HK1116204B - Dyed olefin yarn and textile fabrics using such yarns - Google Patents

Abstract

A disperse dyeable fiber or filament is comprised principally of polyolefin modified with PETG to accept the disperse dyes. The combining of maleic anhydride with the PETG provides good dispersion of the PETG for uniform dye results. Novel textile fabric, knitted, woven and non-woven, can be formed with yarns or fibers formed in accordance with the invention. In one aspect of the invention, fabric can be disperse dyed to a light, medium or deep solid shade. In another aspect, the textile fabrics are manufactured using olefin yarns that contain variable amounts of dye acceptor additives. A fabric with more than one tone of a color thus can be dyed in a single dye bath. The fabrics and yarn according to this invention can be processed using conventional spinning, weaving, knitting, web formingl machines and will dye using existing dyeing and finishing systems. This invention is of particular value in the apparel and home furnishings industry.

Description

Dyed olefin yarn and fabric using the same

Background

The present invention relates to fabrics made with olefin fibers or yarns modified to be dyed with disperse dyes. These fabrics are conventionally colored using existing disperse dyes or printing systems. A single shade or multiple shades are obtained in the same dye bath or printing application. The fabrics of the present invention are manufactured as gray fabrics (greige foods) by a knitting, weaving or non-weaving process. A level of dye additive was grafted into the olefin yarn and the fabric was passed through a disperse dye bath to obtain a solid color. Multiple yarns, each containing different percentages of dye additive, were manufactured into fabrics. The fabric will be dyed to a variety of shades in the same bath. By increasing the amount of disperse dyeable additive in the olefin yarn or fiber, the affinity of the disperse dye is correspondingly increased. The fabric produced according to the invention can be stored in the dyehouse in undyed form. The color is then added using a conventional disperse dye machine or printing process. Unexpected and novel effects are obtained with economical conventional disperse dyeing systems known to the person skilled in the art. The invention is particularly useful in the apparel and home furnishings industry. The fabric produced feels and looks like a conventional fabric, but is about 30-38% lighter in weight. This is because the specific gravity of olefin is 0.91, while that of cotton or polyester is 1.38. In addition, light and wash fastness properties are similar to those of polyesters.

Brief description of related art:

knitted and woven fabrics and textiles are a vast industry worldwide. Cotton is the primary choice of fiber used to make woven or knitted fabrics. Cotton has long been used in the manufacture of yarns and textiles. Cotton is a natural fiber that grows in many parts of the world. There are many cotton spinning systems worldwide. Cotton yarns for apparel and home furnishings are readily produced using a cotton spinning system. Egyptian and american cotton wool (cotton repeat) is the most widely used cotton for yarn and fabric production.

The cotton spinning system starts with a cotton mass picked in the field. The fibers are known as "cotton" and are typically 3/4 "to 1.5" in length. Longer length cotton is more expensive than shorter length cotton wool. Longer cotton filaments will yield a superior spun yarn. The machine cleans, combs, and then makes the roving into various sizes. Cotton is made into yarns of various sizes by twisting or "weaving" the roving on machines well known in the art. Yarns are produced to be knitted or woven to produce fabrics for use in apparel and home furnishings. By using various sizes of large or small yarns, knitting or weaving manufacturers are able to make various types of garments or dresses. If a cotton fabric is made and kept in an undyed state, the fabric is called a greige fabric. This is the most common and economical method of making the most widely used cotton fabrics. Dyeing or printing of fabrics is typically performed after receiving an order from the end user of the fabric. The dyed cotton fabric is then cut into the appropriate shape and various garment garments are sewn from these sections. Cotton is used to make underwear, socks, sweaters, shirts, slacks, sportswear and sportswear. Cotton is not often used to make crabbing, men's or women's suits or coats.

The most common system of coloring cotton clothing fabrics dyes woven, knitted or non-woven fabrics. The fabric is placed in a machine containing water, vat or direct dyes and chemicals. The temperature of the solution or bath is adjusted to the desired value. A skilled operator will use this method to produce the desired shade on cotton fabric. The fabric is dried and finished according to the customer's requirements. Dye mills are capital intensive operations containing expensive dyes and finishing equipment. In addition to dyeing, dye mills have drying and finishing equipment such as preshrinking machines, chemical applicators, and rolling or folding equipment. Ideally, a good alternative to cotton could be processed with existing cotton spinning, dyeing and finishing equipment systems to dye and finish cotton are distributed throughout the world.

Cotton has been selected among fabrics for the following reasons:

cotton is readily grown in many parts of the world.

Cotton is easily converted into yarn because cotton is grown to a standard fiber length.

Cotton yarn performs well on most knitting and weaving machines.

Cotton fabrics are soft to the touch and comfortable to the user's body.

The cotton core absorbs water.

Cotton is very easy to dye.

Cotton can be blended well with other synthetic fibers.

Fabrics knitted or woven from cotton have standard names and are commercially available from most parts of the world. Manufacturers can purchase standard cotton fabrics from anywhere in the world. The manufacturer then sends the fabric to the dye house to be stored as an uncolored greige fabric, awaiting an order for a colored cloth. The dyed fabric is cut and sewn into clothing garments or household furnishing articles, such as draperies, bedspreads or upholstery.

And (3) synthesis:

various attempts have been made to produce acceptable synthetic fibers or yarns, which are good alternatives to cotton and are processed on conventional textile equipment.

The worldwide demand for cotton necessitates the introduction of synthetic alternatives because there is insufficient available area worldwide to produce cotton to meet the growing population's demand for affordable fabrics and garments. It is highly desirable to make a synthetic alternative to cotton.

