THERMAL INSULATION FIBER AND TEXTILE MADE OF THE SAME

Abstract

Disclosed are a thermal insulation fiber, a thermal insulation textile and a use of a fiber containing a nano unit in manufacturing a thermal textile. The thermal insulation fiber includes a conventional fiber; and a nanounit. Based on a total weight of the convention fiber, the nano unit is of a content of 0.1 wt % to 3 wt %, so as to improve an insulation rate of the thermal insulation fiber; the nano unit comprises a microparticle having a size of 300 nm to 8000 nm; and the microparticle comprises at least one of a mixture of Ti and Ce, a mixture of Ti and Mg, and a mixture of Ti, Ce, Mg, Si and Ca.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims a priority to and benefits of Chinese Patent Application Serial No. 201310069914.9, filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of P. R. China on Mar. 5, 2013, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

[0002] The present disclosure relates to a fiber and a textile, and more particularly to a thermal insulation fiber and a textile made of the thermal insulation fiber.

BACKGROUND

[0003] In the related art, for a vast majority of traditional textile fibers and textiles, their thermal insulation performances are improved by increasing an amount of the fibers and enhancing a thickness and a weight of the fiber textile. For example, mainstream thermal underwear sold in the current market has disadvantages of a heavy weight and a large thickness, thus resulting in an irreparable defect in term of wearing comfort.

[0004] In addition, a heat storage material is used to improve the thermal insulation performance of the fiber textile. The so-called heat storage material is a novel chemical material being capable of storing heat. For the heat storage material, a phase transformation occurs at a specific temperature along with heat absorption or release, which may be used to control an ambient temperature or to be stored as a thermal energy. Its principle and technical solution have significant differences as compared with the thermal insulation. For example, a hygroscopic calorific fiber, one of the heat storage materials, has an excellent hygroscopic performance, which is capable of converting a kinetic energy of water molecules perspired from a human body into a thermal energy, thereby improves a sensible temperature, because an increased temperature enables perspired moistures to be evaporated more easily.

[0005] However, it is relatively limited to improve the thermal insulation performance by the hygroscopic calorific fiber. Besides, cost of such material is relative expensive.

SUMMARY

[0006] An object of the present disclosure is to provide a thermal insulation fiber and a textile made of the thermal insulation fiber with better thermal insulation performance and lower cost, which are easy to be manufactured and industrialized.

[0007] In an aspect, the present disclosure provides in embodiments a thermal insulation fiber, including:

[0008] a conventional fiber; and

[0009] a nano unit,

[0010] wherein based on a total weight of the convention fiber, the nano unit is of a content of 0.1 wt % to 3 wt %, so as to improve an insulation rate of the thermal insulation fiber;

[0011] the nano unit includes a microparticle having a size of 300 nm to 8000 nm; and

[0012] the microparticle includes at least one of a mixture of titanium (Ti) and cerium (Ce), a mixture of Ti and magnesium (Mg), and a mixture of Ti, Ce, Mg, silicon (Si) and calcium (Ca).

[0013] Alternatively, the conventional fiber includes a chemical fiber, and the chemical fiber includes at least one of an artificial fiber and a synthetic fiber.

[0014] Alternatively, based on the total weight of the convention fiber, the nano unit is of a content of 1.5 wt % to 3 wt %; and the nano unit includes the microparticle having a size of 300 nm to 4000 nm.

[0015] Alternatively, in the nano unit, the microparticle includes:

[0016] Ti being of a content of 500 weight units to 10000 weight units; and Ce being of a content of 60 weight units to 300 weight units, or

[0017] Ti being of a content of 500 weight units to 10000 weight units; and Mg being of a content of 10 weight units to 500 weight units, or

[0018] Ti being of a content of 500 weight units to 10000 weight units; Ce being of a content of 60 weight units to 300 weight units; Ca being of a content of 50 weight units to 500 weight units; Mg being of a content of 10 weight units to 500 weight units; and Si being of a content of 50 weight units to 3000 weight units.

[0019] Alternatively, wherein based on the total weight of the convention fiber, the nano unit is of a content of 0.1 wt % to 1.5 wt %; and the nano unit includes the microparticle having a size of 4000 nm to 8000 nm.

[0020] Alternatively, in the nano unit, the microparticle includes:

[0021] Ti being of a content of 500 weight units to 10000 weight units; and Ce being of a content of 60 weight units to 300 weight units, or

[0022] Ti being of a content of 500 weight units to 10000 weight units; and Mg being of a content of 10 weight units to 500 weight units, or

[0023] Ti being of a content of 500 weight units to 10000 weight units; Ce being of a content of 60 weight units to 300 weight units; Ca being of a content of 50 weight units to 500 weight units; Mg being of a content of 10 weight units to 500 weight units; and Si being of a content of 50 weight units to 3000 weight units.

