JPS6250594B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a fabric containing ultrafine fibers, and more particularly to a method of manufacturing a fabric that is a mixture of ultrafine fibers and other fibers and in which the ultrafine fibers do not selectively fall off. Conventionally, in order to obtain fabrics made of ultrafine fibers, there is a method of producing fabrics made of sea-island type fibers and then removing sea components by chemical treatment. When the sea component is removed, voids are created between the fibers and the binding force between the fibers is reduced. Particularly in products that are a mixture of ultrafine fibers and other fibers, the movement of the ultrafine fibers becomes rapid, causing problems such as misalignment, fluffing, pilling, and in extreme cases, the ultrafine fibers falling off. This phenomenon is more severe when the ultrafine fibers are short fibers than long fibers. This becomes a big problem in the case of velvet or velvet fabrics, where the pile yarn is made of ultrafine fibers and the ground yarn is made of other fibers. In order to avoid these conventional drawbacks, we attempted to use resin processing to fix the shape through heat setting and prevent shedding. However, heat setting does not solve the problem,
Resin processing has the effect of preventing shedding, but the texture becomes hard, and other problems arise, such as the naps of the raised fabric falling down completely, or the naps being fixed in a disarrayed state, resulting in a decrease in quality. , which did not lead to a solution. On the other hand, dyed fabrics using ultrafine fibers have the disadvantage that it is difficult to obtain a sufficient hue. Significant amounts of dye must be used to obtain especially deep colors. This becomes a more serious problem in terms of processing costs as the single yarn denier becomes smaller, and is even said to be a fatal drawback of ultrafine fibers. The inventors of the present invention have made extensive studies to avoid these conventional drawbacks, and as a result, have discovered a fabric manufacturing method that can solve this problem. That is, the present invention has the following configuration. ``A fabric is formed from sea-island fibers made of at least two types of polymers and cellulose fibers, and a combination of a step of removing at least one component polymer of the sea-island fibers and a step of mercerizing the cellulose fibers with an alkaline solution. A method for manufacturing a fabric containing ultrafine fibers, characterized in that the present invention utilizes the fact that the voids created by the removal of the sea component from sea-island type fibers are compensated for by volumetric swelling due to mercerization of cellulose fibers. As a result of examining various fibers to be used in combination with the sea-island type fibers for this purpose, we found that it is impossible to use anything other than cellulose fibers. When cellulose fibers are mercerized and swollen with alkali, they become 3 to 4 times their initial volume, yet they do not become hard. There are no fibers other than cellulose fibers that exhibit this kind of volumetric swelling, and even if synthetic fibers are designed that exhibit this kind of swelling,
The disadvantage is that it is often hard. In addition to the above-mentioned volumetric swelling of cotton, the present invention can also add the color development and hygroscopicity of mercerized cellulose fibers. Next, the present invention will be explained in detail. The sea-island type fiber as used in the present invention is a fiber made of at least two types of polymers, and the fiber cross section is formed of a sea component and an island component. The island component is divided into a plurality of parts depending on the sea component, and the state thereof may be regular or irregular. Moreover, the cross-sectional shape of the island component is not restricted and is not limited to only one component. A schematic cross-sectional example of the main sea-island type fibers applied to the present invention is shown in FIG. In Figure 1, a-1, b
-1,...i-1 is the sea component, a-2, b-
2,...i-2 is an island component. d-2, d-3
indicate the different island components of the polymer. The sea-island type fiber polymer may be selected from two or more polymers having different solubility and decomposition properties for drugs, as shown below. Namely, polyethylene terephthalate, its copolymers (isophthalic acid, isophthalic acid sodium sulfonate, etc.), polyoxyethylene benzoate, polybutylene terephthalate, nylon 6, nylon 66, polyacrylonitrile copolymers, polypropylene, polyethylene, polyvinyl. There are alcohol-based, polyurethane-based, polystyrene, etc. Among the above, the preferred combination of polymers is one in which the sea component polymer is more soluble and degradable by drugs than the island component polymer, or a combination in which the island component polymer is not dissolved or decomposed at all and only the sea component polymer is used. A combination that completely dissolves is most preferred. Practical examples of combinations of fiber polymers and agents for dissolving and removing sea component polymers are shown below, but the present invention is not limited thereto. Island component polymer A
When A is polyethylene terephthalate and sea component polymer B is polystyrene, the chemical to be applied is triclene; when A is polyethylene terephthalate and B is a sodium isophthalate sulfonate copolymerized polyethylene terephthalate, caustic soda is used, and A is nylon 6. Alternatively, in 66, when B is a combination of isophthalic acid sodium sulfonate, treatment is performed with caustic soda, and when A is a combination of polyethylene terephthalate and B is nylon-6, treatment is performed with formic acid. The sea-island type fibers may be long fibers or short fibers. Next, the cellulose fibers used in the present invention will be described. Natural fibers such as cotton and hemp are used as cellulose fibers, and rayon and acetate are used as regenerated cellulose fibers, but cotton is the most preferred in terms of inventive effect, utility value, and alkali resistance.