Rayon (rayon):

many attempts have been made to produce synthetic alternatives to cotton. Rayon and acetate rayon (rayon acetate) were the first attempts to successfully produce alternatives to cotton. Cellulose derived from wool is used in rayon processes. Rayon and acetate fibers are widely used in the apparel and home furnishings industries. However, the production of these yarns and fibers results in a significant amount of contamination, and they are not produced in the united states. The rayon process uses large amounts of caustic and anhydride. Rayon has very desirable properties. It is easy to dye and the produced casing is bright and soft and is an excellent substitute for cotton. Most rayon has to be imported and produced by professional manufacturing, so it is expensive and not used except for expensive high-end fashion garments. Rayon is also blended with cotton or other synthetics to produce fabrics having desired characteristics such as feel or drape. Rayon and acetate fibers have the same specific gravity as cotton. These fibers have no weight advantage when replacing cotton. Their specific gravity is the same as that of cotton.

Acrylic fibers (acrylics):

synthetic fibers made by the acrylonitrile process are also used to make flexible fibers. Examples of brands are Acrilan (Acrilan) from Solutia co., Creslan from American cyanamide (American Cyanamid), and Mannacryl from mannideries. This fiber is not easily dyed and is produced mainly in large pigment dyed lots. In addition, acrylic fiber is much more expensive than cotton. It has a specific gravity of 1.17, which makes it ideal for use in sweaters and for hosiery (hosiery) in admixture with wool. Since it is solution dyed, yarns made from acrylic fiber are best suited for outdoor use in awnings, lawns and garden ornaments. Acrylic fiber is not a good substitute for cotton.

Polyester:

synthetic fiber fabrics, primarily polyester, account for almost half of all the fibers used to produce the fabric.

Almost 60 years ago, polyester fibers were introduced by Dupont Company (Dupont Company) to replace cotton. It does not replace cotton, but is typically used to mix or blend with cotton. Initially, the polyester was coarse and of low quality. It does not absorb moisture well and is difficult to dye. Polyester fibers have long been designed to feel soft and to blend with cotton to enable yarns to be made with cotton spinning systems. The most common polyester is known as "micro denier". The microdenier is extruded through a spinneret orifice, which forms fibers smaller in size than cotton. Blends of 60% cotton with 40% polyester were found to be very common. There are many cotton/polyester blends. These blends are found in knitted and woven fabrics. Various expensive modifications were made to be able to spin and dye fabrics made from blends of polyester and cotton. In modern dyeing and finishing installations today, undyed fabrics made from yarns of blends of cotton and polyester are dyed, finished and shipped to end users in a single color. Matching the shade of cotton dyed with one dye to the shade of polyester dyed with a disperse dye requires great skill. When dyeing such blends, a two-step process is used, which is much more expensive than a one-step process.

Polyesters have a number of drawbacks. Dyeing is difficult and dyeing polyester and cotton to a uniform shade requires great skill. Polyester fibers require high temperatures under pressure to absorb high energy disperse dyes. Cotton is dyed with direct or vat dyes without the need for pressure or high temperatures. The dye house dyeing cotton/polyester blends is high technology content. Fabrics made from blends of cotton and polyester must be dyed using a two-step process. First one and then the other. Most experienced dye houses retain a large amount of disperse shades for dyeing polyester and blends of polyester and cotton.

The manufacture of polyesters is a very large industry. Approximately 330 million pounds of polyester is produced worldwide for use in the apparel and home furnishings industries. Although polyester is widely used throughout the world, it still has many disadvantages.

Polyesters have the following disadvantages:

very high skills are required to blend polyester with cotton

The polyester is difficult to dye

The polyester is warm to the body

Textile fabrics made from 100% polyester feel heavy

Dyeing or printing polyesters requires high temperatures and pressures

Polyester coreless moisture absorption

It would be highly desirable to have available synthetic yarns or fabrics with new properties in the apparel and home furnishings industry. Ideally, synthetic fibers can be used to make yarns for use in fabrics similar to those made from 100% cotton. Polyesters do not meet these criteria.

Olefin (b):

olefins (polypropylene, polyethylene) are man-made fibers composed of at least 85% of ethylene, propylene or other olefin units. In addition to being difficult to dye on conventional dyeing or printing systems, olefins are an ideal replacement for cotton. Olefins are easily and economically manufactured into fibers that feel almost the same as cotton. I have found that an olefin of 1.8 denier per filament and a fiber length of 1.5 "to 2" is an excellent substitute for cotton. In addition to its "feel", olefin fibers have the following characteristics:

olefin fibers are easily converted into yarns using existing spinning systems;

olefin yarns perform well on knitting machines and looms;

the olefin yarn is soft to the touch;

olefin fibers perform well on non-weaving machines;

olefin fabrics feel like cotton;

the olefin fabric is dried quickly;

olefin fabrics are capable of transmitting moisture but retaining body heat; and

olefin fabrics are very stain resistant.

Deficiencies of olefin fibers and yarns:

the major disadvantage of olefins is that it cannot be dyed with conventional dyeing systems. Almost all olefin fabrics and yarns are pigment dyed or solution dyed. Fabrics made from pigment dyed yarns cannot be dyed to a fashion shade when an order is received. This makes fabric manufacturing extremely expensive and in stock, difficult to manage, in the apparel and home furnishings industry. Pigment dyed polypropylene is currently used primarily in the manufacture of carpets and rugs.

The invention content is as follows:

the object of the present invention is to use a synthetic yarn having most of the characteristics of cotton fabric and overcoming the drawbacks of polyester fabric, to produce a novel knitted woven or non-woven fabric. In order to qualify as an excellent substitute for cotton fabrics, the fabric must be available in the form of a greige good, readily dyeable on conventional systems, and soft to the touch; the fabric must be "breathable" and wick moisture away from the body. The fabric made with the synthetic yarn of the present invention will be easy to hand or machine wash and will not stain with common household food stains. Fabrics made with the present invention using standard size yarns are lightweight and dry faster than cotton fabrics at room temperature. The fabrics made by the present invention have superior light and wash fastness.

Further objects and further scope of the invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and the examples are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and innovations within the spirit of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art.