[0024] Alternatively, in the nano unit, the microparticle further includes:

[0025] K being of a content of 50 weight units to 100 weight units;

[0026] Sn being of a content of 100 weight units to 500 weight units; and

[0027] S being of a content of 50 weight units to 100 weight units.

[0028] In another aspect, the present disclosure provides in embodiments a thermal insulation textile at least including a part of the thermal insulation fiber described above.

[0029] In yet another aspect, the present disclosure provides in embodiments a use of a fiber containing a nano unit in manufacturing a thermal textile, wherein the fiber containing the nano unit is any one of the thermal insulation fiber described above.

[0030] According to above embodiments, the present disclosure has the following advantages. The thermal insulation fiber according to embodiments of the present disclosure includes the conventional fiber and the nano unit, the nano unit is of a content of 0.1 wt % to 3 wt %, so as to improve an insulation rate of the thermal insulation fiber, the nano unit includes a microparticle having a size of 300 nm to 8000 nm, so that the thermal insulation performance and a Clo value of the fiber according to embodiments of the present disclosure are improved significantly as compared with a conventional textile being of a same weight and made of a same weave. Besides, the fiber according to embodiments of the present disclosure has advantages of low manufacturing cost, simple manufacturing process and being easy to be industrialized as compared with a thermal insulation fiber in the related art.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] Above and/or additional aspects and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following descriptions made with reference to the drawings, in which:

[0032] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a thermal insulation rate of a textile obtained in Example 1 of the present disclosure as compared with that of textiles obtained in comparative experiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] Reference will be made in detail to examples of the present disclosure. The examples described herein with reference to drawings are explanatory, illustrative, and used to generally understand the present disclosure, and cannot be construed to limit the present disclosure. If the specific technology or conditions are not specified in the examples, a step will be performed in accordance with the techniques or conditions described in the literature in the art or in accordance with the product instructions. If the manufacturers of reagents or instruments are not specified, the reagents or instruments may be commercially available

Example 1

[0034] Table 1 and FIG. 1 illustrate testing data and a diagram thereof showing a thermal insulation rate of a textile obtained in Example 1 of the present disclosure as compared with that of textiles obtained in comparative experiments, respectively.

[0035] (1) Title: thermal insulation performance experiment

[0036] (2) Object: testing the thermal insulation performances of the fiber and the textile made of the fiber. In order to improve the thermal insulation performances thereof, air which does not readily conduct heat is injected between fibers, so as to inhibit heat dissipation.

[0037] (3) Method: tests are conducted based on "JIS L1096 Testing methods for woven and knitted fabrics". Using a warmth retaining tester, a hot plate setting at a certain temperature (36±0.5° C.) and test piece are combined as one group. After 2 hours, a heat energy A dissipated from the test piece is obtained. Besides, a heat energy B dissipated from the test piece when not combined with the hot plate is also obtained after 2 hours. The thermal insulation rate (%) is calculated according to the following formula:

Thermal insulation rate (%)=(1-A/B)×100

[0038] (4) Test Organization:

[0039] Japanese statutory testing organizations--General Foundation BOKEN spinning quality rating agencies in eastern business

[0040] (5) Test Samples:

[0041] 5.1 the fiber according to embodiments of the present disclosure, includes a conventional fiber and a nano unit, wherein based on a total weight of the convention fiber, the nano unit is of a content of 2.9 wt %, so as to improve an insulation rate of the thermal insulation fiber; the nano unit includes a microparticle having a size of about 300 nm; and the microparticle includes Ti being of a content of 9000 weight units, Ce being of a content of 60 weight units, and other trace elements as required in accordance with the related art.

[0042] The nano unit of the present disclosure can be added into the conventional fiber by any one of existing methods for manufacturing a fiber. A method for manufacturing the fiber used in the present disclosure includes the following steps: A). making a natural polymer material, a natural inorganic material (such as viscose), a synthetic polymer material or a synthetic inorganic material (such as nylon and acrylic material) as a spinning melt or solution; B). adding the nano unit including Ti and Ce into the spinning melt or solution; and C). forming the fiber after extruded through a spinneret. Other steps are the same as the method for manufacturing the fiber in the related art, which is not described in details herein.

