Patent Description:
Any object can emit infrared ray to the outside. As a beneficial light in the nature, the infrared ray, depending on strong penetrability, can go deepest into subcutaneous tissues to promote metabolism, growth and development of organism, which makes it an ideal functional fiber mediator and widely used in functional textiles of keeping warm and health care. However, the infrared functional fibers prepared by current techniques all have drawbacks of yellowish color, decreased mechanical strength, increased surface roughness, leakage of infrared additives and low industrial production efficiency, which in turn constrain the popularization and application of high-end products of the infrared functional fibers.

The present preparation method of the infrared functional fiber mainly comprises blended spinning and coating method. The blended spinning is the most common method for preparing the infrared functional fiber. For example, Chinese Patent NO. <CIT>, disclosed a preparation method of far-infrared polyester fiber, in which attapulgite of far infrared modification was used as additive and mixed with terephthalic acid, glycol, and catalytic promotor for esterification polycondensation to prepare polyester masterbatch of far infrared modification. Then the modified masterbatch was used as material to prepare far-infrared polyester fiber by the melt spinning method and subsequent processing.

Chinese Patent NO. <CIT>, disclosed a preparation method of far-infrared textiles by an injection method, in which a syringe was used to inject directly far-infrared ceramic micro-powder into polyamide melt, and then a polyamide fiber with far-infrared function is prepared.

Chinese Patent NO. <CIT>, disclosed a method for preparing efficient far infrared polyamide fiber, in which a far-infrared additive of magnesium-aluminum composite oxide (MMO) was prepared by coprecipitation and high-temperature calcination, then the additive and polyamide <NUM> slices were blended and granulated to prepare far-infrared polyamide masterbatch, and finally the far-infrared polyamide fiber was obtained by melt spinning.

Chinese Patent NO. <CIT>, disclosed a far-infrared radiation hollow three-dimensional crimped polyester fiber and preparation method thereof, in which a far-infrared inorganic ultra-fine material was treated on surface by drying with a titanate coupling agent and a surfactant, then the far-infrared additive obtained and polyester carrier were blended to prepare the far-infrared masterbatch, and then the far-infrared masterbatch and common polyester slices were mixed and processed with spinning and subsequent treatment to obtain the far-infrared radiation hollow three-dimensional crimped polyester fiber.

The above examples of preparing the infrared functional fiber by blended spinning method have complicated processes and disadvantages of poor compatibility and dispersity of the infrared additive with fiber-forming polymer and difficulty for spinning. There are also many reports about preparing the infrared functional fiber by coating method. For example, Chinese Patent NO. <CIT>, disclosed a spontaneous heating polyester fiber and preparation method thereof, in which a far-infrared ceramic powder, an inorganic heating powder, a curing crosslinking agent and a diluent were mixed to prepare a heating auxiliary, and then the heating auxiliary was sprayed evenly on the surface of polyester precursor to obtain the spontaneous heating polyester fiber.

Chinese Patent NO. <CIT>, disclosed a production process of far-infrared cotton fiber, in which far-infrared ceramic powder, a resin binder, a crosslinking agent and a dispersion were mixed to form a mixture for far-infrared coating, and then the mixture was coated on the surface of the treated raw material fiber to obtain the far-infrared cotton fiber.

Chinese Patent NO. <CIT>, disclosed a far-infrared warm quilt, in which a natural fiber was processed by padding, coating and spraying with a finishing agent prepared by a specific proportion of far-infrared ceramic powder, an adhesive and an auxiliary to obtain a far-infrared fiber.

The preparation of the infrared functional fiber by coating method has simple process and is suitable for all kinds of natural fiber and synthetic fiber, but the infrared function of the fiber prepared is difficult to keep a long-term stability subject to the poor washing durability of the coating method.

<CIT> discloses polymeric fibers and films that incorporate IR-emitting materials. <CIT> discloses a fiber in which the fiber comprises on at least a part of the surface of the fiber far-infrared radioactive fine particles in an amount of <NUM> to <NUM> mass%. <CIT> discloses a near-infrared radiation absorbing masterbatch which is prepared by melt-extruding a mixture comprising near-infrared radiation absorbing particles and a first polymer. <CIT> discloses a functional profiled polyester filament which contains nanometer composite powders which emit far infrared radiation. <CIT> discloses polyester fibers having a C-shaped cross-section which contain cesium tungsten oxide-based composite metal oxide particles.

One main object of the present invention is to provide an application of a profiled fiber in textiles as a far infrared radiation material, wherein a cross-sectional shape of the profiled fiber is polygon, trefoil, quatrefoil, cross-shaped, double cross-shaped, I-shaped, epsilon-shaped, C-shaped or V-shaped, as defined in claim <NUM>.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the cross-sectional shape of the profiled fiber is polygon, I-shaped, epsilon-shaped, C-shaped or V-shaped.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the cross-sectional shape of the profiled fiber is polygon, wherein the polygon is triangle, quadrilateral, pentagon or hexagon.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the cross-sectional shape of the profiled fiber is triangle.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the profiled fiber is prepared by spinning using polymer masterbatch as material.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the polymer masterbatch comprises one or more of polyethylene terephthalate, polytrimethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthalate, polyamide <NUM>, polyamide <NUM>, polyamide <NUM>, polyamide <NUM>, polypropylene, polyacrylonitrile, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl formal and polyurethane.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the polymer masterbatch comprises one or more of polyamide <NUM>, polyamide <NUM> and polyamide <NUM>, and the profiled fiber is fully drawn yarn with a cross-sectional shape of triangle.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the polymer masterbatch further comprises a delustering agent.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the profiled fiber is stable fiber, medium oriented yarn, pre-oriented yarn, high oriented yarn, fully oriented yarn, undrawn yarn, drawn yarn, fully drawn yarn, textured yarn, draw textured yarn, or air textured yarn.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the textiles comprise warm-keeping products and health-care products.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the textile is thermal underwear or filler of down coat.