The present invention will be explained below by citing cotton as a representative example of cellulose fiber. Next, the fabric applied to the present invention will be explained. The term "fabric" as used in the present invention refers to fiber sheet-like materials such as knitted fabrics, woven fabrics, and napped products. The fabric is composed of sea-island fibers, cotton, or other fibers. Examples of mixed-knitted fabrics include single-layer fabrics with sea-island composite fibers in the weft and cotton in the warp, double-layer fabrics with sea-island composite fibers in the front weft, cotton in the back weft, and cotton or other fibers in the warp. There is a velvet fabric that has sea-island type fibers in the pile yarn and cotton in the ground yarn.
Knitted fabrics also include those that use cotton on the front and sea-island fibers on the back. Furthermore, there are fabrics made by creating blended yarns, intertwisted yarns, and covering yarns from sea-island fibers and cotton. The fabric made of sea-island type fibers obtained as described above is treated with chemicals to dissolve or decompose the sea component polymer, thereby producing a fabric made of ultrafine fibers. Before removing this sea component, it is also good to perform desizing and scouring and, in some cases, heat setting. When piloerection is required, it can be performed before or after removing the sea component. There are various types of raising means such as velvet weaving, raising, and buffing, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The fabric thus obtained is then mercerized using an alkaline solution. This method mercerizes the cotton that makes up the fabric with an alkaline solution, shrinks the fabric, and swells the cotton to fill the voids between fibers created by fixing the fabric's shape and removing sea components. . The mercerization processing conditions for this purpose must be such that the fabric is sufficiently shrunk and the cotton is further swollen. The alkaline liquid used is an alkali metal hydroxide such as caustic soda, potassium hydroxide, or lithium hydroxide, but caustic soda is preferred for practical use. A concentration of 20 to 35°Be′ is appropriate, and the effect remains the same at 35°Be′ or higher. As the temperature during treatment increases, the degree of swelling of cotton decreases, so a room temperature of 15 to 20°C is sufficient. The treatment time may be around 60 seconds if the permeability to the fabric is sufficient.
Continuous processing is therefore possible. Depending on the case, a batch type may also be used. Needless to say, continuous processing is preferable from the viewpoint of workability and processing stability. Next, in order to further shrink the fabric and swell the cotton, it is important to perform the treatment without tension, which is an important point for enhancing the effects of the present invention. When mercerizing in batches, there is no problem since the fabric is free in both the width and length directions, but when mercerizing in continuous mode, care must be taken to avoid reducing the tension on the fabric so as not to reduce the effect. be. In other words, when cotton is used in the width direction of the fabric, a little tension is applied in the length direction of the fabric, and when cotton is formed in the width and length directions of the fabric, the length is It must be processed so that the direction is in a state of no tension. The effect of the present invention is greater if mercerization is performed after the sea component is removed, but if the fabric structure is loose and can be easily contracted, mercerization may be performed before the sea component is removed. The fabric made of ultrafine fibers treated in this way is dyed, textured, and finished to produce a product. Buffing, shearing, coating, etc. may be applied as appropriate. The products obtained by the method described above are of good quality, with no misalignment, no pilling, little shedding in the case of napped products, and dense naps. Furthermore, by mercerizing cotton, the dyeability is increased, the lack of color in ultrafine fibers can be compensated for, and furthermore, the moisture absorbing properties of cotton can be imparted to the fabric. Next, examples of the present invention will be shown, but the present invention is not limited thereto. Example 1 The following sea-island composite fibers of 220D-24F were spun,
Stretched. Island component: polyethylene terephthalate Sea component: 5-sodium sulfoisophthalic acid
Ratio of molar copolymerized polyethylene terephthalate island component to sea component: 78:22 Number of islands: 13 Fiber cross-sectional structure: As shown in Figure 1 a. This sea-island type fiber is used as the front weft, No. 20 cotton thread is used as the back thread, and polyethylene terephthalate 50D-24F breria processed thread is used as the warp.The front weave is 5-ply satin and the back weave is 2/3 twill. A structural fabric was obtained. This fabric was passed through a hot water bath containing a scouring agent and a desizing agent at 98°C, dried, and then heat set at 160°C. Thereafter, buffing was performed four times using sandpaper with a grain size of 150 mesh in forward and reverse directions. Furthermore, it is passed through a hydraulic brushing machine 30 times.