Although cotton spinning systems are the most widely used systems, those skilled in the art can produce fibers that can be made into yarns using any conventional spinning system. Worsted spinning, wool spinning and modified spinning are some of the more common spinning methods. The length and denier of the fiber can be varied to accommodate any spinning system.

In addition to the length of fiber spun into the yarn, there is mass production of continuous filament yarns. The invention can be applied to fibrous or continuous filament yarns.

Briefly, the present invention is directed to a process for making knitted, woven and nonwoven fabric greige goods using disperse dyeable synthetic olefin yarns and fibers, which greige goods are readily dyeable and processable using commercially available disperse dyeing systems. The novel advantages of these greige goods over cotton and blends of cotton polyesters will be apparent from the detailed description. The present invention also shows preferred novel additives grafted onto olefins to render them disperse dyeable.

The specific implementation mode is as follows:

the present invention relates to the manufacture of knitted, woven or non-woven fabrics using olefin yarns or fibers that have been reinforced to accept disperse dyes. The olefin cannot be dyed but the additive grafted to the olefin of the present invention will accept any disperse dye used in the dyeing apparatus used to dye the polyester or blend of polyester and cotton. It is not necessary to purchase a special dye to obtain all the described shades. The olefin of the present invention will accept only disperse dyes. The present invention uses grafted additives in olefins to produce yarns that are made into woven, knitted or non-woven greige goods fabrics. The fabric of the present invention is stored as an uncolored inventory. The greige goods are colored with disperse dyes commonly used for polyester dyeing. Very high temperatures for polyester dyeing are not necessary for dyeing olefin fabrics. 220～250The temperature of (c) is desirable. When the olefin fabrics are dyed using the present invention, bright shades of any color are obtained.

Multiple color tones:

besides only one single color, a plurality of hues are dyed. Fabrics are dyed in multiple shades of the same shade in one dye bath containing disperse dye using olefin yarns grafted with 1% to 15% dye enhancer. This is achieved by grafting the concentrated dye enhancers of varying strength specified in the present invention into the olefin fiber or yarn. For example, a yarn with 5% dye enhancer is referred to as "a", a yarn with 3% dye enhancer is referred to as "B", and a yarn with 1.5% dye enhancer is referred to as "C". When yarns A, B and C are placed together on a fabric forming machine, such as a loom, the resulting fabric is dyed to three self-tones in the same dye bath. One deep, one moderate and one shallow. Preferred grafting concentrates range from 1% to 7%.

When a fabric is made with a yarn containing two degrees of dyeing and a yarn without any concentrate, the result will be a fabric with two shades as well as a white fabric. This aspect produces novel and unexpected results. Those skilled in the art will find many pleasing ways of making new fabrics using the present invention.

Monochrome:

when made with yarns containing only one level of grafting concentrate, fabrics made from olefin yarns will be dyed to a single color. The preferred grafting concentrate should be 5% by weight of the cloth. Other concentrations may be used to vary dye absorption but i have found that the preferred mixture is 5% by weight of the product to form a solid colour.

Unexpected and novel results were obtained with 100% olefin yarns of the present invention. By using

The advantages of the olefins prepared according to the present invention are as follows:

1. the olefin fabric is washable in warm water;

2. the olefin fabrics can be air-dried at low temperature or quick machine-dried;

3. the disperse dyed olefin fabric does not elongate or shrink during the washing process;

4. the olefin fabric is dried and basically does not wrinkle;

5. olefin fabrics resist staining;

6. olefin fabrics are soft to the touch;

7. olefin fabrics are 38% lighter than cotton;

8. olefin fabrics wick moisture and are breathable;

9. olefin fabrics are resistant to mold and algae growth;

10. olefins have a higher volume (bulk) than most fibers;

11. olefin yarns can be made from spun or continuous filaments; and

12. the olefin fabric is characterized by being a jacket which is easy to manage and convenient to travel.

Olefin dyeing enhancer:

there are various ways to promote or enhance the acceptance of dyes by olefins.

The related patents are as follows:

4,320,046 of 6,420,482 Havens, domigguez et al

Henkee et al, 3,926,553 of 6,146,574 Fuest

6,126,701 Farber et al 3,652,198 by Calogero

Sheth's 5,576,366 Brown et al 3,622,264

5,550,192 Coover et al 3,315,014 by Sheth et al

5,169,405 Craubuer et al 3,256,362 Hoyt et al

All of the above patents teach those skilled in the art how to make grafts that will render the polyolefin dyeable when grafted to the polyolefin. All involve very different chemistries than those of the present invention. Craubuer No.3,256,362 relates to unsaturated polyesters which differ from the other above-mentioned inventions. The Craubuer patent requires mixing difficulties and unrelated types of polyesters. The unsaturated polyester in that patent is not amorphous and does not blend well at the low temperatures required to produce olefins.

Each of the methods described in the above patents suffers from the problem of spinning or extruding the small dimensions necessary for the garment. Dyeing of the yarns or fabrics of these prior patents requires special equipment or dye selection. To the best of the inventors' knowledge, none of these patents has been used on a large scale to make apparel or woven home furnishing fabrics. The carpet industry has used yarn in a limited manner. It would be desirable to have dyeable olefins that can be used in apparel and home furnishings without being limited to carpet manufacture. Furthermore, the use of dyeable olefins is only practical if the unmodified disperse dye materials available enable the dyer to match shades in the laboratory and which can be transferred to the production dyeing machinery with little or no change. The present invention allows dyers to match shades in the laboratory, which is easily transferred to manufacturing machinery.

