KR20020086237A - Synthetic Fiber containing Powders with the Shape of Hollow Sphere - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A synthetic fiber containing hollow spherical particles comprising an inorganic matter, organic matter or composite material thereof is provided. Because the synthetic fiber is light in specific gravity, it can effectively solve heavy wear feeling as the defect of functional fiber. CONSTITUTION: This synthetic fiber contains hollow spherical particles having an apparent specific gravity of within 0.5, average particle size of below 0.5μm and maximum particle size of below 2μm, and is prepared by adding or coating a functional inorganic material to a hollow sphere. The functional inorganic material contains far infrared radiating material, conductive material, antibacterial material, electromagnetic wave absolving material, ultraviolet-ray shielding material, x-ray shielding material, deodorizing material, magnetic material and optical material.

Description

Synthetic Fiber containing Powders with the Shape of Hollow Sphere

The present invention relates to a synthetic fiber containing particles in the form of hollow spheres, and more particularly, due to the presence of hollow spheres in the fiber, it imparts lightness to the fibers and imparts various additional functions depending on the composition of the hollow spheres. It relates to a synthetic fiber that can be.

Recently, the interest in functional fibers has been increasing, and fibers having various characteristics have been developed. For example, synthetic fibers have been developed that provide functions such as far-infrared radiation, antimicrobial, antistatic, ultraviolet, magnetic, deodorant and electromagnetic shielding beneficial to the human body, some of which have been successfully marketed.

In order to obtain a fiber having the above-mentioned properties, it is common to put the inorganic particles that can impart the above properties into the fiber to have the desired properties. However, when the fiber is produced in this way, not only a lot of problems in the fiber manufacturing process occurs, but also the properties of the produced fiber itself are often worsened. In particular, there is a problem in that the weight of the inorganic particles are high in the fiber, the specific gravity of the fiber is high, and the heavy feeling is felt when wearing clothing made using the fiber.

An object of the present invention is to provide a fiber having various functions and low specific gravity. Another object of the present invention is to broaden the scope of application of functional fibers by making functional fibers easily replace ordinary fibers.

1 is an enlarged photograph of polystyrene microspheres having a uniform size

Figure 2 is an enlarged photo of the silica hollow sphere

Figure 3 is an enlarged photograph to confirm that the inside of the hollow silica sphere is empty

Synthetic fiber of the present invention is characterized in that it contains a hollow sphere made of inorganic or organic.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail.

When the inorganic particles are added when preparing the synthetic fiber, the specific gravity of the inorganic particles is much higher than the specific gravity of the resin for the synthetic fiber, so that the specific gravity of the fiber increases as the content of the inorganic material increases.

In the present invention, in order to solve the problem of increasing the specific gravity of the fiber, a hollow sphere (hollow sphere, hollow sphere) shape of the hollow is added to prepare a synthetic fiber. In order to effectively reduce the specific gravity by adding to the fiber, the apparent specific gravity of the hollow sphere used is preferably 0.5 or less. The hollow sphere having a specific gravity above this has a bad effect on the physical properties of the fiber because a large amount should be used to lower the specific gravity of the fiber.

Hollow spheres are used for various purposes, mainly used for the purpose of lightening the product using the empty space existing inside or to carry the effective material. That is, it is used as paint, plastic, rubber, synthetic wood, cosmetics, fireproof material, pesticide carrier. Commercially available inorganic hollow spheres include silica, alumina and fly ash, which vary in size, shape and particle size distribution depending on the purpose of use and price.

In terms of general particle size, if the particles are large, normal clogging of the pack during spinning or breaking of the fiber will prevent the production of normal yarn. This is not good, the physical properties of the fiber itself is made bad.

Therefore, the smaller the size of the hollow sphere may be said to be advantageous in terms of the fiber manufacturing process and the physical properties of the fiber. If you look at the approximate size range, fibers of about 1.5 denier or less, which are mainly used for clothing, have the average particle size of about 0.5 µm or less, 90% particle size of about 1 µm or less, and the maximum particle size of about 2 µm or less. There is no big problem in producing it. Of course, this value is not strictly applied. For example, in the case of spherical particles, the cohesion between the particles is small, so even if a little larger, no operational problem occurs. On the other hand, if the particles are smaller, it is a matter of course that less problems of the manufacturing process occur and a better product is obtained in terms of the physical properties of the fiber.