[0043] It would be appreciated that the nano unit may include Ti and Ce at any other ratio by weight units. Through a large number of repeated tests by the inventor, the fiber including the nana unit at various ratios may have an excellent thermal insulation performance. The present example merely selected one group of experiment data from numerous experiments for illustration (being similarly hereinafter).

[0044] In addition, the microparticle of the present disclosure may be an oxide or a nitride under a normal temperature state, or may be other forms capable of existing stably, such as a compound or a monomer.

[0045] It should be noted that, "weight unit" used herein is alternatively a weight ratio of "microgram/kilogram"; or may be other weight units in accordance with practical requires (being similarly hereinafter).

[0046] 5.2 Comparative Experiment:

[0047] a sample obtained in comparative experiment 1: a hygroscopic calorific underwear sold by Aeon, its test method is same as the "Method" described above;

[0048] a sample obtained in comparative experiment 2: a hygroscopic calorific underwear sold by Uniqlo, its test method is same as the "Method" described above;

[0049] a sample obtained in comparative experiment 3: a hygroscopic calorific underwear sold by Shimala, its test method is same as the "Method" described above;

[0050] a sample obtained in comparative experiment 4: a 100% wool underwear sold by Ito Yokado, its test method is same as the "Method" described above; and

[0051] a sample obtained in comparative experiment 5: a 100% cashmere sweater sold by Uniqlo, its test method is same as the "Method" described above.

[0052] (6) Test Results:

TABLE-US-00001 Stable 1: data obtained by measuring the thermal insulation performances of the textiles gram thermal weight insulation clo (g/m²) rate (%) value explanation Textile obtained 150 43.7 0.46 Textile including the according to the thermal insulation present disclsoure fiber Textile obtained 150 18.7 0.16 hygroscopic calorific in comparative underwear sold by Aeon experiment 1 Textile obtained 150 15.4 0.13 hygroscopic calorific in comparative underwear sold by experiment 2 Uniqlo Textile obtained 150 20.5 0.18 hygroscopic calorific in comparative underwear sold by experiment 3 Shimala Textile obtained 340 35.4 0.32 100% wool underwear in comparative sold by Ito Yokado experiment 4 Textile obtained 220 41.5 0.41 100% cashmere sweater in comparative sold by Uniqlo experiment 5

[0053] The diagram showing the thermal insulation rate of the textile obtained in Example 1 as compared with that of the textiles obtained in comparative experiments is shown in FIG. 1. When comparing the textile obtained in Example 1 and the textiles obtained in comparative experiments 1 to 3 which are of same weights, it can be seen that the textile obtained in Example 1 has the thermal insulation performance more than twice as that of other textiles. It would be appreciated that "gram weight" is a commonly-used unit for evaluating textile and silk products, referring to a weight per square meter and representing as "g/m²". The gram weight is a vital indicator of the knitted fabric.

[0054] Further, each of the textiles obtained in comparative experiments 1 to 3 has a thermal insulation rate much higher than a vast majority of underwear sold in the market.

[0055] According to a provision of "FZ/T 73022-2004 knitted thermal underwear" in China, an outer package for thermal underwear should be labeled with indicators marking the thermal insulation rate and content, particularly, the "thermal insulation rate" is not allowed to less than 30%. In fact, for a vast majority of the so-called thermal underwear, their thermal insulation rates are improved by increasing the gram weight (i.e. increasing the thickness and the weight of underwear).

[0056] The textile made of the thermal insulation fiber according to embodiments of the present disclosure achieves an unexpected technical effect. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the thermal underwear being of a same gram weight as compared with that of conventional underwear achieves a thermal insulation rate much higher than the conventional underwear. Referring to Table 1 and FIG. 1, it can be seen from a comparison between the textile obtained in Example of the present disclosure and the textile obtained in comparative experiments 4 and 5: the textile made of the fiber according to embodiments of the present disclosure is of the thermal insulation rate even much higher than that of the woolen or cashmere product with a much lower weight gram. In other words, the underwear made of the thermal insulation textile according to the present disclosure may be used to replace the woolen or cashmere sweater.

[0057] It should be noted that, a difference between the "thermal insulation" of the present disclosure and the "heat storage and preservation" in the related art lies in that: the "heat storage and preservation" refers to a process of providing a heat energy to a heat storage product only from an external heat source (or an internal substance generating heat) and storing the heat in the heat storage product; while a working principle of the thermal insulation fiber according to the present disclosure is to reflect a heat energy generated by a human body back as much as possible by the nano unit, and maintain reflected heat energy insulated from external environment. In addition, above experiments of the present disclosure aim to the thermal insulation performance of underwear textile, and there is no energy supplement or supply from an external heat source (such as sunshine), therefore the present disclosure also provides in embodiments a use of fibers containing the nano unit in manufacturing a warm textile.

