Classifications

• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D01—NATURAL OR MAN-MADE THREADS OR FIBRES; SPINNING
  • D01F—CHEMICAL FEATURES IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FILAMENTS, THREADS, FIBRES, BRISTLES OR RIBBONS; APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CARBON FILAMENTS
  • D01F6/00—Monocomponent artificial filaments or the like of synthetic polymers; Manufacture thereof
  • D01F6/58—Monocomponent artificial filaments or the like of synthetic polymers; Manufacture thereof from homopolycondensation products
  • D01F6/62—Monocomponent artificial filaments or the like of synthetic polymers; Manufacture thereof from homopolycondensation products from polyesters
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D02—YARNS; MECHANICAL FINISHING OF YARNS OR ROPES; WARPING OR BEAMING
  • D02G—CRIMPING OR CURLING FIBRES, FILAMENTS, THREADS, OR YARNS; YARNS OR THREADS
  • D02G1/00—Producing crimped or curled fibres, filaments, yarns, or threads, giving them latent characteristics
  • D02G1/02—Producing crimped or curled fibres, filaments, yarns, or threads, giving them latent characteristics by twisting, fixing the twist and backtwisting, i.e. by imparting false twist
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D02—YARNS; MECHANICAL FINISHING OF YARNS OR ROPES; WARPING OR BEAMING
  • D02G—CRIMPING OR CURLING FIBRES, FILAMENTS, THREADS, OR YARNS; YARNS OR THREADS
  • D02G1/00—Producing crimped or curled fibres, filaments, yarns, or threads, giving them latent characteristics
  • D02G1/20—Combinations of two or more of the above-mentioned operations or devices; After-treatments for fixing crimp or curl
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D02—YARNS; MECHANICAL FINISHING OF YARNS OR ROPES; WARPING OR BEAMING
  • D02J—FINISHING OR DRESSING OF FILAMENTS, YARNS, THREADS, CORDS, ROPES OR THE LIKE
  • D02J1/00—Modifying the structure or properties resulting from a particular structure; Modifying, retaining, or restoring the physical form or cross-sectional shape, e.g. by use of dies or squeeze rollers
  • D02J1/08—Interlacing constituent filaments without breakage thereof, e.g. by use of turbulent air streams
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D10—INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBLASSES OF SECTION D, RELATING TO TEXTILES
  • D10B—INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBLASSES OF SECTION D, RELATING TO TEXTILES
  • D10B2331/00—Fibres made from polymers obtained otherwise than by reactions only involving carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds, e.g. polycondensation products
  • D10B2331/04—Fibres made from polymers obtained otherwise than by reactions only involving carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds, e.g. polycondensation products polyesters, e.g. polyethylene terephthalate [PET]
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D10—INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBLASSES OF SECTION D, RELATING TO TEXTILES
  • D10B—INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBLASSES OF SECTION D, RELATING TO TEXTILES
  • D10B2503/00—Domestic or personal
  • D10B2503/04—Floor or wall coverings; Carpets

