Classifications

• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D04—BRAIDING; LACE-MAKING; KNITTING; TRIMMINGS; NON-WOVEN FABRICS
  • D04H—MAKING TEXTILE FABRICS, e.g. FROM FIBRES OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL; FABRICS MADE BY SUCH PROCESSES OR APPARATUS, e.g. FELTS, NON-WOVEN FABRICS; COTTON-WOOL; WADDING ; NON-WOVEN FABRICS FROM STAPLE FIBRES, FILAMENTS OR YARNS, BONDED WITH AT LEAST ONE WEB-LIKE MATERIAL DURING THEIR CONSOLIDATION
  • D04H1/00—Non-woven fabrics formed wholly or mainly of staple fibres or like relatively short fibres
  • D04H1/04—Non-woven fabrics formed wholly or mainly of staple fibres or like relatively short fibres from fleeces or layers composed of fibres having existing or potential cohesive properties, e.g. natural fibres, prestretched or fibrillated artificial fibres
  • D04H1/08—Non-woven fabrics formed wholly or mainly of staple fibres or like relatively short fibres from fleeces or layers composed of fibres having existing or potential cohesive properties, e.g. natural fibres, prestretched or fibrillated artificial fibres and hardened by felting; Felts or felted products
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H05H—PLASMA TECHNIQUE; PRODUCTION OF ACCELERATED ELECTRICALLY-CHARGED PARTICLES OR OF NEUTRONS; PRODUCTION OR ACCELERATION OF NEUTRAL MOLECULAR OR ATOMIC BEAMS
  • H05H1/00—Generating plasma; Handling plasma
  • H05H1/24—Generating plasma
  • H05H1/2406—Generating plasma using dielectric barrier discharges, i.e. with a dielectric interposed between the electrodes
  • H05H1/2439—Surface discharges, e.g. air flow control
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • D06M—TREATMENT, NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE IN CLASS D06, OF FIBRES, THREADS, YARNS, FABRICS, FEATHERS OR FIBROUS GOODS MADE FROM SUCH MATERIALS
  • D06M10/00—Physical treatment of fibres, threads, yarns, fabrics, or fibrous goods made from such materials, e.g. ultrasonic, corona discharge, irradiation, electric currents, or magnetic fields; Physical treatment combined with treatment with chemical compounds or elements
  • D06M10/02—Physical treatment of fibres, threads, yarns, fabrics, or fibrous goods made from such materials, e.g. ultrasonic, corona discharge, irradiation, electric currents, or magnetic fields; Physical treatment combined with treatment with chemical compounds or elements ultrasonic or sonic; Corona discharge
  • D06M10/025—Corona discharge or low temperature plasma
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H05H—PLASMA TECHNIQUE; PRODUCTION OF ACCELERATED ELECTRICALLY-CHARGED PARTICLES OR OF NEUTRONS; PRODUCTION OR ACCELERATION OF NEUTRAL MOLECULAR OR ATOMIC BEAMS
  • H05H1/00—Generating plasma; Handling plasma
  • H05H1/24—Generating plasma
  • H05H1/2406—Generating plasma using dielectric barrier discharges, i.e. with a dielectric interposed between the electrodes
  • H05H1/2418—Generating plasma using dielectric barrier discharges, i.e. with a dielectric interposed between the electrodes the electrodes being embedded in the dielectric
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H05H—PLASMA TECHNIQUE; PRODUCTION OF ACCELERATED ELECTRICALLY-CHARGED PARTICLES OR OF NEUTRONS; PRODUCTION OR ACCELERATION OF NEUTRAL MOLECULAR OR ATOMIC BEAMS
  • H05H2245/00—Applications of plasma devices
  • H05H2245/40—Surface treatments

