Patent ID: 8444895

Claim:
A process for producing water-dispersible fibers comprising: I. heating at least one water-dispersible polymer composition to a temperature above its flow point, wherein said water-dispersible polymer composition comprises: (A) at least one sulfopolyester having a glass transition temperature (Tg) of at least 25° C., said sulfopolyester comprising: (i) residues of one or more dicarboxylic acids; (ii) about 4 to about 40 mole %, based on the total repeating units, of residues of at least one sulfomonomer having 2 functional groups and one or more metal sulfonate groups attached to an aromatic or cycloaliphatic ring wherein said functional groups are hydroxyl, carboxyl, or a combination thereof; (iii) one or more diol residues wherein at least 20 mole %, based on the total diol residues, is a poly(ethylene glycol) having a structure H—(OCH 2 —CH 2 ) n —OH wherein n is an integer in the range of 2 to about 500; (iv) 0 to about 25 mole %, based on the total repeating units, of residues of a branching monomer having 3 or more functional groups wherein said functional groups are hydroxyl, carboxyl, or a combination thereof; (B) optionally, at least one water-dispersible polymer blended with said sulfopolyester; and (C) optionally, at least one water-nondispersible polymer blended with said sulfopolyester to form a blend with the proviso that said blend is an immiscible blend; and II. melt spinning said water-dispersible polymer composition to produce said water-dispersible fibers; wherein said water-dispersible fiber contains less than 8 weight percent of at least one pigment or filler, based on the total weight of said water-dispersible fiber.