Patent Publication Number: US-2006009103-A1

Title: Air permeable and waterproof stretchable woven fabric

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention relates to an air permeable and waterproof stretchable woven fabric. More particularly, the present invention relates to an air permeable and waterproof stretchable woven fabric without coating with or laminating rubbers or films, the woven fabric can still obtain elasticity and better stretchability in the directions of the longitude and the latitude and can be waterproof and highly air permeable.  
     DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART  
      The technology of air woven fabric has progressed a lot during the past years, so the role of air permeable and waterproof woven fabric is becoming increasingly important. Traditionally, the prior art of fabric usually utilizes the technique of coating or laminating to obtain waterproofing and air permeability, like the European patent ‘EP 1 316 634 A1’, which is achieved by that the interval mesh size of the rubber or the film is smaller than that of the water and bigger than that of the air. Because the fabric is processed with a regular single layer cloth, the working hour and the cost is increased; so is the thickness and the weight; and a hardness of hand feel shows.  
      Moreover, the water pressure resistance of the high density fabric without coating or laminating improves a lot now to a value of 600˜1300 mm/H 2 O. (‘mm’ means ‘millimeter’.) But, because it is not stretchable, the clothes made of it provide no stretchability and less comfort on wearing it.  
      Beside the above shortages of the two prior arts, their C.F. (cover factor) value, stretchability, C.F.S. (cover factor stretch) value, water vapor permeability, water pressure resistance, water repellence, and air permeability is not desirable. So, the related arts do not fulfill users&#39; requests on actual usage.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      Therefore, the main purpose of the present invention is that, without coating with or laminating rubbers or films, the woven fabric can obtain elasticity and better stretchability in the directions of the longitude and the latitude and can be also waterproof and highly air permeable.  
      To achieve the above purposes, the present invention is an air permeable and waterproof stretchable woven fabric comprising the following processes: warping and weaving the warps and the wefts to obtain a gray fabric; adding stretchable yarns into the warps and the wefts of the gray fabric to obtain elasticity in the directions of the longitude and the latitude and to obtain better stretchability; and, dyeing and finishing the gray fabric to obtain a gray fabric with waterproofing and high air-permeability. Without coating with or laminating rubbers or films, the fabric can obtain elasticity and better stretchability in the directions of the longitude and the latitude and can be waterproof and highly air permeable.  
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The present invention will be better understood from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:  
       FIG. 1  is a cross-sectional view of the structure on the longitude direction according to the present invention;  
       FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view of the structure on the latitude direction according to the present invention;  
       FIG. 3  is a view of the dyeing heat-up curve according to the present invention;  
       FIG. 4  is a flow chart of the preparatory fixing according to the present invention;  
       FIG. 5  is a flow chart of the post fixing according to the present invention; and 
    