Definitions

• the invention relates to a method and an apparatus for improving felting properties of animal fibres using a nonthermal plasma process.
• the invention relates also to feltable animal fibres prepared according to the invention.
• the invention is particularly concerned with the manufacture of felt hat bodies.
• the felting as a desirable process allows one to shape loose animal fibres into dense felt material which has desirable applications.
• T.J. Gillick "Natural and Synthetic Fiber Felts" Ind. Eng. Chem. 51(1959) 904-907 the felt is defined as fabric made of matted fibres of wool, or wool and fur and hair fulled or wrought into a compact material by rolling or pressure, with lees or sizing, without spinning or weaving. In all cases felt materials result from interfiber friction or entangling without other nonfibrous additives.
• Fur felt usage is confined mostly to the hat industry.
• Fur felt hats are chiefly made of rabbit fur.
• Some hare fur, preferably beaver fur, is used to make better hats, and is often mixed with rabbit fur to produce hats in various medium price grades.
• the prime factors in the quality of fur felt are the quality of the fur used and how tightly it is worked together in the felting process.
• the problem is that the felting qualities of untreated animal fibres are in general inadequate for such purposes as the production of hats. For example, rabbit fur that is usually used to make felt hats has been unsatisfactory as a material for making hats .
• the standard carroting reagents are concentrated sulphuric and nitric acids, chloric acid, used either singly or in combination, to which may be added hydrogen peroxide and potassium permanganate as oxidizing agents.
• carroting is done prior to separation of the fur from the skin by brushing a suitable carroting solution on the fur. After drying the rabbit pelts are then fed through a cutting machine, and the fur is sheared from the skin. Then the carroted fur is processes into felt by felting.
• This latter process consists in cutting off the fur in the uncarroted state from the pelt, impregnating it by immersing the fur fibres in a loose condition into a carroting solution, then removing the excess moisture and drying the fur.
• the handling of aggressive carroting solutions during the pot-carroting and the subsequent fur drying create technical and environmental problems.
• Even more serious, however, is the fact that the fur fibres thus treated do not exhibit satisfactory felting properties and are not very suitable for the manufacture of hats. For this reason, such cut carroted fur fibres can generally be used only in mixture with a large percentage of fur fibres which have been carroted before shearing while still on the skin.
• Nonthermal plasma treatment is a well known dry and environmentally benign technique that has been used in different manufacturing processes to improve surface characteristics of polymer materials including surface modifications of animal fibres: According to the document E. I. Bureau: IPPC Reference Document on Best Available Techniques for the Textile Industry (European Commission, Directorate General JRC, Seville 2003) low temperature plasma is regarded as an emerging technique when used to achieve the effect of an anti-felt finishing in wool and it is one of the most studied applications of plasma technology in the textile sector. The current state of the art is reviewed in a detailed manner by R. Morent et al . : Surface & Coatings Technology 202 (2008) 3427-3449 on pp. 3443-3444.
• Numerous examples of such anti-felting effects of the plasma treatment on animal hair materials include those in WO 2004070106, WO 9904083, USP, 6,258,129, USP 6,242,059, USP 6,103,068, USP 5,160,592, EP 1437437, ⁇ 1010799, EP 1367172, EP 1437437, JP 2002180371, JP 2003278080, JP 1092483, JP 9170169, Japanese Patent Application Tokkai Hei 4-327274A, CN 101177915, CN 101153459, W.J. Thorsen: Textile Research Journal 38 (1968) 644-650, Hesse et al.: Textile Research Journal 65 (1995) 355-361, C.
• Discharge plasma sources applied for the treatment of animal fibres are reviewed, for example, in R. Morent et al.: Surface & Coatings Technology 202 (2008) 3427-3449 on pp. 3443-3444.
• DCSBD Diffuse Surface Dielectric Barrier Discharge
• SDBD Surface Dielectric Barrier Discharge
• VDBD Volume Dielectric Barrier Discharge
• felting is used when reference is made to the art or process of making felt.
• the invention is particularly concerned with the manufacture of felt hat bodies.
• Another object of the invention is to provide a felted fabric having a feel and tensile strength superior to those of a felted fabric made entirely from carroted rabbit fur and having the feel approximately equal to a bear fur, but containing no bear fur.