A preferred method of rendering olefins disperse dyeable is as follows:

mixtures of amorphous PETG (glycol modified polyethylene terephthalate) are preferred components for grafting onto polyolefins. Amorphous PETG is chosen because it has a melting point similar to polypropylene. This enables one skilled in the art to make dyeable polyolefins using conventional olefin fiber extruders. No special equipment is required to perform this operation. The advantage of this additive is that the addition of the graft does not require drying and dehumidification. In addition to amorphous PEGT, the present invention uses maleic anhydride to increase dispersion and graft cohesion in olefin fibers. The preferred products are amorphous PETG No.1428 from Eastman Chemical and maleic anhydride No 3200 from Uniroyal. It is desirable to use a blend of 96% PETG 1428 and 4% maleic anhydride (percentages are by weight unless otherwise specified). I let the blend into polypropylene to produce 50% active compounds. 50% is polypropylene, 48% is amorphous PETG, and 2% is maleic anhydride. One skilled in the art will select the appropriate method to prepare the compound. This is, of course, the best suggestion, but the person skilled in the art will vary the percentages by experiment to suit their needs. The compound is in pellet form and packaged in a Gaylord package or cylinder without the need for a special gas sealant.

Maleic anhydride is used to help the graft to be firmly fixed to the polyolefin. Maleic anhydride is not necessary to render the olefin disperse dyeable. However, i have found that if maleic anhydride is not used, the amorphous PETG is not uniformly dispersed. This results in uneven dispersion and uneven dyeing.

Dyeable olefin fibers and yarns:

10% owg (owg: based on the weight of the product) of pellets comprising 48% amorphous PETG (polyester), 2% maleic anhydride and 50% polypropylene were fed into an olefin fiber extruder. A fiber comprising 5% disperse dyeable mixture grafted to 95% olefin was obtained. The skilled person will vary the blend of graft and olefin to obtain the desired shade when in the dyebath containing the disperse dye. I modified the blend and dyed the fiber and found that the preferred enhancement for dark monochromatic color was 5% owg and for lighter shades was 2.5% owg. A pleasant two-tone shade was obtained from the same bath when 5% owg fiber and 2.5% owg fiber were in the same bath. The term "dye enhanced olefin" is used to describe the grafted product.

Pellets containing 50% olefin, 48% amorphous PETG and 2% maleic anhydride blend are preferred for the following reasons:

the disperse dye is the only dye absorbed by the graft.

The blend melts at the processing temperature of the olefin.

The blend was combined and easily extruded into pellets.

The mixed pellets are fed into the olefin fiber extruder without absolute drying (bone dry).

During fiber extrusion, the blend is mixed uniformly and well dispersed within the olefin.

Dyeable grafts are stable under any dyeing conditions.

The grafted yarn or fabric is dyed or printed with standard disperse dyes.

Printing and dyeing are easy to realize and only need to be exposed at 212Steam at temperature for 2 to 4 minutes.

Color 175Is washable at warm temperatures.

The grafts enhance the "feel" of the olefin.

The present invention will now be described in more detail.

Example I-Monochromatic Fabric

a) Olefin pellets having a melt flow index of 8 to 22 are extruded and intimately mixed with a blend using PETG and maleic anhydride, a preferred mixture as described above. The blend of 95% olefin and 5% PETG/maleic anhydride was extruded into a fiber mass using conventional fiber extrusion equipment. The fiber dpf is 1.8 and cut to 1.5 ". Approximately 1,000 pounds of fiber were produced and packaged. The denier per filament is close to cotton and thus is the cotton filament length.

b) Dyed, enhanced olefin bales of fiber of a certain length are mixed together in a carding process and made into an intimate blend of rovings. The roving made with conventional cotton equipment was ring spun into 10/1 cotton count and wound up on a 3 pound package. Approximately 1000 pounds of yarn was produced.

c) The 10/1 olefin yarn was knitted on a 10 gauge (cut) circular knitting machine. This process produces an undyed greige goods fabric that is most suitable for cutting and sewing sweaters.

d) In a conventional jet dyeing machine normally used for dyeing polyesterAnd dyeing the grey fabric of the sweater. Maintain the temperature at 250 deg.CTo avoid damaging the olefin. 0.005% owg of the disperse dye Terasil BlueBRL was used with standard dye dispersion chemicals and water. The resulting sweater fabric is a novel and pleasing bright shade of deep blue. The fabric is dried in a relatively cool oven. The temperature is kept below the melting temperature of the olefin or 200. The water flashes off the olefin leaving a dry, bright fabric that is rolled up and wrapped for shipment. Because the olefin contains only a small amount of water, the drying time is greatly reduced compared to cotton or cotton polyester blends.

f) Cutting and sewing jersey fabric, which is unexpectedly novel. It is at least 30% lighter in weight than a cotton jersey made to the same specifications. This is because the specific gravity of olefin is 0.91, while cotton or cotton polyester is 1.38.

The novel jersey will in fact float in the water. The jersey has a cotton look and feel, but is substantially lighter in weight. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that different weight fabrics can be produced in the same manner with different size yarns.

Example II-color tone on olefin fabrics

a) Olefin pellets having a melt flow index of 8 to 22 are intimately mixed with and grafted to the olefin dye enhancing blend. The blend was a 5% disperse dye enhancing concentrate of 95% olefin and consisting of PETG and maleic anhydride as described in the present invention. The mixture is extruded into a fiber mass using conventional fiber extrusion equipment. dpf is 1.8 and cut to 1.5 ". Approximately 1,000 pounds of fiber were produced and packaged. The denier per filament is close to cotton and thus is the cotton filament length. This batch is called "fiber A".

b) Olefin pellets having a melt flow index of 8 to 22 are intimately mixed and grafted with the olefin dye enhancing blend. The blend was 97% olefin with a 3% disperse dye enhancing concentrate consisting of PETG and maleic anhydride as described in the present invention. The mixture is extruded into a fiber mass using conventional fiber extrusion equipment. dpf is 1.8 and cut to 1.5 ". Approximately 1,000 pounds of fiber were produced and packaged. The denier per filament is close to cotton and is therefore the cotton filament length. This batch is called "fiber B".

c) The olefin bales of fiber were mixed together separately in a carding process and made into roving. The roving made with conventional cotton equipment was ring spun into 10/1 cotton count and wound up on a 3 pound package. Each yarn produced approximately 1000 pounds of olefin with 5% concentrate (yarn a), and 1000 pounds of olefin grafted with 3% concentrate (yarn B). Both will accept disperse dyes.

