Antimicrobial fibers
AssigneeMitsubishi Gas Chemical Company, Inc.
InventorAkira Ito
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Abstract
The invention provides an antimicrobial fiber which exhibits excellent antimicrobial properties even without the addition of antimicrobial agents and can remain antimicrobial even after repeated washing. The antimicrobial fiber comprises a fiber having on a surface thereof a polyacetal copolymer (X) containing oxyalkylene groups, the molar amount of oxyalkylene groups in the polyacetal copolymer (X) being 0.2 to 5 mol % relative to the total of the molar amount of oxymethylene groups and the molar amount of oxyalkylene groups.
Claims19
A method of manufacturing an antimicrobial fiber for Staphylococcus aureus and Moraxella osloensis, comprising the steps of melt-spinning pellets of a polyacetal copolymer (X), the polyacetal copolymer (X) having oxymethylene groups and oxyalkylene groups of the following general formula (1), a molar amount of the oxyalkylene groups in the polyacetal copolymer (X) being 0.2 to 1.6 mol % relative to a total of a molar amount of the oxymethylene groups and the molar amount of the oxyalkylene groups,
- wherein R0 and R0′, which may be the same as or different from each other, are each selected from a hydrogen atom, a C1-8 alkyl group, an organic group having a C1-8 alkyl group, a phenyl group and an organic group having a phenyl group, and m is an integer of 2 to 6,
- optionally with pellets of a thermoplastic resin other than the polyacetal copolymer (X), so as to obtain a fiber having the polyacetal copolymer (X) on a surface;
- and
- drawing the fiber at a draw ratio of 3 to 15 times so that the polyacetal copolymer (X) is maintained on the surface of the fiber, to obtain the antimicrobial fiber;
- wherein the step of drawing the fiber is performed so that orientation factor of the polyacetal copolymer (X) is not less than 60%.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.