• the object of the invention was also to increase the fur fiber felting characteristics without damaging the fibres and, consequently, reducing strength of the felt.
• the present inventors have found that the disadvantages of using the aggressive carroting chemicals can be overcome using a dry gas discharge plasma treatment of the animal fibres, which results in an improvement of their felting qualities.
• improved of the felting qualities means an improvement in the ability of the animal fibres to felting when processed under conditions conducive to making felt fabrics.
• Advantages of the present invention include dry plasma treatment without the use of aggressive water solutions of acids. As such, the energy and cost-intensive drying of the fibers is thereby avoided.
• any type of gas discharge plasma source may be used that generates non-thermal plasmas, including a combination of two or more such plasma sources (the reference is made above) .
• Preferred plasma sources are the plasma sources generating non-thermal plasmas at near-atmospheric pressure.
• the dielectric barrier discharge used to generate the plasma is the co-called Diffuse Surface Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DCSBD) .
• SDBD Surface Dielectric Barrier Discharge
• VDBD Volume Dielectric Barrier Discharge
• One preferred aspect of the invention also encompasses treating animal fibres in situ on the skin using the plasma in such a way that only the tip portion of the fibres are exposed to the action of the plasma, which makes possible to improvement of the felting qualities without the undue and energy consuming plasma treatment of the rest fiber portion.
• Another aspect of the invention encompasses treating a layer of loose animal fibers of the thickness from 0.3 mm to 5 mm using the plasma, which makes possible to treat the fur cutted off from the pelt.
• the layer of loose animal fibers with the preferred density from 0.2 g/cc to 0.05 g/cc may be formed from the fur fibers by pressing them to the desired thickness .
• animal fibres are of biological origin, they may vary greatly in chemical composition and morphological structure, depending on the living conditions and health of the animal. Accordingly, the effects obtained by subjecting animal fibres to the methods of the present invention may vary in accordance with the properties of the starting material.
• the felt fabric quality is assessed by the handle of felt.
• the handle of felt refers to the sensation of feel of a felt fabric.
• the handle is evaluated using a rating of 1-3 (worst to best) .
• the quality of the felt hats is often designated by a number of X's, an arbitrary value differing between manufacturers.
• the method for improving felting properties of animal fibres as a step preparatory to felting comprises of bringing the fur-coated side of an animal pelt in contact with electrical plasma, treating the fur-coated side of an animal pelt by the plasma and separating the plasma-treated fur from the pelt skin.
• Another way of improving felting properties of animal fibres comprises of forming a layer from the loose animal fibres, bringing the layer of the loose animal fibres in contact with electrical plasma and treating the layer of the loose animal fibres by the plasma.
• the plasma treatment is performed at a pressure of approximately 1 atm (0,lMPa) with the plasma process gas containing oxygen.
• the plasma treatment is performed at a pressure of approximately 1 atm (O.lMPa) with the plasma process gas containing water vapor.
• An apparatus for carrying out this method of improving felting properties of animal fibres displayed on Fig. 1 comprises the layer of the loose animal fibres or the fur-bearing animal pelt and a diffuse coplanar surface dielectric barrier discharge plasma source including: at least two systems of electrically conductive electrodes and that are situated inside of the dielectric body and are situated on the same side of the layer of the loose animal fibres or the fur-bearing side of the animal pelt affected by the plasma layer generated above the portion of the surface of the dielectric body that is in contact or situated in a distance less than 1 mm from the layer of the loose animal fibres or the fur-bearing side of the animal pelt, where an electrodes and are situated inside of the dielectric body without any contact with the plasma layer.
• An apparatus for improving felting properties of animal fibres displayed on Fig. 2 comprises the layer of the loose animal fibres or the fur-bearing animal pelt and a surface dielectric barrier discharge plasma source including: two systems of surface electrically conductive electrodes that are situated opposite to each other on opposite surfaces of a solid dielectric layer that is in contact or in a distance less than 1 mm from the layer of the loose animal fibres or the fur-bearing side of the animal pelt affected by the plasma layer generated above the portion of the surface of the solid dielectric layer.