Definitions

• Polyesters prepared by condensation polymerization of the reaction product of a diol with a dicarboxylic acid can be spun into yarn.
• U.S. Pat. No. 3,998,042 describes a process for preparing poly(ethylene terephthalate) yarn in which the extruded fiber is drawn at high temperature (160° C.) with a steam jet assist, or at a lower temperature (95° C.) with a hot water assist.
• Poly(ethylene terephthalate) can be spun into bulk continuous filament (BCF) yarn in a two-stage drawing process in which the first stage draw is at a significantly higher draw ratio than the second stage draw.
• BCF bulk continuous filament
• U.S. Pat. No. 6,284,370 relates to a poly(trimethylene terephthalate) fiber which has a suitable thermal stress and a suitable boil- off shrinkage and which gives a fabric, when woven or knitted, showing less stiffness caused by excessive shrinkage, and manifesting softness and the excellent color developing property expected from the low elastic modulus characteristic of the fiber.
• the intrinsic viscosity of a polymer used in the invention is preferably from 0.4 to 1.5, more preferably from 0.7 to 1.2.
• the polyester fiber of the invention preferably is in the form of multifilament yarn when used for clothing applications. Although the total size of the yarn is not restricted, it is usually from 5 to 200 d (denier), preferably from 20 to 150 d.
• the poly(trimethylene terephthalate) has an intrinsic viscosity of about 0.95 to about 1.10.
• a process comprises: (a) extruding molten poly(trimethylene terephthalate) polymer having an intrinsic viscosity in the range of about 0.95 to about 1.10, a water content of less than about 100 ppm, a number average molecular weight of about 26500 to about 50000 and a melt viscosity of about 350 to about 1000 Pascals at 250°C and 48.65 per second shear rate through a spinneret to form filaments; (b) converging the filaments into yarn; (c) cooling the extruded filaments; (d) coating the cooled filaments with a spin finish; optionally pre-intermingling the filaments; (e) optionally heating the coated filaments to a temperature greater than the glass transition temperature of the polymer filaments, but less than about 200°C; (f) drawing the optionally heated filaments at a speed of greater than 3000 meters per minute to produce filaments having a filament denier greater than 1 and yarn having a yarn denier greater than 210
• the melt viscosity of the polymer is at least about 350, more preferably at least about 400, even more preferably at least about 450 and most preferably at least about 500 Pascals at 250°C and 48.65 per second shear rate.
• the melt viscosity is up to about 1000, more preferably up to about 900, even more preferably up to about 800 and most preferably up to about 700 Pascals at 250°C and 48.65 per second shear rate. Drying is preferably carried out at about 80° C. or higher and about 180° C. or lower, most preferably at about 150° C.
• Polymer holdup time in transfer pipe 22 should be kept at a minimum, for example, below 20 minutes, preferably below 10 minutes, most preferably below 2 minutes. This can be accomplished, for example, by reducing the length and/or diameter of the piping and/or increasing throughput by using a booster pump.
• the metering pump 24 meters the polymer composition to the spinneret or die 26.
• the polymer is extruded through the spinneret or die 26 to form filaments 2.
• Spun filaments are cooled in cooling zone 3 by a radial flow or cross flow of gas to below the polymer glass transition temperature.
• a spin finish or oil can be applied to the solidified filaments by finish applicator 4. Following the finish application and prior to the meter roll the filaments can be treated with turbulent air in the optional preintermingling device 5 to even out the finish on the filaments.
• the spin pack metering pump and spinneret or die may be heated through conventional means (e.g., Dow fluid or hot oil).
• the throughput is a function of the number of spin positions and typically is anywhere from about 2 pounds/hour (about 0.9 kg/hour) to commercial scales of about 2,000 pounds/hour (about 907 kg/hour) to about 3,000 pounds/hour (about 1 ,361 kg/hour) per spinning machine (i.e., per one remelter) or higher.
• the cooling zone 3 cools the filaments by a radial flow or cross flow of gas, typically humidified air at a temperature preferably of about 10° C. or above and preferably about 30° C. or below applied at about 0.2 m/sec or more and about 0.8 m/sec or less.
• the filaments are converged into yarn at roller 6.
• the filaments are then drawn by use of a supplying roller 6 and a set of drawing rollers 7.
• the filaments are preferably drawn at a draw ratio of about 1.1 to about 4.0.
• the draw ratio can be about 1.2 to about 3.0 or even 1.4 to 2.2.
• the filaments can then be crimped through a bulking unit 8 with a texturing nozzle after the filaments are passed through the drawing rollers 7.
• the filaments can then be cooled through a cooling drum 9, and passed through intermingler 11 via roller 17, where the filaments are entangled. Thereafter, the filaments are wound with the use of a wind-up machine 15 via roller 13 and a
