US3604470A

US3604470A - Durable-press stretch fabric and method of obtaining same

Info

Publication number: US3604470A
Application number: US805368A
Authority: US
Inventors: Paul Zindwer
Original assignee: Burlington Industries Inc
Current assignee: BI/MS HOLDINGS I Inc A DE CORP
Priority date: 1969-03-07
Filing date: 1969-03-07
Publication date: 1971-09-14
Anticipated expiration: 1988-09-14

Abstract

A durable press woven stretch fabric including a durable pressure finish and comprising, as the filling, a plied yarn composed of multiple ends of a textured yarn plied with at least one end of cellulosic yarn.

Description

United States Patent Inventor Paul Zindwer New York, N.Y.

Appl. No. 805,368

Filed Mar. 7, 1969 Patented Sept. 14, 1971 Assignee Burlington Industries, Inc.

Greensboro, N.C.

DURABLE-PRESS STRETCH FABRIC AND METHOD OF OBTAINING SAME 420, 426; 28/72 PT, 74, 76 E; 38/144; 2/243; l61/77;57/l40, 140 B References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1/1957 57/140X 6/1959 57/ 140 3/1962 Hilton 38/144 9/1967 Pyke et al 38/144 3/1968 Getchell 2/243 X 4/1968 Campbell et al.. 57/140 10/1968 Pierce 139/421 4/ 1969 Petterson et al. 28/72 X 8/1969 Gordon 2/243 11/1969 Manok 139/421 X Primary Examiner-James Kee Chi Attorney-Cushman, Darby 8L Cushman ABSTRACT: A durable press woven stretch fabric including a durable pressure finish and comprising, as the filling, a plied yarn composed of multiple ends of a textured yam plied with at least one end of cellulosic yarn.

DURABLE-PRESS STRETCH FABRIC AND METHOD OF OBTAINING SAME The present invention is concerned with the provision of stretch fabrics having effective durable-press characteristics.

Durable press fabrics have become increasingly popular over the last few years and substantial improvements have been made towards obtaining better fabric performance. However, there is still a real need to have a fabric which demonstrates an effective combination of durable-press and stretch properties.

Durable press products, e.g., garments, are conventionally made by the so-called post-cured method which involves (1) impregnating woven fabric (comprising a cotton or other cellulosic content, usually in combination with polyester or the like) with an aqueous solution of a textile reactive resin (e.g. dimethylol dihydroxy ethylene urea) and a latent curing catalyst, (2) drying without substantial curing, (3) cutting the fabric and making the desired garment or other product, (4) pressing and then (5) curing. This normally gives a product possessing effective durable press characteristics in conventional nonstretch constructions. However, when a stretch product is desired, it has not been possible to obtain a product which possesses a satisfactory combination of stretch and durable press properties and retains these on repeated launderings. In particular, either the stretch or durable press properties, or both, are undesirably effected by the finishing necessary to obtain a post-cured product.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a post-cured stretch fabric, woven or knitted, which demonstrates optimum stretch and durable press properties. Other objects will also be apparent from the following detailed description of the invention.

Broadly stated, the objects of the invention are realized by the provision of a post-cured, durable press stretch fabric which is characterized by including as the filling and optionally as the warp, a composite plied stretch yarn comprising multiple ends of textured thermoplastic synthetic yarn, e.g., stretch nylon, and at least one end of 100 percent cellulosic (cotton, rayon or the equivalent). Surprisingly, it has been found that this type of fabric, having the indicated filling yarn construction, will give a product having outstanding stretch and durable press properties when processed according to conventional post-cure techniques. For some unexplained reason, the processing involved does not undesirably effect the stretch characteristics of the plied stretch yarn and, by the same token, the presence of the stretch yarn during the processing does not reduce the quality of the durable press properties of the fabric even after repeated launderings.

Any type of textured stretch yarn as defined above may be used to prepare the plied yarn for present purposes. Preferably, however, this component comprises a continuous multifilament stretch synthetic thermoplastic yarn, comprising nylon or polyester, made by conventional false twisting techniques (e.g., Fluflon, Superloft, Agilon, Saaba, etc.). Bulky yams made by the Helanca process, by crimping (Banlon) or by means of air jet (Taslan) may also be used. Spun textured yarns, rather than continuous filament yarns may also be employed and, in some circumstances, ends of monofilament stretch yarn may be used although best results are realized with multifilament stretch yarns.

The composite plied yarn used herein should comprise at least two ends, and preferably three or more ends, of the textured or stretch yarn, plied together with one or more ends of cellulosic yarn, e.g., spun yarn comprising rayon, cotton or blends thereof, continuous filament rayon or the like. High modulus rayon yarn is especially advantageous for plying with the stretch yarn ends.

Denier for the plied composite yarn and its component ends can be widely varied and will depend in large measure on the type of fabric desired. Usually, however, each end of textured yarn and each end of cellulosic yarn will have a denier in the range of 20 to 150, preferably in the order of 5075. Advantageously each textured end has a higher denier than the cellulosic end but this is not necessary. As a typical illustration of a plied yarn useful herein, there may be mentioned one comprising 2-4 ends of 70 denier textured multifilament stretch nylon and 1 end of, for example, 50 singles percent cellulosic, e.g., cotton and/or rayon, which have been plied together with 2-5 turns S or Z ply twist. This yarn, or its equivalent, may be used as the filling yarn according to the invention and, if stretch is desired in both directions, this type of plied yarn may also be used in the warp although usually it is preferred that the warp be a nonstretch yarn of any desired composition, e.g., cotton, rayon, polyester, or other synthetics such as acrylics, in continuous or spun form and/or with or without blend components.