d) Olefin yarn a containing 5% concentrate and olefin yarn B containing 3% concentrate were placed side-by-side on a 10 gauge circular knitting machine. Both yarns are 10/1. The olefin yarn was knitted on a 10 gauge circular knitting machine. The manufacturing method produces an undyed greige goods fabric that is most suitable for cutting and sewing sweaters.

e) The jersey greige goods fabric is dyed in a conventional jet dyeing machine commonly used for polyester dyeing. Maintain the temperature at 250 deg.CTo avoid damaging the olefin. 0.005% owg of the disperse dye Terasil BlueBRL was used with standard dye dispersion chemicals and water. The resulting sweater fabric is a novel and pleasing two-tone shade of blue. More than one shade is obtained on the fabric using only the same dye bath. The fabric is dried in a relatively cool oven. The temperature is kept below the melting temperature of the olefin or 200. The drying time is greatly reduced compared to cotton or cotton polyester blends. The water flashes off the olefin leaving a dry, bright fabric that is rolled up and wrapped for shipment.

f) A two-tone jersey fabric is cut and sewn which is unexpectedly novel. The two-tone effect is novel and looks as natural as wool or linen. It is at least 30% lighter in weight than a cotton jersey made to the same specifications. This is because the specific gravity of the olefin is 0.91, while that of cotton or a blend of cotton polyesters is 1.38. The novel jersey will in fact float in the water.

It will be appreciated that by varying the amount of concentrate and the number of olefin yarns fed to the knitting machine or loom, one skilled in the art is able to create many fashionable and novel greige goods fabrics made from olefins or blends of olefins with other yarns fed to various knitting machines or looms. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that different weight fabrics can be produced in the same manner using different size yarns.

Example III Monochromatic color of continuous filament Fabric

a) Olefin pellets having a melt flow index of 8 to 22 are extruded and intimately mixed with a blend employing the preferred PETG and maleic anhydride mixture described above. The blend of 95% olefin and 5% PETG/maleic anhydride was extruded into continuous filament yarn using conventional extrusion equipment. The filament fiber dpf is 5.4. Approximately 1,000 pounds of yarn was produced and wound onto a pirn.

b) The undrawn yarn is drawn on a conventional texturing machine (texturing machine) from 3.0 to 1 and false twist textured. The textured yarn had 277 filaments of 1.8 denier each. The yarn is soft and feels like cotton. The yarn was bright and uncolored and was wound on a 3 pound cone. During this process, a suitable spin finish (spin finish) is applied.

c) The textured yarn was knitted on a 10 gauge circular knitting machine. An undyed jersey base fabric with a bright soft appearance was obtained.

d) The bright textured continuous filament jersey greige goods fabric is dyed in a conventional jet dyeing machine commonly used for polyester dyeing. Maintain the temperature at 250 deg.CTo avoid damaging the olefin. 0.005% owg of the disperse dye Terasil Blue BRL was used with standard dye dispersion chemicals. The resulting sweater fabric is a novel and pleasing bright, solid shade of dark blue. The fabric is dried in a relatively cool oven. The temperature is kept below the melting temperature of the olefin or 200. The drying time is greatly reduced compared to cotton or cotton polyester blends. The water flashes off the olefin leaving a dry bright, aesthetically pleasing fabric that is soft to the touch, rolled up and wrapped for shipment.

e) Cutting and sewing continuous filament jersey fabrics, which is unexpectedly novel. It is bright, "aesthetic" and fashionable. It is monochromatic, but by using the same technique as in example II above, one skilled in the art can vary the olefin yarn and achieve new effects of two or three shades from the same dye bath. It is 30% lighter in weight than a jersey made of polyester. This is because the specific gravity of the olefin is 0.91 relative to 1.38 for the polyester. The novel jersey will in fact float in the water. It is non-ironing and would be ideal for a coat for travel.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the same technique can be used to produce finer yarns of, for example, 20, 70, 120 or 150 denier. This example above is intended to show that continuous filament fabrics can be rendered dyeable using the same blend of PETG and maleic anhydride used to render a length of fiber dyeable. Woven fabrics can also be made from these yarns.

Example IV-dyeing of olefin fabrics

Screen printing-the knitted fabric from example 1 was sent to a 6-color aqueous continuous screen printing machine. A standard dye paste using disperse dye was prepared for each screen with thickener. Enabling the screen to produce a pleasing six-color floral pattern. The printing paste is screened onto the fabric. The fabric was sent to a steam box to fix the dye. To fix and dyeMaterial, is required to be at 212Steam at temperature for 2 to 4 minutes. The fabric is sent to a steam box and absorbed in a continuous system, washed to remove excess dye and then dried. The product was a pleasant jersey fabric with 6-color floral designs printed.

Without diffusion or excessive absorption, novel effects are obtained. The drying time is greatly reduced and the oven is set to bring the fabric into contact 200. It will be appreciated that woven fabrics can also be processed using the same techniques.

Example V-spaced dye impressions on yarn by Knit-de-Knit Process Dyeing process

a) Olefin pellets having a melt flow index of 8 to 22 are extruded and intimately mixed with a blend employing the preferred PETG and maleic anhydride mixture described above. The blend of 95% olefin and 5% PETG/maleic anhydride was extruded into a fiber mass using conventional fiber extrusion equipment. The fiber dpf is 1.8 and is cut to 1.5 ". Approximately 1000 pounds of fiber were produced and packaged. The denier per filament is close to cotton and thus it is the cotton filament length.

b) Olefin bales of fiber of a certain length are mixed together in a carding process and made into roving. The roving made with conventional cotton equipment was ring spun into 10/1 cotton count and wound up on a 3 pound package. Approximately 1000 pounds of yarn was produced. The 10/1 grafted olefin was folded to make 10/2 dyeable olefin.

c) Knitted sleeves-10/2 olefin yarn was knitted into a single port sleeve.