    
      Table 1 is a comparison table showing result data of the experiments on (1) the present invention; (2) regular density with stretchability; (3) high density without stretchability.  
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      The following descriptions of the preferred embodiments are provided to understand the features and the structures of the present invention.  
      Please refer to  FIG. 1  through  FIG. 5 , which are a cross-sectional view of the structure on the longitude direction, a cross-sectional view of the structure on the latitude direction, a view of the dyeing heat-up curve, a flow chart of the preparatory fixing and a flow chart of the post fixing, according to the present invention. As shown in the figures, the present invention is an air permeable and waterproof stretchable woven fabric whose warps  1  and wefts  2  are warped and woven to obtain a gray fabric. The warping process comprises steps of winding, warping, lapping, warp beaming, starching, lapping, doubling, and cloth warp beaming. The weaving process comprises steps of cloth warp beaming, harnessing, weaving, installing drop wire, setting up the weaving parameters, and obtaining high-density fabric (gray fabric). The gray fabric with high coverage is obtained through controlling the density by the weaving process. Stretchable yarns are added into the warps  1  and the wefts  2  of the gray fabric to obtain elasticity in the directions of the longitude and the latitude and to obtain better stretchability, wherein  FIG. 1  shows the cross-sectional view on the longitude direction and  FIG. 2  shows the cross-sectional view on the latitude direction. Then the gray fabric is processed with dyeing and finishing. The dyeing-and-finishing process comprises steps of desizing, refining, preparatory fixing, dyeing, drying, and post fixing and finishing. Or, it may comprise steps of fixing, desizing, refining, dyeing, drying, and post fixing and finishing. Or, it may comprise steps of obtaining gray fabric, desizing, refining, preparatory fixing, dyeing, drying, intermediate inspecting, fixing, post inspecting, and packing. Therein, the temperature for the desizing is between 80° C. (Celsius degree) and 100° C. where its speed is between 30 m/min and 50 m/min. (‘° C. ’ means ‘Celsius degree’; ‘m’ means ‘meter’; and ‘min’ means ‘minute’.) The temperature for the preparatory fixing is between 170° C. and 200° C. where its speed is between 30 m/min and 55 m/min. The dyeing can be done by using liquid-overfeed dyeing machine or air-flow dyeing machine. When processing the dyeing with a heat-up around 120° C. to 135° C. for 30 min to 60 min, it starts by adding medicaments at 25° C.; then the temperature is heated up till around 120° C. to 130° C. at a speed of 1.5° C. per minute; then the temperature is kept on for around 30 min to 60 min; then the temperature is cooled down to 80 ° C. at a speed of 1.5° C. per minute; then reductant and sodium dithionite are added for deterging; and then a drainage is processed when the temperature reaches down at 60° C. (As shown in  FIG. 3 ). ¤@¤@ The temperature for the drying is between 110° C. and 130° C. where its speed is between 40 m/min and 55 m/min. The temperature for the post fixing is between 160° C. and 190° C. where its speed is between 30 m/min and 50 m/min. When processing the preparatory fixing, the fabric is wetted through a water tank  3  and is passed through a plurality of ovens  4  and then is plaited (As shown in  FIG. 4 ). When processing the post fixing, the fabric is passed through a pressure absorber  5  which comprises water repellent to make the fabric capable of water repellence; then the fabric is passed through a plurality of ovens  6 ; and then the fabric is plaited (As shown in  FIG. 5 ). So forth, the gray fabric becomes a fabric with waterproofing and high air-permeability. The fabric is a synthetic fiber comprised of textured yarns, wherein its C.F. (cover factor) value is between 2500 and 4200 and its C.F.S. (cover factor stretch) value is between 15000 and 35000. Through experiments, its stretch-and-recovery ratio is between 75% and 95% (ASTM D4964 under a stretch ratio of 30%); the ratio for its stretchability is between 10% and 35% (ASTM D3107); and its water vapor permeability is between 6000 gm/m 2 /24 hrs and 9000 gm/m 2 /24 hrs (JIS L1099 A1) or between 15000 gm/m 2 /24 hrs and 35000 gm/m 2 /24 hrs(JIS L1099 B1). (‘gm’ means ‘gram’ and ‘hrs’ means ‘hours’.) The fabric is water repellent with a value above 90 (AATCC 22) even after thirty times of washing (AATCC 135). It can pass the RAIN TEST (AATCC 35). Its water pressure resistance remains the same even after washing (AATCC 135). Its air-permeability is between 1.5 cm 3 /cm 2 /S and 11 cm 3 /cm 2 /S. (‘cm’ means ‘centimeter’ and ‘S’ means ‘second’.) Accordingly, a novel air permeable and waterproof stretchable woven fabric is obtained.  
      Please refer to table 1, which is a table showing the result data of the experiments according to (1) the present invention, (2) a regular density with stretchability, and (3) a high density without stretchability. According to the data shown in the table 1, the fabric made according to the present invention is better than the stretchable fabric with regular density and the non-stretchable fabric with high density on C.F. value, stretchability, C.F.S. value, water vapor permeability, water pressure resistance, water repellence, and air permeability. Hence, by referring to the table 1, the present invention can obtain elasticity and better stretchability in the directions of the longitude or the latitude or both and can be waterproof and highly air permeable without coating or laminating rubbers or films.  
      The preferred embodiments herein disclosed are not intended to unnecessarily limit the scope of the invention. Therefore, simple modifications or variations belonging to the equivalent of the scope of the claims and the instructions disclosed herein for a patent are all within the scope of the present invention.