Many of the commercially available hollow spheres do not meet the above particle size requirements because their intended purpose is not to add to the finer parts such as fibers.

In addition, the range of the particle size is the result obtained from the inventors and the production process based on the inventors of the present inventors and the range of the shape and particle distribution of the particles even includes the case of irregular particles. In fact, hollow spheres with uniform particle size, excellent spherical shape, and few broken particles will have little cohesion between particles. Therefore, even hollow spheres having a particle size of about 1 μm, that is, having an average size of 1 μm, are large for producing fibers. The problem does not occur.

Hollow spheres made of organic materials, such as polystyrene, are also commercially available, and examples of methods for preparing hollow spheres of organic materials include US Pat. No. 4,427,863 and Korean Patent No. 80123. Organic hollow spheres are mainly used to increase the hiding power and whiteness by scattering the incident light due to the difference in refractive index between the inner pores and the shell polymer layers surrounding them.

In order to impart a function other than the effect of lightening the specific gravity of the fiber, there is a simple method of adding a powder of a material capable of exerting a desired function instead of the hollow sphere shape with the hollow sphere. However, this method of addition requires the addition of hollow spheres, which act to lower the specific gravity of the fibers, and powders of substances having different functions, respectively, so that the total amount of additives is increased, which adversely affects the fiber manufacturing process. Basic physical properties are also likely to deteriorate. So it's actually a good way to produce it, but it's not the best way.

Therefore, a more preferable method can be said to make the hollow particles themselves from a material having a desired function. For example, when synthesizing hollow spheres, if the hollow spheres are made of conductive powder, the synthetic fibers added with the hollow spheres may be light and have excellent antistatic properties.

There are several ways to obtain a desired hollow sphere in a uniform size. As an example, it is preferable to use microspheres of organic polymer as an intermediate to make a fine size as used in the present invention. That is, by forming a fine spherical particles of organic polymer using a method such as organic synthesis, coating the desired material in a thin thickness on the spherical particles and then removing the organic polymer existing inside the hollow spheres remain only Will be made. As a method of removing the organic polymer material therein, it is burned by firing or dissolved by using an organic solvent.

Another method of using the hollow sphere is to coat the desired functional material on the outside of the hollow sphere and use it as it is.

In addition to the usual synthetic fiber spinning method, the fiber manufacturing method of the present invention may be a method such as an air spray extrusion method.

An embodiment of the present invention is as follows.

(Example 1)

Among the commercially available silica hollow spheres with an apparent specific gravity of 0.15 g / cc and an average particle size of 2 µm, and having a SiO2 content of 98%, a large particle size is separated, and only small ones are taken. Silica hollow spheres having a maximum particle diameter of 2.2 µm were obtained.

The hollow spheres were put together with the polypropylene resin into a conventional masterbatch manufacturing process to produce a polypropylene masterbatch chip containing 10% by weight of silica hollow spheres. This masterbatch chip was mixed with the polypropylene resin again, and put into a conventional synthetic fiber spinning process to prepare a 1.2 denier thick polypropylene fiber yarn containing 1.5% by weight of silica hollow spheres.

The density ratio of this fiber yarn was 0.96. Here, the density ratio means (the specific gravity of the fiber yarn containing hollow spheres / the specific gravity of the fiber yarn containing elvan powder of the same weight as the hollow sphere).

(Example 2)

Through conventional emulsion polymerization, microspheres of polystyrene having a uniform size were synthesized and separated from each other [FIG. 1]. Next, the surface of the microspheres was coated by hydrolysis of TEOS (Tetra Ethyl Ortho Silicate), separated, dried and methylene dichloride was used to melt polystyrene inside to obtain silica hollow spheres [FIG. 2]. The particles had a very uniform size and a diameter of about 1.0 μm. As a result of breaking and observing these silica hollow sphere particles, it was confirmed that they had a hollow sphere shape (FIG. 3).

The above hollow sphere was applied in the same manner as in Example 1 to obtain a 1.2 denier polypropylene fiber yarn containing 1.5 wt% of the hollow sphere. Density ratio was 0.94.

(Example 3)

LbL (layer by layer) adsorption method was used to adsorb three times 20 nm size SiO2 ultrafine particles to spherical polystyrene latex particles to obtain polystyrene latex fine particles coated with SiO2 ultrafine particles. One SiO 2 hollow sphere was made.

