Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Coated or structually defined flake – particle – cell – strand,... – Rod – strand – filament or fiber
Reexamination Certificate
2002-01-17
2003-03-04
Edwards, N. (Department: 1774)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Coated or structually defined flake, particle, cell, strand,...
Rod, strand, filament or fiber
C428S395000, C264S172100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06528162
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a high-compound function acrylic synthetic fiber, which has three functions such as deodorizing performance, antibacterial/bacteriostatic performance and water absorption/sweat absorption performance and is also superior in washing durability, and a method of producing the same and a nonwoven fabric.
BACKGROUND ART
Acrylic synthetic fibers have widely been used in clothes, bedding, upholstery and the like. In these uses, deodorizing performance, antibacterial/bacteriostatic performance and water absorption/sweat absorption performance are indispensable to a comfort and healthy life style. Although products having a compound function obtained by fiber mixing, mixed spinning, union cloth or union knit of deodorizing fibers, antibacterial/bacteriostatic fibers and water absorption/sweat fibers and products having a compound function obtained by applying a post-processing system to a single function material have hitherto been marketed, these products require special facilities and production technologies and are uneconomical due to high cost.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No 9-87924 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No 9-157978 disclose an acrylic synthetic fiber having both antibacterial and deodorizing performances and a fiber product containing the same. Although these publications relate to an acrylic synthetic fiber containing a silicic acid metal salt or an aluminosilicic acid metal salt, fiber products described in these publications had poor water absorption/sweat absorption performances.
The present invention have made a trial of improving the technologies described above and found that an acrylic synthetic fiber comprising a fine powder containing a silicic acid metal salt or aluminosilicic acid metal salt having a specific apparent specific gravity as an active component has antibacterial/bacteriostatic performance and deodorizing performance superior, which are superior to the prior art, and is also superior in water absorption/sweat absorption performance, thereby leading to the completion of the present invention.
An object of the present invention is to provide a high-compound function acrylic synthetic fiber, which has three functions required strongly by consumers, for example, deodorizing performance, antibacterial/bacteriostatic performance and water absorption/sweat absorption performance, and is also superior in washing durability, a method of producing the same and a nonwoven fabric, for the purpose of aiming at a high quality life and providing a safe/sanitary, healthy and comfort life style.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The gist of the present invention is an acrylic synthetic fiber comprising 0.5 to 20.0% by weight of a fine powder, which contains a silicic acid metal salt or aluminosilicic acid metal salt having an apparent specific gravity of 0.5 g/cm
3
or less and an average particle diameter of 0.5 to 10 &mgr;m as an active component.
Also, it is a method of producing an acrylic synthetic fiber, which comprises uniformly dispersing 10 to 40% by weight of a fine powder, which contains a silicic acid metal salt or aluminosilicic acid metal salt having an apparent specific gravity of 0.5 g/cm
3
or less and an average particle diameter of 0.5 to 10 &mgr;m as an active component, in a solvent; adding the dispersion to a dope of a copolymer containing acrylonitrile; and spinning the mixed solution.
Furthermore, it is a nonwoven fabric comprising at least 10% by weight or more of the acrylic synthetic fiber of an acrylic synthetic fiber comprising 0.5 to 20.0% by weight of a fine powder, which contains a silicic acid metal salt or aluminosilicic acid metal salt having an apparent specific gravity of 0.5 g/cm
3
or less and an average particle diameter of 0.5 to 10 &mgr;m as an active component.
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
The present invention will now be described in detail.
The acrylic synthetic fiber used in the present invention is made of an acrylonitrile copolymer containing at least 40% by weight of acrylonitrile, and any copolymerizable monomer can be used in combination with the acrylonitrile. Examples thereof include those which are obtained by copolymerizing an appropriate combination of a neutral monomer such as acrylic acid alkyl ester (e.g. methyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, etc.), methacrylic acid alkyl ester (e.g. methyl methacrylate, ethyl methacrylate, etc.), styrene, vinyl acetate, vinyl chloride, vinylidene chloride, vinyl ethyl ether, or methacrylonitrile, an acid monomer such as acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, allylsulfonic acid, methallylsulfonic acid, styrenesulfonic acid, or 2-acrylamide-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid, and an ammonium salt or an alkali metal salt of these monomers in the proportion of 60% by weight or less. These acrylic copolymers may be prepared by any method such as suspension polymerization method, solution polymerization method, emulsion polymerization or the like.
The fine powder used in the present invention contains, as an active component, a silicic acid metal salt or aluminosilicic acid metal salt having a three-component composition of 5-70% by weight of SiO
2
, 5-80% by weight of MO
n/2
and 1-35% by weight of Al
2
O
3
in terms of oxide (M represents at least one metal selected from zinc, copper, silver, cobalt, nickel, iron, titanium, barium, tin, magnesium or zirconium, and n represents a valence of metal).
It is considered that such a metal salt has both properties of a solid acid and a solid base in a crystal thereof and also independently exists on the surface of one solid particle to form an amphoteric adsorption face without neutralizing with each other and, therefore, it exerts excellent deodorizing effect on a basic malodorous substance and an acidic malodorous substance by means of a chemical adsorption action. It is also considered that the metal salt is superior in contact efficiency with the malodorous substance because of large specific surface area and small apparent specific gravity, and also has a physical adsorption action, thereby making it possible to effectively deodorize. It is considered that the antibacterial/bacteriostatic performance originates in metal ions retained on at least a portion of fine powders, though the mechanism thereof is not sure.
The apparent specific gravity of the fine powder containing a silicic acid metal salt or aluminosilicic acid metal salt as an active component used in the present invention is 0.5 g/cm
3
or less, and preferably from 0.5 to 0.2 g/cm
3
. The apparent specific gravity of the fine powder is important to the water absorption performance and deodorizing performance. When the apparent specific gravity exceeds 0.5 g/cm
3
, the water absorption performance and the deodorizing performance are drastically lowered. In the present invention, the water absorption performance as well as extremely excellent deodorizing performance and bacteriostatic performance are obtained by incorporating a fine powder having (very) small apparent specific gravity into an acrylic synthetic fiber. The fine powder having (very) small apparent specific gravity attains the water absorption performance from voids formed in the vicinity of the fine powder in the fiber. Furthermore, the contact efficiency with the malodorous substance and the bacteria medium could be improved and a rapid improvement in deodorizing performance and antibacterial/bacteriostatic performance could also be achieved.
It is necessary that the average particle diameter of the fine powder containing a silicic acid metal salt or aluminosilicic acid metal salt as an active component used in the present invention is from 0.5 to 10 &mgr;m. When the average particle diameter of the fine powder is less than 0.5 &mgr;m, agglomeration is liable to occur and it becomes difficult to uniformly disperse the fine powder unless a special dispersing device or a dispersant is not used. On the other hand, when the average particle diameter of the fine powder exceeds 10 &mgr;m, an increase in filtration pressure and fiber br
Sakata Ituhiro
Teranishi Shuji
Edwards N.
Flynn ,Thiel, Boutell & Tanis, P.C.
Kanebo Limited
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