Apart from the use of the special type of plied stretch yarn referred to above as the filling and optionally as the warp, the fabric of the invention may be knitted or woven in conventional fashion followed by the usual preparation steps, e.g., singeing, desizing and/or mercerizing prior to application of the durable press finish. The latter may be applied in conventional manner, e.g., by padding or otherwise impregnating the fabric with an aqueous composition ofthe textile reactant and curing agent followed by drying so that the fabric includes, for example, not more than up to about 8 percent by weight moisture and without extensive curing (i.e., not in excess of, for example, 40% fixed solids). The fabric may then be stored for as long as desired and/or cut and made into the desired product such as a garment or flat goods, e.g., sheets, followed by pressing and curing. Conventional pressing and curing conditions, e.g., hot head pressing at 280 to 330 F. for 5-25 seconds, followed by curing at 280350 F., preferably 325-330 F. for 5-20 minutes, may be used.

The textile reactant resin may be any of those conventionally used for the preparation of durable press cellulosic products. This includes, for example, the methylolated derivatives of various nitrogen-containing compounds such as urea, N,N'-ethylene urea, propylene urea, aminotriazines such as melamines and substituted melamines, triazones and urons. Combinations of these materials, for example, a mixture of polymethylolated triazine and polymethylolated ethylene urea, may also be employed. Particularly preferred for use is the well-known Reactant 183 which comprises dimethylol dihydroxy ethylene urea.

The amount of reactant or resin which is applied to the fabric according to the invention may be widely varied and will depend on other operating factors, e.g., the fabric construction, reactant employed and the properties desired in the ultimate product. However, the amount will generally be in the range of about 2-20 percent solids add-on based on the weight of the fabric although amounts outside this range may also be employed.

Conventional catalysts may be used in the application of the durable press effects according to the invention. These include, for example, acidic metal salts such as zinc or magnesium nitrate or chloride. Preferably, these acidic salts are buffered to minimize cellulosic hydrolysis, suitable buffers being acetic acid or amines such as urea, diethanolamine and the like.

The invention is illustrated, but not limited, by the following example: An end of 70/l3 textured nylon (with S torque therein) was plied with an end of 50/1 spun rayon (Brt. Rayon 252). The ply twist amounted to 2% turns per inch S twist. The resulting plied yarn was then plied (2% turns per inch Z") with two separate ends of 70/13 textured nylon (with Z" torque). This gave a plied product comprising 68 percent nylon, 32 percent rayon (on a weight basis).

The above' operations were carried out on a Universal Model 10 throwing frame and, after dotting, the plied product was coned for use as the filling yarn in the manner described below.

A 3/1 L. H. twill was woven using the above plied yarn as the filling. The warp was 9 singles polyester/cotton (50/50 blend) spun yarn. The fabric had a greige construction of 58 picks and 44 ends per inch, a finished weight of 8% ounces per yard and a finished width of 45/6.

The fabric was then impregnated by padding with an aqueous solution of about percent dimethylol dihydroxy ethylene urea (Reactant 183) and about 3 percent buffered zinc nitrate followed by drying on a tenter frame at about 190-195 F. to a moisture content of about 4 percent.

Part of the dried fabric was then cut into desired size, sewn into the form of a garment section and pressed on a hot head press at 325 F. for seconds and then cured in an oven for 15 minutes at 325 F. The resulting post-cured product demonstrated outstanding crease retention and stretch properties (about 26 percent in the filling direction), even after repeated launderings. Other fabric properties, e.g., smoothness, hand, abrasion resistance, and tensile strength, were also satisfactory. Similar results were obtained when another portion of the dried fabric was made into flat goods and cured in this condition.

Various modifications may be made in the procedure outlined in the foregoing example. For instance, the rayon plied with the textured nylon may be replaced by a similar end of cotton. Preferably, however, a high modulus rayon such as AVRlI is used for plying with the textured component as noted earlier. Various changes may also be advantageously made in the composition or structure of the warp yarn, e.g., 100 percent cotton or 100 percent polyester may be used in lieu of the cotton/polyester blend exemplified.

It will be recognized that a wide variety of fabric constructions of varying degrees of stretch (e.g., 15-30 percent in the filling direction) may be made according to the invention. Durable press, stretch denim pants and slacks may be usefully made in this way although other garment constructions and flat goods, where a combination of stretch and durable press is desirable, are also contemplated.

The invention is defined in the following claims wherein:

1. A woven fabric characterized by the combination of durable press and stretch properties, said fabric including a post-cured durable press resin finish and comprising, as the essential filling component, a plied yarn composed of multiple ends of a textured synthetic thermoplastic yarn plied with'at least one end of cellulosic yarn.

2. A fabric according to clam 1 wherein the textured yarn is a multifilament continuous thermoplastic synthetic stretch yarn.

3. A fabric according to claim 2 wherein the stretch yarn is composed of nylon.

4. A fabric according to claim 3 wherein the cellulosic yarn is percent rayon.

5. A fabric according to claim 3 wherein the cellulosic yarn is 100 percent cotton.

6. A fabric according to claim 1 in garment form.

7. A fabric according to claim 1 wherein said filling yarn comprises several ends of multifilament stretch nylon plied together with an end of rayon or cotton yarn and the warp comprises a polyester/cotton yarn.

Claims

2. A fabric according to clam 1 wherein the textured yarn is a multifilament continuous thermoplastic synthetic stretch yarn.
3. A fabric according to claim 2 wherein the stretch yarn is composed of nylon.
4. A fabric according to claim 3 wherein the cellulosic yarn is 100 percent rayon.
5. A fabric according to claim 3 wherein the cellulosic yarn is 100 percent cotton.
6. A fabric according to claim 1 in garment form.
7. A fabric according to claim 1 wherein said filling yarn comprises several ends of multifilament stretch nylon plied together with an end of rayon or cotton yarn and the warp comprises a polyester/cotton yarn.