d) Space dyeing printing-three colors are printed on the sleeves using a textile break-apart process known in the art. This is a continuous process where an undyed sleeve is passed through a squeeze roller submerged in a disperse dye tank to apply a first shade. The sleeves continue to extend toTwo embossing rolls overprint the second shade and then continue to a third roll overprinting a patterned third shade. Each shade contains a disperse dye. The colored knitted sleeve is exposed to steam for at least 2 minutes and preferably 4 minutes. This fixes the disperse dye at an acceptable depth of shade. Knitted sleeves have a single base color of light gray (beige) overprinted with dark brown and charcoal. The sleeves are then washed and dried in sequence. Dryer set at 200Low temperature, water evaporation. The dried sleeves are collected in a jar container and then moved to a winding room.

e) The resulting sleeve is knitted (de-knit), or wound on a yarn package using a winding operation known to those skilled in the art. The yarn was a pleasing light gray with many dark brown and dark charcoal colors and was wound on a 3 pound cone.

f) The 10/2 olefin space dyed yarn was knitted on a 10 gauge circular knitting machine. A pleasant three-tone spacing dyed fabric is obtained. The olefin space dyed fabrics are unexpectedly free of patterns typically associated with hank dyeing or dip dyeing of jersey yarns. The fabric is washed with hot water in a jet dyeing machine or rope dyeing machine (winch dye machine) to increase capacity and clarify the color. This also ensures that the finished jersey does not shrink when washed by the end user. In a cooling furnace 200The fabric is dried. Although it is not necessary to wash the fabric, the additional step of preventing shrinkage of the fabric is still valuable.

g) A cut and sewn space dyed jersey fabric that is unexpectedly novel. It is 30% lighter in weight than a cotton jersey made to the same specifications. This is because the specific gravity of the olefin is 0.91 relative to 1.38 for cotton or cotton-polyester blends. The novel jersey will in fact float in the water.

While this example employs 10/2 yarn, it should be noted that any size dyeable olefin that can effectively pass through the woven ravel system would be suitable. Many pleasant color effects can be obtained and should not be limited to the described embodiments. One skilled in the art should conduct experiments seeking to obtain a pleasing product with spun yarns or filament yarns.

Other methods of space dyeing or printing the yarn may be used. The person skilled in the art will adjust the various devices to the requirements mentioned above. Warp printing (warp printing) or package impregnation (packageimpringation) are two other common methods for space dyeing yarns.

There are many sizes of yarn used to make fabrics. The spun yarn is typically made into a laminated or unitary form 18 ', 20 ', 24 ', 28 ', 30 ', 36 ', 40 '. Continuous filament yarns are typically made into 20/1, 70/1, 100/1, 150/1, 200/1, 300/1, 500/1, 1000/1. These are common yarn sizes used to make woven or knitted fabrics. It is to be understood that any size yarn or rayon can be rendered dyeable with the preferred blends of the present invention. Dyeable woven, nonwoven or knitted fabrics of all types and descriptions can be made from these yarns.

It should also be noted that there are continuous filament machines that use multiple extruders to extrude more than one color to feed the spinneret. When the dye enhancer mixture is introduced into each extruder in place of the pigment in a different percentage blend, the product will be a continuous filament yarn that receives various shades from the same dye bath.

Example VI three-color textured Fabric

a) Olefin pellets having a melt flow index of 8 to 22 are intimately mixed with and grafted to the olefin dye enhancing blend. The machine has three extruders each feeding a single spinneret. Such machines are manufactured by Barmag, Plantex, Rieter. One extruder was fed with a mixture of 95% olefin and 5% dye enhancer, another with a mixture of 97% olefin and 3% dye enhancer, and a third with a mixture of 99% olefin and 1% dye enhancer. A single white yarn consisting of three different levels of dye affinity with a dpf of 5.4 was wound on a three pound wrap.

b) The yarn must be drawn and textured at this stage. The yarn was drawn 3: 0 and false twisted on a conventional draw twister known to those skilled in the art. The product was a continuous filament yarn having 300 yarns at 1.8 dpf. One third of the yarn had 5% additive, one third 3% additive and one third 1% additive.

c) The yarn was knitted on a 30 "rib knitting machine. The tubular fabric produced was a white primary color tube and shipped to the dye house.

d) The tube was stained with 0.005% owg disperse dye. The unexpected product is a dyed fabric with a deep, medium, and light blue shade of denim. One third of the yarns receives one level of disperse dye, one third of the yarns receives a second level of disperse dye, and one third of the yarns receives a third level of disperse dye.

e) Opening the fabric at 200Dried at low temperature and rolled up for shipment.

f) The fabric is cut and sewn into the fully ribbed spring wear with the clothes decorative buttons. One skilled in the art will vary the size of the extrudate and the disperse dyeable compound grafted to achieve their desired effect.

Variations are possible for those skilled in the art to knit a dyeable tri-tone yarn with a dyeable mono-tone yarn. When the fabric is dyed, the fabric will have stripes of a single shade and stripes of a three-tone shade. This is merely an example which serves to show that many variations are now possible with the present invention. It is desirable to feed two extruders with additives while the third extruder produces a part that cannot be dyed. Under the conditions of a disperse dye bath of Terasil Blue, two yarns will be dyed Blue, while the third will remain white.

For space dyeing or printing, fabrics containing tri-tone yarns would be ideal because the printed yarns would dye a separate tone within the tone of each stripe of color reduction. Of course, the person skilled in the art should not be limited but should be guided by the above-described embodiments.

The invention enables the spinning person, the fabric manufacturer and the dyer to create novel, lightweight colored fabrics. The fabric can be maintained until the last moment before dyeing and shipment, and is not processed to a shade matching the annual and seasonal season.

EXAMPLE VII woven fabrics of olefins

Olefin yarns are made according to the present invention. It is enhanced to accept deep monochromatic disperse dyes. Size 24/1, spun on a cotton spinning system, wound on a three pound cone. It contained 5% owg of dyeable graft.

