Fabric (woven – knitted – or nonwoven textile or cloth – etc.) – Coated or impregnated woven – knit – or nonwoven fabric which... – Coating or impregnation provides wear or abrasion resistance
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-20
2001-02-20
Copenheaver, Blaine (Department: 1771)
Fabric (woven, knitted, or nonwoven textile or cloth, etc.)
Coated or impregnated woven, knit, or nonwoven fabric which...
Coating or impregnation provides wear or abrasion resistance
C442S152000, C442S153000, C442S164000, C442S228000, C427S203000, C427S205000, C427S214000, C427S412000, C526S274000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06191056
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to metallized, particularly aluminized, fabrics which are coated with specific polyurethane finishes and primer coatings comprising novel phosphate-containing primers. Such specific polyurethanes are cross-linked when reacted with the primer coatings and applied in latex form. Upon impregnation within metal-coated fabrics, these particular polyurethanes encapsulate the metal particles and provide vastly improved washfastness properties to the fabrics and thus ensure the retention of substantially all the metal coating within and on the target fabric. The phosphate-containing primer provides remarkably improved adhesion between the metal and the polyurethane for excellent durability and washfastness. The primer compositions as well as the methods of producing a metallized coated with a primed polyurethane encapsulant are also provided.
DISCUSSION OF THE PRIOR ART
Metallized fabrics have recently been utilized in order to provide effective heat insulation for garments, particularly apparel for use outdoors and in cold-weather climates. Other uses for such fabrics have included incorporation within radar-detectable objects, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,390,588, to Ebneth et al.; water-repellent automobile covers, as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,998, to Duckett et al.; strength-enhanced fibrous materials, as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,660,138, to Gorrell. Washfastness is a very important characteristic which needs to be exhibited by metallized fabrics, particularly those which are intended to be incorporated within garments. Generally, such metal coatings, in particular aluminum, easily washes out of and from fabric substrates upon standard laundering procedures. Past attempts have been made to reduce the loss of metal from such fabrics. These include U.S. Pat. No. 5,744,405, to Okumura et al., which requires a siloxane over coat adhered to the metal-coated fabric through a plasma pre-treatment; and U.K. Patent 800,093, to Kunsch, which discloses the pre-treatment of fabric with cross-linked polyurethanes and the like, prior to depositing metal on the treated fabric surface. The Kunsch pre-treatment basically acts as an adhesive for the metal to remain bonded to the fabric substrate. These methods have proven to be either costly (with the high expense of plasma pre-treatments and particular siloxanes), or ineffective (with the mere utilization of an adhesive to bind the metal to the fabric leaving an appreciable amount of metal susceptible to removal through inadvertent contact and friction with certain surfaces as well as corrosion through atmospheric and aqueous oxidation). There is no teaching or fair suggestion within the prior art which pertains to cost-effective metallized fabrics which provide good heat-retention performance, long-term durability, and improved washfastness (i.e., greater than about 10 washes).
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
It is thus an object of the invention to provide improved washfastness for metallized fabrics. A further object of the invention is to manufacture a primed polyurethane-coated, aluminized fabric with better washfastness than comparable aluminized fabric or polyurethane-coated aluminized fabric. Another object of the invention is to provide a metallized fabric for incorporation within various different types of garments for the outdoor and cold-weather climate apparel industries which provides effective and appreciable levels of heat insulation throughout the wearable and washable lives of such garments. Yet another object of this invention is to provide a fabric for use in any type of heat insulation covering or fabric and not necessarily within apparel. Still a further object of the invention is to provide a method for producing such a metallized, washfast, heat insulation fabric. A further object of the invention is to provide a novel phosphate-group containing copolymer primer coating to improve the adhesive characteristics of the target polyurethane to the metal particles in the target fabric.
Accordingly, this invention encompasses first a novel copolymer being the reaction product of at least two different monomers, said monomers being (a) a phosphate-containing vinyl monomer and (b) a second, separate vinylic monomer having at least one pendant group having a reactive site thereon, wherein said reactive site is a moiety including a free electronsharing group selected from the group consisting of oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur. Such a reactive moiety includes, but is not limited to, hydroxyls, amines, amides, epoxides, mercaptans, phosphenes, formaldehyde-type groups, isocyanates, and the like. More particularly, and again only as merely examples, such moieties include epoxides, such as glycidyl ethers, which include oxygens; formaldehyde-type groups, such as alkylolacrylamides which include nitrogens and/or oxygens; hydroxyls, which include oxygen; amines, which include nitrogen; mercaptans, which include sulfur; phosphenes, which include phosphorus; and the like. (Such reactive moieties do not include phosphate groups.) These reactive moieties on the second vinylic monomer of the inventive copolymer may covalently bond with (and thus act as an adhesion promoter for), for example, the polyurethane latex of the inventive method, or the cross-linking agent present within such a latex formulation.
Furthermore, this invention also encompasses a fabric comprising a metal coating wherein said metal coating comprises discrete metal particles which are encapsulated within a cross-linked polyurethane latex, wherein said discrete metal particles are treated with a primer coating composition comprising the reaction product of a copolymer comprising at least two different monomers, wherein said at least two different monomers are (i) a phosphate-containing vinyl monomer and (ii) a second, separate vinylic monomer containing at least one reactive group which is capable of covalently reacting with the cross-linking agent present within the polyurethane latex coating; wherein said metal particles are contacted with said primer coating prior to or during contact with said polyurethane latex, wherein said latex comprises a cross-linking agent. Furthermore, this invention also encompasses a method for improving the washfastness of a metal coating on a metallized fabric through the coating of said metal particles with a cross-linked polyurethane latex comprising the steps of (a) providing a fabric, a portion of which is coated with metal particles; (b) subjecting at least a portion of said metal particles with a primer coating composition comprising the reaction product of a copolymer comprising at least two different monomers, wherein said at least two different monomers are (i) a phosphate-containing vinyl monomer and (ii) a second, separate vinylic monomer containing at least one reactive group which is capable of covalently reacting with the cross-linking agent present within the polyurethane latex coating; and (c) coating at least a portion of said primed metal particles on said fabric with a latex comprising (i) a polyurethane dispersion; (ii) a cross-linking agent; and, optionally, (iii) a catalyst to initiate the crosslinking of said polyurethane dispersion and of said primer coating composition. Nowhere within the prior art has such a specific encapsulated primed metal coating for fabrics been utilized to impede corrosion of the metal particles adhered to the fabric surface thereby substantially eliminating the removal of such metal particles from the fabric substrate due to atmospheric conditions and/or harsh laundering conditions.
The inventive copolymer primer coating, as noted above, must comprise at least two different monomers, one being a phosphate-containing vinylic monomer, the other also requiring the presence of a vinyl group, as well as at least one reactive pendant group wherein the reactive site on such a moiety includes an electron-sharing group. Such a group is, as noted above, selected from nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur. Thus, any group which contains or makes available such
Arthur Kristen K.
Vogt Kirkland W.
Copenheaver Blaine
Miliken & Company
Moyer Terry T.
Parks William S.
Singh Arti R.
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