High tenacity or high load bearing nylon fibers and yarns and fabrics thereof

A yarn spun from the nylon staple fiber of any of claims 1-4.

The yarn of claim 5 further comprising at least one companion staple fiber.

The yarn of claim 6 wherein the companion staple fiber is selected from the group consisting of cellulosics, modified cellulosics, animal fibers, fire resistant polyester, fire resistant nylon, fire resistant rayon, fire resistant treated cellulose, m-aramid, p-aramid, modacrylic, novoloid, melamine, polyvinyl chloride, antistatic fiber, PBO (1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid, polymer with 4,6-diamino-1,3-benzenediol dihydrochloride) and PBI (polybenzimidazole), and combinations thereof.

A fabric comprising nylon staple fiber of any of claims 1 through 4 or yarn of any of claims 5 through 7.

The fabric of claim 8 with a weight of less than 6.0 oz./yd2.

A non-woven fabric composite comprising high tenacity fiber and cellulosic or recycled synthetic or natural fiber.

The non-woven composite of claim 12 wherein the high tenacity fiber comprises load bearing nylon fiber with break tenacity greater than 7.5 g/den and/or a tenacity at 10% elongation of greater than 4.0/den.

The non-woven composite of claim 12 or 13 wherein the cellulosic or recycled synthetic or natural fiber comprises recycled denim.

A method for producing high strength or load bearing nylon fiber, said method comprising melt-spinning nylon polymer into filaments, uniformly quenching the filaments and forming a tow from a multiplicity of these quenched filaments, subjecting the tow to drawing in the presence of steam, annealing, and converting the resulting drawn and annealed tow into staple fibers.

The method of claim 15 wherein annealing is performed under tension.

The method of claim 15 or 16 wherein the nylon fiber has a break tenacity greater than 7.5 g/den.