The appropriate plurality of yarns is sized and wound on a woven beam. The beam is arranged to feed a simple multiple shuttle box loom.

Olefin yarns made according to the invention containing 2.5% dyeable graft were fed to the weft insertion of a multiple box loom. Size is 24/1 spun on a cotton spinning system. A 60 "wide plain woven fabric was produced. Compositionally, half of the yarn contained 5% of the dye enhancer made according to the invention and half contained 2.5% of the dye enhancer made according to the invention.

At setting 250The woven greige fabric was dyed in a jet dyeing machine with 0.005% by weight of the fabric of Terasil Blue BRL.

The warp or oriented yarn is dyed a deep shade of blue and the weft yarn is dyed a medium shade of blue. The fabric is a two-tone twill color.

Fabric at 200To maintain the temperature below the melting temperature of the olefin.

The fabric is deformed or held in a stretched position as it passes through the drying oven. This "fixes" the fabric so that it does not shrink during any further processing at a later time.

The fabric was cut and sewn into a woman's jacket and shirt. In combination, the coat is a lady suit made of 100% olefin fabric. The suit is washable, easy to clean, stain resistant and lightweight. It is 38% lighter than a similar set made of polyester or wool/blend.

The above is an embodiment. With the present invention, one skilled in the art can make a wide variety of woven dyeable fabrics for the apparel and home furnishings industry. Some possible patterns are bird's eyes, jacquard, twill or printing. Each will be light weight, stain resistant and capable of disperse dyeing to any shade desired by the market.

Example VIII sheath-core filament or yarn

Kennedy et al in US 6,136,436 discloses a method of making a sheath-core continuous filament fiber or yarn, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein and added as follows:

invention 6,136,436 claims a nylon or polyester sheath over an olefin core. In this example, i used a core and a shell of olefin. The outer shell comprises 10% to 70% olefin grafted with an amorphous PETG stain enhancer. The core is 100% olefin.

The fabric is knitted or woven with one or more yarns containing different dye levels. The fabric was dyed as per the examples above. Since the housing comprises only 10% to 70% of the total composition, substantial cost savings are achieved. One skilled in the art will vary the percentage of shell and dye enhancer to achieve the desired effect.

The above variation is to use a non-dyeable olefin sheath and a dyeable olefin core. The product is a yarn with a clear outer shell and a color on the core. The skilled person will be able to use this yarn or fibre to produce the desired effect.

Example IX-Fabric knitted or woven with dyeable olefin blended with polyester

Novel and unexpected results were obtained when polyester and dyeable olefin fibers were combined to make yarns. The resulting yarn has an outer shell consisting essentially of polyester and a core consisting essentially of dyeable olefin. There is a small amount of overlap on the shell and core.

Olefin fibers are made according to the present invention. The fibers are reinforced with the additives of the present invention to accept a disperse monochromatic dye.

a) Olefin pellets having a melt flow index of 8 to 22 are extruded and intimately mixed with a blend employing the preferred PETG and maleic anhydride mixture of the present invention. The blend of 95% olefin and 5% PETG/maleic anhydride was extruded into a fiber mass using conventional fiber extrusion equipment. The fiber dpf is 1.8 and is cut to 1.5 ". Approximately 650 pounds of fiber was produced and packaged. The denier per filament is close to cotton and thus it is the cotton filament length.

b) Dyed reinforcing olefin fibers were blended together with polyester fibers having a denier per filament of 1.35 and cut to a fiber length of 1.5 "during carding and made into an intimate roving blend containing 65% dyeable olefin and 35% polyester. The roving was made with conventional cotton equipment and ring spun into 28/1 cotton count and wound up on a 3 pound package.

c) Approximately 1000 pounds of unique yarn was produced. Due to centrifugal force, the heavier polyester with 1.38 moves to the outside of the yarn and becomes the shell around the lighter weight olefin that remains primarily in the core.

d) The yarn was folded into 28/2 plied yarns. Both yarns contained 65% dyeable olefin and 35% polyester.

e) This yarn was then converted to a woven greige fabric on a conventional multiple-box loom using 40 yarns per inch in the warp and 40 yarns per inch in the weft. The fabric was woven 67 "wide.

f) The greige goods fabric is dyed in a conventional jet dyeing machine commonly used for polyester dyeing. Maintain the temperature at 250 deg.CTo avoid damaging the olefin. 0.005% owg of the disperse dye Terasil Blue BRL was used with standard dye dispersion chemicals and water. The resulting sweater fabric is a novel and pleasing dark blue bright tone. The fabric is dried in a relatively cool oven. The temperature is kept below the melting temperature of the olefin but is raised to 255Since the olefin core is protected by the polyester shell. The water flashes off leaving a dry, bright fabric that is rolled up and wrapped for shipment. The drying time is greatly reduced compared to cotton or cotton polyester blends because the olefin only retains a small amount of water and only 35% of the fabric is polyester.

g) The novel product is a fabric that shrinks to 61.5 "after finishing. The fabric is then stable and shrinks no more than 1-5% after washing. This effect makes the fabric a non-ironing easy-to-care fabric.

h) The cutting and sewing machine dyes fabrics which are unexpectedly novel. It is at least 20% lighter in weight than a cotton jacket made to the same gauge. This is because the specific gravity of nylon/olefin is 1.07 relative to 1.38 for cotton. The fabric has a soft feel to cotton and is also substantially lighter in weight. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various sizes of yarn can be used in the same manner to produce fabrics of varying weights. Furthermore, the yarn can be used for knitting fabrics with conventional knitting machines.

Woven, knitted or non-woven fabrics can be produced using this blend.

The advantages of fabrics and yarns made with blends of polyester and dyeable olefins are as follows:

1) the weaving, knitting and dyeing processes are developed all over the world.

2) A more deeply dyed polyester can be used as the outer shell.

3) The fabric can be partially dyed or printed using conventional equipment.