A raised fabric consisting of long raised sea-island composite fibers was obtained. Next, this raised fabric was immersed in a 3% caustic soda aqueous solution at 98°C for 60 minutes to remove sea components.
Mercerization was performed by continuous treatment for 60 seconds in a 25% aqueous sodium hydroxide solution at 25°C under no tension, followed by washing with water and neutralization. Then, it is dyed brown using disperse dye and reactive dye using a Circular dyeing machine.
Combing, applying finishing agent, drying, and finish setting were performed. For comparison, polyethylene terephthalate 50D-24F processed yarn was used as the back weft, and a fabric was made under the same conditions as above and subjected to the same treatment as above. Naturally, since no cotton yarn is used, no mercerization treatment is performed, and no reactive dyes are used during dyeing.

[Table] The obtained product has no misalignment compared to the comparative product.
The nap is long in terms of nap quality with less hair loss.
It was detailed and of good quality. What's more, the cotton touch was visible on the back side, making it possible to obtain a brushed fabric that felt good against the skin. The depth of color was also greater than that of comparative products. Example 2 The following 75D-10F sea-island composite fiber was spun,
Stretched. Island component: Polyethylene terephthalate Sea component: Polystyrene Ratio of island component to sea component: 60:40 Fiber cross-sectional structure: As shown in Figure 1 a. Number of islands: 13 Then, this fiber was velvet-woven using a double velvet loom using 12S cotton yarn as a vertical pile yarn and a ground warp thread and a ground weft thread to obtain a velvet fabric with a cut length of 1.5 mm. This fabric was relaxed, desized and refined, dried and heated to 160°C, and the sea component was removed using trichlene. In this way, the velvet fabric whose pile yarns were made of ultrafine fibers was treated under the same conditions as in Example 1, and dyed dark blue with a disperse dye and a reactive dye using a UniAce dyeing machine. After that, a finishing agent was applied, and drying and finishing setting were performed. For comparison, a velvet fabric was made using 50D-17F polyester woolly yarn for the ground warp and back weft yarns, and was treated in exactly the same manner as above.

[Table] Compared to the comparative product, the obtained product had less shedding, a denser nap, and a deeper color. Example 3 A 5-ply satin-woven fabric was obtained in which the following spun yarn made of sea-island composite fiber and cotton was used as the weft and 100S cotton yarn was used as the warp. Sea-island composite fiber: 1.5d x cut length 38mm Island component: polyethylene terephthalate Sea component: polystyrene Ratio of island component to sea component: 60:40 Number of islands: 13 Island fiber cross-sectional view: As shown in Figure 1a. Spun yarn: No. 100 twin yarn Sea-island type composite fiber and cotton blend ratio: 70:30 Next, it is passed through a hot water bath containing a scouring agent and a desizing agent at 98℃, and after drying, it is heat set at 160℃, and then The sea component polystyrene was dissolved and removed by passing it through a trichlene bath. Then, mercerization treatment was performed under the same conditions as in Example 1 to shrink in the vertical and horizontal directions. After heat setting at 180℃, the fabric was dyed dark blue using disperse dyes and reactive dyes using a Circular dyeing machine. Then, a finishing agent was applied and a dry finish was set. Since the blended yarn was used as the weft yarn, only the cotton contracted due to mercerization, and the ultrafine fibers formed loops on the surface of the fabric, resulting in a good surface touch. In addition, there was no misalignment due to dyeing, and a good fabric with little shedding could be obtained. In terms of quality, the ultra-fine fibers had a slimy texture, and by blending and weaving with cotton, they created a deep hue.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 shows an example of a cross section of a sea-island type fiber preferably used in the present invention. a-1, b-1, c-1,
d-1, e-1, f-1, g-1, h-1, i-
1 is the sea component, a-2, b-2, c-2, d-
2, d-3, e-2, f-2, g-2, h-2,
i-2 indicates an island component.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Forming a fabric from sea-island fibers made of at least two types of polymers and cellulose fibers, removing at least one component polymer of the sea-island fibers, and mercerizing the cellulose fibers with an alkaline solution. 1. A method for producing a fabric containing ultrafine fibers, which comprises performing a combination of steps for producing ultrafine fibers. 2. A method for producing a fabric containing ultrafine fibers according to claim 1, characterized in that a fabric is used in which the pile yarns are sea-island type fibers and the ground yarns are cellulose fibers.