This hollow sphere was applied in the same manner as in Example 1 to prepare a 1.2 denier thick polypropylene fiber yarn containing 1.5 wt% of SiO 2 hollow sphere. Density ratio was 0.96.

(Example 4)

The SiO 2 hollow sphere made in Example 3 was immersed in a silver nitrate solution so that the silver component was impregnated, and this was separated, dried, and calcined to obtain a SiO 2 hollow sphere containing 4 wt% of the silver component.

By spinning in the same manner as in Example 1, 1.2 denier polypropylene fiber yarn containing 1.5 wt% of SiO2 hollow spheres containing 4 wt% of silver was prepared. The density ratio was 0.97.

In order to confirm the antimicrobial activity of this fiber yarn, the antibacterial test on E. coli showed more than 99% antimicrobial activity. However, the fiber obtained in Example 3 did not have antimicrobial properties.

(Example 5)

The SiO2 hollow sphere prepared in Example 3 was immersed in SnCl4 solution, separated from the filtrate, and then immersed again in SbCl3 solution, neutralized with ammonia, dried and heat-treated at 600 ° C. for 1 hour to give Sn: Sb in a weight ratio of 8.8: 1 SiO 2: [(Sn + Sb) Oxide] An electrically conductive mixture having 3.2: 1 by weight ratio was obtained.

The obtained conductive mixture was spun in the same manner as in Example 1 to prepare a 1.2 denier polypropylene fiber yarn containing 1.5 wt% of the conductive mixture. The density ratio was 0.97.

The specific resistance of this fiber yarn showed a value of 1/10000 or less of the specific resistance of the fiber yarn prepared in Example 3, and it was found that it had an antistatic function.

(Example 6)

A zeolite antimicrobial agent containing 5 wt% silver (average particle size 0.5 μm, 90% particle size 1.0 μm, maximum particle size 1.8 μm) was mixed in a weight ratio of 3: 1 with the silica hollow sphere used in Example 2, A master batch chip having an inorganic content of 10% was prepared together with the ester chip, and the master batch chip was mixed with a general polyester chip and applied to a conventional spinning process to make a fiber yarn. The fiber yarn had a fineness of 1.4 denier and an inorganic content of 2.0 wt%, and a density ratio of 0.97. The antibacterial test was performed to confirm the antimicrobial activity of this fiber yarn.

(Example 7)

Silica hollow spheres used in Example 3 were mixed with ethylene glycol to form a slurry, which was added to a conventional polyester chip polymerization process, thereby preparing a polyester compound chip containing 2 wt% silica hollow spheres. This was applied to a normal spinning process to prepare a 1.2 denier polyester fiber yarn containing 2% by weight of silica hollow spheres, the density ratio of the fiber yarn was 0.97.

Synthetic fiber containing the hollow sphere obtained by the present invention has physical properties that can be used for general clothing and bedding, etc., and has a lighter property than general fibers, thereby fundamentally solving the problem of heavy wearing, which is the biggest disadvantage of functional textile products. It became possible. Therefore, the present invention can significantly expand the scope of application of functional fibers.

Claims (7)

A synthetic fiber comprising a hollow sphere made of an inorganic substance or an organic substance or a hollow sphere made of a composite material thereof. The synthetic fiber according to claim 1, wherein the hollow sphere has an apparent specific gravity of 0.5 or less. The synthetic fiber according to claim 1, wherein the average size of the particles of the hollow sphere is 0.5 µm or less, 90% particle size is 1 µm or less, and the maximum particle size is 2 µm or less. The synthetic fiber according to claim 1, wherein a functional inorganic material is added. The synthetic fiber according to claim 1, wherein the functional inorganic material is coated on the hollow sphere. The synthetic fiber according to claim 1, wherein the hollow sphere is made of a functional inorganic material. The functional inorganic material according to claim 4, wherein the functional inorganic material is a far-infrared radiation material, a conductive material, an antimicrobial material, a material that absorbs electromagnetic waves, a material that blocks ultraviolet rays, a material that blocks X-rays, a material having deodorizing properties, A synthetic fiber containing a hollow sphere, characterized in that it comprises a magnetic material, a material having optical properties.