4) Sublimation printing using a heat transfer process may be employed.

5) The fabric is lighter in weight than 100% polyester or 100% cotton or a blend of the two.

6) Easy to realize non-ironing.

7) The fabric may be laundered and may be air-dried or machine-dried.

8) The use of fine denier polyester results in a soft fabric.

9) The fabric is sewn on any conventional sewing machine.

10) The shrinkage of the dyed fabric is not more than 1-5%.

Example X-fabrics woven or knitted with dyeable olefin blended with Nylon

Novel and unexpected results were obtained when nylon and dyeable olefin fibers were combined to make yarns. The resulting yarn has an outer shell consisting essentially of nylon and a core consisting essentially of a dyeable olefin. There is a small amount of overlap on the shell and core. The resulting yarn has an outer shell of predominantly nylon and a core of predominantly dyeable olefin.

Olefin fibers are made according to the present invention. The fibers are reinforced to accept a monochromatic disperse dye.

a) Olefin pellets having a melt flow index of 8 to 22 are extruded and intimately mixed with a blend employing the preferred PETG and maleic anhydride mixture described above. The 95% olefin and 5% PETG/maleic anhydride blend was extruded into a fiber mass using conventional fiber extrusion equipment. The fiber dpf is 1.8 and is cut to 1.5 ". Approximately 650 pounds of fiber was produced and packaged. The denier per filament is close to cotton and thus it is the cotton filament length.

b) Dyed reinforcing olefin fibers were blended together with nylon fibers having a denier per filament of 1.35 and cut to a fiber length of 1.5 "during carding and made into an intimate roving blend containing 65% dyeable olefin and 35% nylon. The roving was made with conventional cotton equipment and ring spun into 28/1 cotton count and wound up on a 3 pound package.

c) Approximately 1000 pounds of unique yarn was produced. Due to centrifugal force, the heavier nylon with a specific gravity of 1.14 moves to the outside of the yarn and becomes the shell around the lighter olefin which remains primarily in the core.

d) The yarn was folded into 28/2 plied yarns.

e) This yarn was then converted to a woven greige fabric on a conventional multiple-box loom using 40 yarns per inch in the warp and 40 yarns per inch in the weft. The fabric was woven 67 "wide.

f) The greige goods fabric is dyed in a conventional jet dyeing machine commonly used for fabric dyeing. Maintain the temperature at 250 deg.CTo avoid damaging the olefin. 0.005% owg of the disperse dye Terasil Blue BRL was used with standard dye dispersion chemicals and water. The resulting sweater fabric is a novel and pleasing dark blue bright shade. The fabric is dried in a relatively cool oven. The temperature is kept below the melting temperature of the olefin but is raised to 255Since the olefin core is protected by the nylon outer shell. The water flashes off leaving a dry, bright fabric that is rolled up and wrapped for shipment. The drying time is greatly reduced compared to cotton or cotton polyester blends because the olefin only retains a small amount of water and only 35% of the fabric is nylon.

g) When fabrics are dyed with acid dyes, only nylon is dyed. If disperse and acid dyes are used, the nylon can be dyed to one shade while the polyolefin is dyed to another, creating a unique mottled effect. The novel product is a fabric that shrinks in width to 61.5 "after finishing. The fabric is then stable and shrinks no more than 1% after washing. This effect makes the fabric a non-ironing easy-to-care fabric.

h) The cutting and sewing machine dyes fabrics which are unexpectedly novel. It is at least 20% lighter in weight than a nylon jacket made to the same specifications. This is because the specific gravity of nylon/olefin is 0.99g/cc with respect to 1.38 for cotton. The fabric has a soft feel to cotton and is also substantially lighter in weight. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various sizes of yarn can be used in the same manner to produce fabrics of varying weights.

Woven, knitted or non-woven fabrics can be produced using this blend. Nylon is very easily dyed with aqueous dyeing systems. Fabrics made from nylon and olefins are printed using any acidic system commonly used for nylon or silk dyeing.

In addition, the fabric may be printed using any aqueous dyeing system commonly used for nylon, silk or polyester.

The advantages of fabrics and yarns made with blends of nylon and dyeable olefins are as follows:

1) the weaving, knitting and dyeing processes are developed all over the world.

2) The fabric can be partially dyed using conventional equipment.

3) The fabric can be partially dyed using a nylon dyeing process.

4) More deeply dyed nylon can be used as the outer shell.

5) Cationic dyed nylon can be used as the outer shell.

6) Printing with any aqueous system can be achieved.

7) The fabric is lighter in weight than 100% nylon or 100% cotton or polyester/cotton blends.

8) The fabric may be laundered and may be air-dried or machine-dried.

9) The use of micro denier nylon results in a soft fabric.

10) The fabric is sewn on any conventional sewing machine.

Claims (10)

1. A disperse dyeable fiber or filament comprising a melt blend formed primarily of polyolefin mixed with a modifier comprising amorphous PETG, maleic anhydride, and polypropylene.

2. The disperse dyeable fiber or filament of claim 1, wherein

(a) The proportion of modifier is 50 parts polypropylene to 48 parts PETG to 2 parts maleic anhydride.

3. A yarn formed at least in part from the fiber or filament of claim 1 or 2.

4. The yarn of claim 3, further comprising nylon.

5. The fiber or filament of claim 1, wherein the melt blend comprises a polyester.

6. A fibre or filament according to claim 1 wherein

(a) The modifier is mixed with the olefin in a ratio of 95 parts olefin to 5 parts of the modifier.

7. The fiber or filament according to claim 1, dyeable to more than one color in the same dye bath.

8. A fibre or filament according to claim 1 having a core portion and a shell portion, one of said portions being dyeable and the other portion being non-dyeable.

9. The fiber or filament according to claim 8 having a dyeable olefin shell and a non-dyeable olefin core.

10. The fiber or filament according to claim 8, wherein the dyeable portion comprises a disperse dyeable olefin.