Lyocell fabric treatment to reduce fibrillation tendency

Details Lyocell fabric treatment to reduce fibrillation tendency Lyocell fabric treatment to reduce fibrillation tendency

1996-09-27

1998-06-02

Diamond, Alan

Bleaching and dyeing; fluid treatment and chemical modification

Chemical modification of textiles or fibers or products thereof

Cellulose fibers

81161, 8185, 8186, 8120, 8182, 8184, 8543, D06M 15423, D06M 1545

Patent

active

057592101

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
This application is a 371 of PCT/GB95/00993 filed May 1, 1995.


FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to methods of reducing the fibrillation tendency of lyocell fabrics and of reducing the degree of fibrillation of fibrillated lyocell fabrics.
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 U.S. Pat. No. 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.
As used herein, the term "lyocell fibre" means a cellulose fibre obtained by an organic solvent spinning process, in which the organic solvent essentially comprises a mixture of organic chemicals and water, and in which solvent spinning involves dissolving cellulose in the solvent and spinning, without formation of a derivative of the cellulose. As used herein, the terms "solvent-spun cellulose fibre" and "lyocell fibre" are synonymous. As used herein, the term "lyocell fabric" means a fabric woven or knitted from a plurality of yarns, at least some of which yarns contain lyocell fibre, alone or in blend with other type(s) of fibre.
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 woven or knitted fabric containing it. 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 fabric appears to be particularly sensitive to such abrasion and is consequently often found to be more susceptible to fibrillation than fabric made from other types of cellulose fibre. In particular, cotton fabrics have an inherently very low fibrillation tendency.


BACKGROUND ART

It has been known for many years to treat cellulose fabric with a crosslinking agent to improve its crease resistance, as described for example in Kirk-Othmer's Encyclopaedia of Chemical Technology, third edition, Volume 22 (1983), Wiley-Interscience, in an article entitled "Textiles (Finishing)" at pages 769-790, and by H. Petersen in Rev. Prog. Coloration, Vol 17 (1987), pages 7-22. Crosslinking agents may sometimes be referred to under other names, for example crosslinking resins, chemical finishing agents and resin finishing agents. Crosslinking agents are small molecules containing a plurality of functional groups capable of reacting with the hydroxyl groups in cellulose to form crosslinks. In one conventional type of finishing process, a cellulosic fabric is first treated with a crosslinking agent, for example by application from a pad bath, and is dried and then heated to cure the resin and induce crosslinking (pad-dry-cure). It is known that crease-resistant finishing treatments embrittle cellulose fabric, with consequent loss of abrasion resistance, tens

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