• An apparatus for improving felting properties of animal fibres displayed on Fig. 3 comprises the layer of the loose animal fibres and volume dielectric barrier discharge plasma source including: a discharge space between at least a pair of electrodes and arranged for generating the filamentary plasma volume in the discharge space, at least one of the electrodes having a layered structure including a conductive layer covered by a dielectric layer, the dielectric layer having a boundary surface with said discharge space, wherein said discharge space contains the layer of the loose animal fibres.
• the voltage of a frequency from 50 Hz to 1 MHz is applied between the electrodes .
• the voltage of a magnitude from 0.5 kV to 100 kV is applied between the electrodes and the plasma is generated the gas pressure from 1 kPa to 500 kPa .
• Figures 1 and 2 are schematic-sectional view illustrating essential parts of the apparatus for the treatment of a layer of loose animal fibres or fur-bearing animal pelt using the Diffuse Coplanar Surface Dielectric Barrier Discharge and Surface Dielectric barrier Discharge, respectively.
• Figure 3 is a schematic-sectional view illustrating essential parts of the apparatus for the treatment of a layer of loose animal fibres using the Volume Dielectric Barrier Discharge .
• the apparatus and the method according to the present invention were used to improve feltability of rabbit fur fibres, where the fur was treated by the DCSBD plasma source in situ on the skin in such a way that only the tip portions of the fibres were exposed to the action of the DCSBD plasma.
• the thin layer of DCSBD plasma was generated in ambient air at the power density of 2.5 W/cm 2 .
• the thickness of the plasma layer was approximately 0.5 mm and the plasma covered an area of 40 cm by 30 cm.
• the plasma was generated using two systems of parallel strip like electrodes ( ⁇ 1 mm wide, 50 mm thick, 0.5 mm strip to strip; molybdenum) embedded in 96% alumina.
• the thickness of the alumina ceramic layer between the plasma and electrodes was 0.4 mm.
• a sinusoidal high frequency high-voltage (15 kHz, and 11.5 kV peak to peak was applied between the electrodes) .
• the fur-coated side of a rabbit pelt was brought into contact with the plasma by pressing it to the alumina surface of the DCSBD plasma source by an average pressure of approximately 2 Pa for a treatment time t/2. After, the pelt fibres tips were reversed by a brush and exposed to the plasma again for in the same way for the same treatment time t/2.
• the tensile strength and elongation tests which are well known in the art, were used to evaluate felting quality and damage to fur felt, whether resulting from carroting or the plasma treatment.
• the tensile strength and elongation-to-break were measured using a tensiometer on 5 cm wide and 15 cm long felt strips cut from the felt cones.
• the tensile strength and elongation values of felts made using the standard number of 30 passes of felting roller from the conventionally carroted and felted fur were 420 N and 38% respectively.
• the non-objective measurement was done by the feeling of softness on the human skin (handle) . It was found that the felts made from the fur treated according to the above described treatment procedure using the DCSBD plasma are of superior handle to felts made from the conventionally carroted fur of similar quality. In fact, such felts posses a feel approximately equal with the feel of beaver fur felts. However, the cost of producing a hat from such a plasma treated rabbit fur is only a small fraction of the production cost of a beaver hat.
• Example 2 Two hundred rabbit pelts were treated using the DCSBD plasma as in Example 1, coupled together in pairs the fur sides touching, and stored under ambient air conditions of temperature and humidity for 90 days. After the storage the plasma treated pelts were subjected to the sequence of the felting process and the subsequent testing of felt properties as described in Example 1. It was found that the storage of the plasma treated pelts did not affect the felt properties and it is possible to store such plasma treated pelts without loss of feltability.
• the apparatus and the method according to the present invention were used to improve feltability of loose rabbit fur fibres by the DCSBD plasma treatment, where a 0.5 mm thick layer of loose fur fibres was treated by DCSBD plasma on its both sides.
• the layer of slightly pressed fur fibres was prepared from the fur cutted of from rabbit pelts and passed through a blowing machine to remove guard hairs and skin fragments. Subsequently, the layer of loose fibres was plasma treated under the same plasma conditions as in Example 1 at various plasma treatment times t .
