Patent ID: 8216953

Claim:
A multicomponent fiber having a sheath core configuration, said multicomponent fiber comprising: A) a sheath component comprising at least one water dispersible sulfopolyester having a glass transition temperature (Tg) of at least 57° C.; and B) a core component comprising at least one water-nondispersible polymer immiscible with said sulfopolyester; wherein said sulfpolyester comprises: (i) residues of one or more dicarboxylic acids, wherein said residues of one or more dicarboxylic acids comprise residues of terephthalic acid in an amount in the range of about 50 to 96 mole %, based on the total acid residues; (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 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 25 mole %, based on the total diol residues, is a poly(ethylene glycol) having a structure H—(OCH2-CH2) n -OH wherein n is an integer in the range of 2 to about 500; and (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.