Patent ID: 8513147

Claim:
A short-cut microfiber-containing mixture comprising: a plurality of water non-dispersible short-cut polymer microfibers having a fineness of 0.5 d/f or less; water; and a sulfopolyester dispersed in said water, wherein said sulfopolyester has a glass transition temperature (Tg) of at least 40° C., wherein said water dispersible sulfopolyester exhibits a melt viscosity of less than about 12,000 poise measured at 240° C. at a strain rate of 1 rad/sec, and wherein said sulfopolyester comprises: (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 sulfonate groups attached to an aromatic or cycloaliphatic ring wherein the 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—(OCH 2 —CH 2 ) 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 the functional groups are hydroxyl, carboxyl, or a combination thereof.