The profiled fiber in one embodiment of the present invention, could be directly used as high-performance infrared material having a stable and persistent infrared function without adding an infrared additive.

Hereinafter, the representative embodiments with the features and the advantages of the present invention will be described in more detail. It should be understood that various changes can be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. The descriptions herein are only illustrative, and should not be construed as limiting in any way.

One embodiment of the present invention is to provide an application of a profiled fiber in textiles as a far infrared radiation material, wherein the profiled fiber may have a specific cross-sectional shape of polygon, trefoil, quatrefoil, cross-shaped, double cross-shaped, I-shaped, epsilon-shaped, C-shaped or V-shaped.

In the invention, all of the profiled fiber with a cross-sectional shape of polygon, trefoil, quatrefoil, cross-shaped, double cross-shaped, I-shaped, epsilon-shaped, C-shaped and V-shaped are non-hollow.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the polygon may be triangle, quadrilateral, pentagon or hexagon.

In the invention, the optical path length of the infrared ray into the fiber is increased for the profiled cross section according to the reflection and refraction principles of light travelling through a medium, therefore the infrared performance of the fiber is improved. Furthermore, a theoretical simulated calculation combined with Kirchhoff's law of thermal radiation indicates that there is also a significant improvement in the infrared radiation for the profiled fiber.

In the present invention, the profiled fiber is directly used as high-performance infrared material having a stable and persistent infrared function without adding an infrared additive, so that the original mechanical performance of the fiber could be kept and the problems of environmental pollution and complicated process caused by the infrared additive could be solved.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a profiled fiber with a corresponding cross section is prepared by a spinneret having profile hole(s) with polymer masterbatch as material.

The shape of the spinneret hole corresponds to the fiber prepared, which may be, e.g., trefoil, quatrefoil, cross-shaped, double cross-shaped, I-shaped, epsilon-shaped, C-shaped, V-shaped, triangle, quadrilateral, pentagon or hexagon.

The profiled fiber in one embodiment of the present invention, has different emissivity and surface glossiness depending on its cross-sectional shape, which may meet the requirements in infrared fiber performance of different application fields.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the profiled fiber comprises bright fiber, semi dull fiber and full dull fiber according to the glossiness. The bright fiber is preferred.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the specific shapes of the profiled fiber are reached based on reflection and refraction theories of light. The spinneret holes with varied shapes may already exist in the prior art, such as trefoil, triangle and the like, or be prepared using the same principles in the prior art.

In the invention, there is no limited to other parameters in the spinning process. For example, the spinning process may be, but not limited to, melt spinning, dry spinning, wet spinning or dry-wet spinning.

In the invention, there is no limited to other parameters of the fiber. For example, the profiled fiber may be staple fiber or filament, the filament may be such as medium oriented yarn, pre-oriented yarn, high oriented yarn, fully oriented yarn, undrawn yarn, drawn yarn, fully drawn yarn, textured yarn, draw textured yarn, or air textured yarn, and the fully drawn yarn (FDY) is preferred.

The polymer masterbatch may be polyethylene terephthalate polytrimethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthalate, polyamide <NUM>, polyamide <NUM>, polyamide <NUM>, polyamide <NUM>, polypropylene, polyacrylonitrile, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl formal or polyurethane, and the polyamide is preferred, such as polyamide <NUM>, polyamide <NUM> or polyamide <NUM>.

In the method of one embodiment of the present invention, the profiled fiber is prepared by spinning process with polymer masterbatch as material, and directly used as special functional infrared material without an infrared additive. The method not only has characteristics of simple process, low cost, environmental protection and being suitable for industrial production, but also can overcome the shortcomings of relatively complicated process in the blended spinning for preparing the infrared fiber, and poor durability and leakage of infrared additives in the coating method. Moreover, the method has advantages of completion in one step, low cost, environmental protection and simple process.

In one embodiment of the present invention, without any infrared additive, the profiled fiber has a stable and persistent infrared function and no evident time limitation.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a delustering agent and stabilizer may be added into the polymer masterbatch and then the spinning process is conducted to prepare the profiled fiber, which can change the surface glossiness of the fiber.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the delustering agent may be white carbon black, silicon dioxide or titanium dioxide.

The profiled fiber in one embodiment of the present invention used as the infrared material, has advantages of simple preparation process, low cost, without infrared additives and environmental protection as well as an excellently stable and persistent infrared function and is suitable for industrial large-scale production.

The profiled fiber in one embodiment of the present invention, can be used in the textile, for example the functional textile with health protection and warmth retention, e.g., thermal underwear, filler of down coat, sporting goods and medical healthy products.

Hereinafter, the profiled fiber used as the infrared material in one embodiment of the present invention will be further described by way of examples.

The parameters and characterization data of the fibers in examples and the comparative example are listed in table <NUM>.

Unless otherwise defined, the terms used in the present invention have the common meanings understood by those skilled in the art.

Claim 1:
Use of a profiled fiber in textiles as a far infrared radiation material, wherein a cross-sectional shape of the profiled fiber is polygon, trefoil, quatrefoil, cross-shaped, double cross-shaped, I-shaped, epsilon-shaped, C-shaped or V-shaped, wherein the polygon is triangle, quadrilateral, pentagon or hexagon, and wherein said profiled fiber does not comprise an infrared additive.