US2371717A - Manufacture of spun textile fibers - Google Patents

Description

Patented Mar. 20, 1945 UNITED A STATES v PATENT OFFICE muracronagj rzrnxmmnas head, England, a British company a No Drawing. Application August 1, 1941, Serial no. name. In Great Britain June 12, 1940 r cums. (6148-94) This invention comprises improvements in the manufacture 'of splm fibers.

It is known that may be made from alginic acid by extruding a solution of sodium alginate from a spinneret into an acid coagulatlng bath. The spinneret may have any desired number of holes, and the group of filaments is collected as a continuous thread by means of a revolving bobbin or the Topham spinning box. After being washed, the cake ofyarn is subjected to hardening agents such as a solution of alum. Alternatively, the coagulating and harden 'ing processes may be combined by extruding a solution of sodium alginate into an acid solution of calcium chloride, for example, when filaments of calcium alglnate are obtained.

- practice, considerable diificulty has been encountered in separating the individual filaments within the thread, o i to the fact that they are gelatinous when first spun, and adhere to one another during spinning and subsequent treatments. The yarn so obtained is straw-like in handling properties andtotally unsuitable for textile purposes.

The above difllculty could be overcome if means composition: m2 sulphuric acid, 2.5% olive on,

, and 0.25% of an acid-stable emulsifying agent.

In this way the filaments of alglnic acid are coated with a thin film of olive oil, which keeps the filaments apart during and subsequent processes, and the handling properties of the resulting yam are very greatly improved. If the emulsifying agent employed is cationic in character, e. g. Fixano (cetyl pyridinium chloride) "Lissolamine (a tertiary alkyl ammonium chloride) or Sapamine, a further improvement in handling properties is obtained owing to the retention of the emulsifying agent by the filaments.

All the three. compounds mentioned are auxiliary products in which the fatty agent carries a-positive charge in aqueous solution and the retention of the emulsifying agent is due to combination of the acid side chains of alginic acid with the fatty,

were discovered for keeping the individual filaments separate in the yarn during the spinning and subsequent processes.

The present invention comprises in the spinning of alginate yarns, the improvement in the coagulating operation which consists in coating the filaments with oil during or immediately after coagulation and before they have had opportunity to adhere together. It has been found that if the filaments are coated with oil in this way they do not stlcktogether during coagulation and they remain separate permanently so that the haudling properties are not interfered with.

The most convenient method of applying the oil is by dispersing it in an emulsified form in the.

coagulating bath. A second method, which may be used in conjunction with the flrst,is to pass the filaments through an oil emulsion after leaving the coagulating bath on their way to the winding mechanism.

The invention includes. a coagulating bath for ,alginate yarns consisting of a coagulating liquid,

an emulsifying agent and an oil emulsified in the coagulating liquid.

The following are examples of suitable procedures:

Example I V.

A 5.5% solution of sodium alginate is extruded into a coagulating bath, having the following positively charged ion of the emulsifying agent.

The yarn prepared in the above manner can then be made into hanks, and after-treated with are coated with a thin film of olive oil which keeps the filaments apart during spinning and subsequent processes, e. g. drying. As in the case of the first example, the emulsifying agent may be cationic in character.

. I claim:

1 A process of manufacture of alginate yarn I consisting in spinning ou alginic solution into an acid coagulating bath wherein is dispersed a vegetable'oil in emulsified form and thereafter collecting and drying the yarn.

2. A process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vegetable oil is emulsified with the aid of an emulsifying agent which carries a positive charge in aqueous solution.

3. A process of spinning alglnic yarns consistms in spinning an aqueous solution of an alginate into a solution of a coagulating agent so as to coagulate spun material and preventing adherence between thecoagulated threads by bringing them, while stillwet by coagulating solution, into contact'with oil held in emulsified form by an emulsifying agent.

4. Alimessasaumedmcmmsmnmm'me -cmmeamc;aims,wnmmouuaveg m" oil is in'emulsifled form in the coagulfitinz soluoil.

tionltselt. LA 7 of alzlnlc yarns as 5.A process of spanning alginle ya'rns as clalmedinclaimawheninthcemumtymgj 'clalmedmclmm3.thecoagulafln3soiscatlon-activeinchamcter. luflonisacidic. q 4

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