Fibre treatment

Details Fibre treatment Fibre treatment

1996-09-09

1998-07-14

Diamond, Alan

Bleaching and dyeing; fluid treatment and chemical modification

Chemical modification of textiles or fibers or products thereof

Cellulose fibers

81161, 8181, 8189, 8190, D06M 1341, D06M 13355

Patent

active

057797374

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
This application is a 371 of PCT/GB95/00838 filed Apr. 12, 1995.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods of reducing the fibrillation tendency of lyocell fibres.
It is known that cellulose fibre can be made by extrusion of a solution of cellulose in a suitable solvent into a coagulating bath. This process is referred to as "solvent-spinning", and the cellulose fibre produced thereby is referred to as "solvent-spun" cellulose fibre or as lyocell fibre. Lyocell fibre is to be distinguished from cellulose fibre made by other known processes, which rely on the formation of a soluble chemical derivative of cellulose and its subsequent decomposition to regenerate the cellulose, for example the viscose process. One example of the solvent spinning process is described in US-A-4,246,221, the contents of which are incorporated herein by way of reference. Cellulose is dissolved in a solvent such as an aqueous tertiary amine N-oxide, for example N-methylmorpholine N-oxide. The resulting solution is then extruded through a suitable die into an aqueous bath to produce an assembly of filaments, which is washed in water to remove the solvent and is subsequently dried.
Fibres may exhibit a tendency to fibrillate, particularly when subjected to mechanical stress in the wet state. Fibrillation occurs when fibre structure breaks down in the longitudinal direction so that fine fibrils become partially detached from the fibre, giving a hairy appearance to the fibre and to fabric containing it, for example woven or knitted fabric. Dyed fabric containing fibrillated fibre tends to have a "frosted" appearance, which may be aesthetically undesirable. Such fibrillation is believed to be caused by mechanical abrasion of the fibres during treatment in a wet and swollen state. Wet treatment processes such as dyeing processes inevitably subject fibres to mechanical abrasion. Higher temperatures and longer times of treatment generally tend to produce greater degrees of fibrillation. Lyocell fibre appears to be particularly sensitive to such abrasion and is consequently often found to be more susceptible to fibrillation than other types of cellulose fibre. The present invention is concerned with methods of treatment of lyocell fibre so as to reduce or inhibit its tendency to fibrillate. It has however been found that some such methods of treatment may have detrimental effects on the mechanical properties of the fibre such as its tenacity and extensibility, for example by embrittling the fibre, or on the processability of the fibre and fabric, in particular its dyeability. It can be difficult to identify a method of treatment which provides a satisfactory reduction in fibrillation tendency whilst avoiding such detrimental effects.
2. Background Art
EP-A-538,977 describes a process for providing a solvent-spun cellulose fibre with a reduced fibrillation tendency, in which the fibre is treated with a chemical reagent having two to six functional groups reactive with cellulose. The chemical reagent may be a polyhalogenated polyazine or a compound containing a polyazine ring bearing two or more vinyl sulphone groups or precursors thereof. The fibre may be treated in never-dried or previously-dried form with an aqueous solution of the chemical reagent, which may be made weakly alkaline by the addition of sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate or sodium hydroxide. It has however been found that when solvent-spun cellulose fibre is treated with a reagent of the halogenated polyazine type the reduction in fibrillation tendency so obtained tends to be lost when fabric containing the treated fibre is scoured and laundered. Such reagents react with cellulose to form a multiplicity of aromatic/aliphatic ether groups, which are believed to be prone to chemical hydrolysis during fabric processing and laundering. WO-A-94/24343, published 27th October 1994, discloses a closely similar process.
FR-A-2273091 describes a method of manufacturing polynosic viscose rayon fibre with reduced tendency to fibrillation, wherein the fibre is treated

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