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US 9,920,454 B2Granted
Fibre-forming process and fibres produced by the process
AssigneeHeiq Pty Ltd
InventorsAlessandra Sutti, Tong Lin, Mark Alexander Kirkland
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of fibers and fibers prepared by the process. The process can provide discontinuous colloidal polymer fibers in a process that employs a low viscosity dispersion medium.
Claims19
A process for the preparation of fibres including the steps of:
- (a) injecting a stream of fibre-forming liquid into a dispersion medium at a velocity to provide a stream of fibre-forming liquid upon exposure to the dispersion medium and solidifying the stream of fibre-forming liquid to form a filament in the dispersion medium, wherein the fibre-forming liquid has a viscosity higher than the dispersion medium, and the dispersion medium has a viscosity in the range of from about 1 to 100 centiPoise (cP), and wherein the stream of fibre-forming liquid does not emulsify or break up into discrete droplets when injected into the dispersion medium;
- and
- (b) applying a shear stress to the dispersion medium to fragment the filament under the shear stress and form the fibres.
A process for the preparation of polymer fibres including the steps of:
- (a) injecting a stream of polymer solution into a dispersion medium at a velocity to provide a stream of fibre-forming liquid on exposure to the dispersion medium and solidifying the stream of fibre-forming liquid to form a filament in the dispersion medium, wherein the polymer solution has a viscosity higher than the dispersion medium, and the dispersion medium has a viscosity in the range of from about 1 to 100 centiPoise (cP), and wherein the stream of polymer solution does not emulsify or break up into discrete droplets when injected to the dispersion medium;
- and
- (b) applying a shear stress to the dispersion medium to fragment the filament under the shear stress and form the polymer fibres.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.