• the filaments are drawn at a speed of greater than 3000 meters per minute (m/min.).
• the draw speed can be greater than 3500 m/min., greater than 4000 m/min., greater than 5000 m/min., at least 5100 m/min. or even at least 5500 m/min.
• the draw ratio of the filaments is controlled by adjusting the speeds of the supply roller 6 and/or draw rolls 7 until the break elongation of the filaments is preferably at least about 10%, more preferably at least 20% and preferably no more than about 90%, more preferably no more than 70%.
• the drawn filament denier is greater than 1 , preferably at least 3, more preferably at least 10, most preferably at least about 15 dl/g.
• the yarn denier is preferably greater than 210, more preferably at least about 250, even more preferably at least about 500 and most preferably at least about 1000.
• a jet-bulking unit 8 where the filaments can be blown and deformed in three directions with hot bulking fluid such as air or steam can be used in practicing the invention.
• a suitable unit is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,525,134.
• the filaments are both bulked and entangled.
• Other bulking units can be used. With some units, a separate entangling step may be necessary prior to the windup. Any method common in the trade may be used to entangle the yarn.
• the resultant BCF yarn having randomly spaced 3- dimensional curvilinear crimp, is then preferably cooled below the glass transition temperature of the filaments (approximately 45-50° C.) while the yarn is in a state of approximately 0 gpd tension so as not to pull out a significant amount of crimp. Cooling may be accomplished by a variety of commercially available means, preferably by air or water flow, spray or mist.
• the filaments can be ply- twisted and heat set into yarn.
• the yarn can then be made into carpet.
• the yarn of the present invention could also be used in rugs, woven tiles, automotive interiors and fabrics.
• melt stability was measured at 250 and 260 + 0.1 °C using a Dynisco LCR 7002 capillary rheometer with a 1 mm diameter, 30:1 L/D, 180 ° entrance angle die in accordance with test method ASTM D3835-02.
• the melt stability was measured following procedure 10.8.1
• Polymer solutions were injected into size exclusion chromatography system.
• the system included size exclusion chromatography system Model Alliance 2690TM from Waters Corporation (Milford, MA), with a Waters 410TM refractive index detector (Differential Refractive Index) and Viscotek Corporation (Houston, TX) Model T-60ATM dual detector module incorporating static right angle light scattering and differential capillary viscometer detectors.
• Columns for separation were Two Shodex GPC HFIP-80M TM styrene-divinyl benzene columns with exclusion limit 2 x 107 and 8,000/30cm theoretical plates. Chromatographic conditions were at 35°C temperature, 1.00 ml/min flow rate, 0.1 ml injection volume and 50 minute run time.
• Poly (trimethylene terephthalate) polymer (3GT, PTT) in chip form was dried in a rotary dryer. Drying was done under vacuum at 160 degrees centigrade (° C ) for 6 hours, cooled with nitrogen gas to 25° C and stored in a sealed vessel to maintain a moisture level less than 50 ppm. For remelting, the chip was fed to a dry nitrogen supply hopper at room temperature and then gravity fed into the throat of the extruder.
• An alternative method is to have a drier mounted above the extruder and continuously dry chip at 160° C for 6-8 hours using dry nitrogen or air. A dry nitrogen purge was located at the extruder throat to remove oxygen from the down coming chip when using dry air.
• the single screw extruder was set at: Zonel 230° C Zone 2 240° C Zone 3 250° C Zone 4 250° C Zone 5 250° C Extruder speed 14 rpm Melt Pressure 80 bar
• the extruder discharge melt temperature was 250° C
• the transfer line and spin beam temperature was maintained at about 250° C.
• the melted polymer was fed to a 2-pack spin beam.
• the spin beam metering gear pumps provided 76 bar pressure to the spin pack. Each pump had a capacity of 30 cubic centimeters per revolution (cm 3 /rev). The pumps were run at 12.10 rpm.
• Each pack had a 1 layer metal screen filter with a screen mesh size of 10,000 M/cm 2 .
• the spinnerets each had 68 trilobal ( Y ) holes with capillary diameter of 0.35x0.66 mm with a length of 0.6 mm.
• the extruded or spun filaments were quenched with 18° C air maintained at 80% humidity with a quench zone length of 1600 mm. Average air cross flow was 0.35 meters/second (m/s).
• the filaments were pulled down through a one floor high interfloor tube (part of a 3 floor machine) to a Neumag Bulk Continuous Filament (BCF) spinning machine. At the bottom of the interfloor tube two sets of 68 filaments were converged using finish applicators.
• the contact width of the upper applicators was 5 millimeters (mm) and the lower reversed finish applicators were 2 mm.
• Two 4 stream 0.8 cm 3 /rev finish pumps set at 35 rpm pumped 18 % standard finish to the finish applicators.
• the threadlines were led onto an inlet godet (roller) with a surface speed of 1950 meters per minute (m/min. ),then, onto a metering godet duo set at 40° C with a surface speed of 1970 m/min..
• the filaments were drawn in space by advancing to a set of enclosed heated duos set at 165° C with a surface speed of 3742 m/min.
