a centrifugal molding device. It is. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an example of a hollow fiber bundle element obtained by the method of the present invention. 1; Yarn bundle, 2; Cut surface, 3; Binding material, 4 or 4°;
Weight plate, 5 or 5゛; Adhesive, 6; Support, 7 or 7
゛; Mold, 8; Resin wall, 9; Rotating shaft. Patent applicant Tatsui Todoroki, Director of the Agency of Industrial Science and Technology

Claims (1)

[Claims] The ends of a fiber bundle in which a large number of hollow fibers are bundled are cut in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of the fiber bundle to form a planar shape in which each hollow fiber is open. Next, a weight plate capable of completely covering the cut surface of the yarn bundle is fixed to the cut surface with an adhesive, and at the same time, the openings of the hollow fibers on this cut surface are covered with the adhesive. Then, the yarn bundle is placed on a rotatable support built in a centrifugal forming device for centrifugally forming the ends of this yarn bundle, and the yarn bundle is fixed to the support. Inserting the end of the yarn bundle into a mold, and further supplying a curable resin liquid into the mold into which the end of the yarn bundle is inserted, centrifugally molding the end of the yarn bundle. Features: Centrifugal molding method for the ends of hollow fiber bundles.