• the treated loose fur fibres were felted using the same felting process as in Example 1.
• the felts samples were prepared and tested using the same felting and testing methods as described in Example 1. It was found that even using the plasma treatment times longer than 60 seconds the tensile strength and elongation values of such felts made from plasma treated layer of loose fibres were approximately 40% less than those of the felts made from conventionally carroted fur.
• the standard tensile strength and elongation values of 420 N and 38% were obtained by increasing the number of felting roll passes from standard 30 to 45 passes. In such a case the standard tensile strength and elongation values were obtained at plasma treatment time values ranging from 25 to 60 seconds.
• the treatment times longer than 60 seconds resulted in decay of the felt mechanical properties, apparently due to damage caused to fur fibres by the plasma over-treatment.
• the apparatus and the method according to the present invention were used to improve feltability of rabbit fur fibres, where the fur was treated by the SDBD plasma source in situ on the skin in such a way that only the tip portions of the fibres were exposed to the action of the SDBD plasma.
• the thin layer of SDBD plasma was generated in ambient air at the power density of 1 /cm .
• the discharge system consists of two electrodes separated by 400 * 300 * 0.6 mm 3 alumina plate.
• the discharge electrode (1.5 ⁇ -thick) consists of interconnected strips 1-mm-wide and 3 mm strip-to-strip distance.
• the inductive electrode is square-shaped (390 ⁇ 290 mm 2 ), 1.5 ⁇ -thick. Both electrodes were made of molybdenum.
• a sinusoidal high voltage with a frequency of typically 12 kHz and peak-to-peak value 9 kV was applied between the electrodes. This produced a thin filamentary plasma layer covering uniformly the ceramic surface between the discharge electrode strips.
• the fur-coated side of a rabbit pelt was brought into contact with the SDBD plasma and treated by the plasma in a way analogous to the DCSBD plasma treatment described in detail in Example 1.
• the felt was prepared, and the effects of the plasma treatment on the felt properties were evaluated in the same ways as described in Example 1.
• the apparatus and the method according to the present invention were used to improve feltability of loose rabbit fur fibres by the VDBD plasma treatment, where a 1.5 mm thick layer of loose fur fibres was treated using a VDBD discharge burning in ambient air.
• the layer of slightly pressed fur fibres was prepared from the fur cutted of from rabbit pelts and passed through a blowing machine to remove guard hairs and skin fragments. Subsequently, the layer of loose fibres was placed into the 1.5-mm wide discharge space between the VDBD electrodes .
• the filamentary VDBD plasma filling the discharge space was generated in ambient air at the surface power density of 3 W/cm 2 .
• the discharge system consists of two electrodes 20 cm in diameter and coated with a 0.5 mm thick alumina layers. A sinusoidal high voltage with a frequency of 10 kHz and peak- to-peak value 15 kV was applied between the electrodes. This produced a filamentary plasma volume filling the discharge space with the volume power density of approximately 20 W/cm 3 .
• the VDBD air plasma treated loose fur fibres were felted using the same felting process as in Example 1.
• the felts samples were prepared and tested using the same felting and testing methods as described in Example 1.
• Example 3 it was found that to reach the standard mechanical properties of the carroted fur, for the plasma treated loose fibres it was necessary to increase the number of felting roller passes. Thus to reach the standard tensile strength and elongation values of 420 N and 38% at 50 felting roller passes, it was necessary to treat fur fibres by the VDBD plasma for more than 60 seconds. The handle of such felt was found to be superior to the handle of felts prepared using the conventional carroting treatment.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Plasma & Fusion (AREA)
• Spectroscopy & Molecular Physics (AREA)
• Textile Engineering (AREA)
• Chemical Or Physical Treatment Of Fibers (AREA)

Priority Applications (4)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=41720522

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (4)

Cited By (1)

Citations (32)

• 2009
  • 2009-10-16 PL PL09756136T patent/PL2488690T3/pl unknown
  • 2009-10-16 WO PCT/CZ2009/000123 patent/WO2011044859A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2009-10-16 EP EP09756136.9A patent/EP2488690B1/en not_active Not-in-force
  • 2009-10-16 PT PT97561369T patent/PT2488690E/pt unknown

Patent Citations (34)

Non-Patent Citations (17)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events