• the filaments were heated by the godets fed into a Neumag texturing chamber that had a lamella cone of 3 / 4.5 mm and length of 80 mm. 18 lamella pieces formed the cone. Hot air set at 7.0 bar and 225° C impinged on the yarn bundles.
• the lamella exhaust cone had a vacuum setting of -70 millibars (mbar).
• the textured or bulked yarn flowed out of the bottom of the chamber and piddled onto a cooling drum with a surface speed of 60 m/min.
• the cooled threadlines were removed from the cooling drum with a godet with a surface speed of 3010 m/min. From the godet the threadlines went through a tacking or intermingling box that had an air jet with a yoke width and diameter of 6 mm.
• the threadlines were impinged with an air pressure of 5.5 bar.
• the correct tension was controlled by an exit godet with a surface speed of 3030 m/min. This godet isolated the winding tension from the required tacking tension.
• the threadlines were led to a two-cot winder that takes a tube diameter of 79 millimeters (mm).
• the drive roll or pressure roll (set at 100 newtons (N)) surface speed was 3015 m/min., which produced a winding tension of around 150 grams.
• the traversing stroke was 250 mm and was run at speed to produce a 13-degree winding angle.
• the traversing mechanism was modulated with an amplitude of 0.1 % at 0.1 / second.
• the final package diameter was 215 mm producing a package weight of 5.1 kilograms.
• Poly (trimethylene terephthalate) polymer (3GT, PTT) in chip form was dried in a rotary dryer. Drying was done under vacuum at 160 degrees centigrade (° C ) for 6 hours, cooled with nitrogen gas to 25° C and stored in a sealed vessel to maintain a moisture level less than 50 ppm. For remelting, the chip was fed to a dry nitrogen supply hopper at room temperature and then gravity fed into the throat of the extruder.
• An alternative method is to have a drier mounted above the extruder and continuously dry chip at 160° C for 6-8 hours using dry nitrogen or air. A dry nitrogen purge was located at the extruder throat to remove oxygen from the down coming chip when using dry air in the drier.
• the single screw extruder was set at: Zonel 230° C Zone 2 240° C Zone 3 250° C Zone 4 250° C Zone 5 250° C Extruder speed 15 rpm Melt Pressure 80 bar
• the extruder discharge melt temperature was 250° C.
• the transfer line and spin beam temperature was maintained at 250° C.
• the melted polymer was fed to a 2-pack spin beam.
• In the spin beam metering gear pumps provided 79 bar pressure to the spin pack. Each pump had a capacity of 30 cm 3 /rev. The pumps were run at 13.26 rpm.
• Each pack has a 1 layer metal screen filter with a screen mesh size of 10,000 M/cm 2 .
• the spinnerets each have 68 trilobal ( Y ) holes with capillary diameter of
• the cooled threadlines were removed from the cooling drum with a godet with a surface speed of 3300 m/min.. From the godet the threadlines went through a tacking or intermingling box that had an air jet with a yoke width and diameter of 6 mm. The threadlines were impinged with an air pressure of 7.0 bar. The correct tension was control by an exit godet with a surface speed of 3340 m/min.. This godet isolated the winding tension from the required tacking tension. The threadlines were led to a two-cot winder that took a tube diameter of 79 mm. The drive roll or pressure roll (set at 100 N) surface speed was 3305 m/min., which produces a winding tension of around 150 grams.
• the traversing stroke was 250 mm and was run at speed to produce a 13-degree winding angle.
• the traversing mechanism was modulated with an amplitude of 0.1% at 0.1 / second.
• the final package diameter was 215 mm producing a package weight of 5.1 kilograms.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Textile Engineering (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Fluid Mechanics (AREA)
• General Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
• Artificial Filaments (AREA)
• Spinning Methods And Devices For Manufacturing Artificial Fibers (AREA)
• Polyesters Or Polycarbonates (AREA)
• Carpets (AREA)
• Yarns And Mechanical Finishing Of Yarns Or Ropes (AREA)

Priority Applications (5)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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Citations (4)

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• 2004
  • 2004-01-06 US US10/752,399 patent/US20050147784A1/en not_active Abandoned
• 2005
  • 2005-01-06 JP JP2006549507A patent/JP2007521422A/ja not_active Abandoned
  • 2005-01-06 KR KR1020067013476A patent/KR20060123432A/ko not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2005-01-06 WO PCT/US2005/000774 patent/WO2005068695A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2005-01-06 TW TW094100397A patent/TW200602525A/zh unknown
  • 2005-01-06 CA CA002552662A patent/CA2552662A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2005-01-06 MX MXPA06007683A patent/MXPA06007683A/es unknown
  • 2005-01-06 CN CN200580001824XA patent/CN1906340B/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2005-01-06 EP EP05711340A patent/EP1702092A4/en not_active Withdrawn

Patent Citations (4)

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