Patent ID: 7128848

Claim:
A spunbonded photoluminescent nonwoven fabric comprising photoluminescent thermoplastic fibers wherein each fiber comprises pigmented and non-pigmented components wherein the components can be the same or different fibers and the pigmented component is between about 5%–20% by weight of the multi-component fiber and the pigmented component comprises between about 5%–30% by weight of photoluminescent pigment, and wherein the fiber has a draw ratio including both POY and FDY, and wherein the FDY fiber has tensile strength of about 4–5 g/denier or greater and about 20%–40% strain failure, and wherein the fiber has a luminance of at least about 50 mcd/m 2 at 1 minute after 5 minutes of excitation, and said fiber has a cross section shape selected from the group consisting of sheath/core; islands in the sea; segmented ribbon; side-by-side; segmented pie; and tipped multi-lobal shapes.