Example 2

[0058] A difference between the present example and Example 1 lies in that: a test sample is a thermal insulation fiber, including a conventional fiber; and a nano unit, wherein based on the total weight of the convention fiber, the nano unit is of a content of 0.2 wt %; the nano unit includes a microparticle having a size of 8000 nm; and the microparticle includes Ti being of a content of 500 weight units, Ce being of a content of 300 weight units, K being of a content of 100 weight units, Sn being of a content of 100 weight units and S being of a content of 100 weight units. The nano unit of the present disclosure can be added into the conventional fiber by any one of existing methods for manufacturing a fiber.

[0059] The test result of the present example is: the textile containing the thermal insulation fiber of the present disclosure having a gram weight of 150 g/m² is of the thermal insulation ration of 43.2%. Other comparative examples are the same in Example 1, which is not described herein in details.

[0060] A diagram showing a thermal insulation rate of a textile obtained in Example 2 as compared with that of textiles obtained in comparative experiments is not shown.

Example 3

[0061] A difference between the present example and Example 1 lies in that: a test sample is a thermal insulation fiber, including a conventional fiber; and a nano unit, wherein based on the total weight of the convention fiber, the nano unit is of a content of 1.5 wt %; the nano unit includes a microparticle having a size of 4000 nm; and the microparticle includes Ti being of a content of 10000 weight units, and Mg being of a content of 10 weight units. The nano unit of the present disclosure can be added into the conventional fiber by any one of existing methods for manufacturing a fiber.

[0062] The test result of the present example is: the textile containing the thermal insulation fiber of the present disclosure having a gram weight of 150 g/m² is of the thermal insulation ration of 43.5%. Other comparative examples are the same in Example 1, which is not described herein in details.

[0063] A diagram showing a thermal insulation rate of a textile obtained in Example 3 as compared with that of textiles obtained in comparative experiments is not shown.

Example 4

[0064] A difference between the present example and Example 1 lies in that: a test sample is a thermal insulation fiber, including a conventional fiber; and a nano unit, wherein based on the total weight of the convention fiber, the nano unit is of a content of 1.6 wt %; the nano unit includes a microparticle having a size of 5000 nm; and the microparticle includes Ti being of a content of 500 weight units, Mg being of a content of 500 weight units, K being of a content of 80 weight units, Sn being of a content of 300 weight units and S being of a content of 70 weight units. The nano unit of the present disclosure can be added into the conventional fiber by any one of existing methods for manufacturing a fiber.

[0065] The test result of the present example is: the textile containing the thermal insulation fiber of the present disclosure having a gram weight of 150 g/m² is of the thermal insulation ration of 43.1%. Other comparative examples are the same in Example 1, which is not described herein in details.

[0066] A diagram showing a thermal insulation rate of a textile obtained in Example 4 as compared with that of textiles obtained in comparative experiments is not shown.

[0067] In addition, the present example also provides another method for manufacturing the thermal insulating fiber, including a step of manufacturing fiber masterbatch. The nano unit is added during manufacturing the fiber masterbatch, and then a fiber is obtained thereafter. Other steps involving in the method for manufacturing the fiber of the present example are same as the method for manufacturing the fiber in the related art, which is not described in details.

Example 5

[0068] A difference between the present example and Example 1 lies in that: a test sample is a thermal insulation fiber, including a conventional fiber; and a nano unit, wherein based on the total weight of the convention fiber, the nano unit is of a content of 1.8 wt %; the nano unit includes a microparticle having a size of 3000 nm; and the microparticle includes Ti being of a content of 500 weight units, Mg being of a content of 500 weight units, Ce being of a content of 100 weight units, Ca being of a content of 300 weight units, Si being of a content of 1700 weight units, K being of a content of 50 weight units, Sn being of a content of 500 weight units, and S being of a content of 50 weight units. The nano unit of the present disclosure can be added into the conventional fiber by any one of existing methods for manufacturing a fiber.

[0069] The test result of the present example is: the textile containing the thermal insulation fiber of the present disclosure having a gram weight of 150 g/m² is of the thermal insulation ration of 43.7%. Other comparative examples are the same in Example 1, which is not described herein in details.

[0070] A diagram showing a thermal insulation rate of a textile obtained in Example 5 as compared with that of textiles obtained in comparative experiments is not shown.

[0071] In addition, another object of the present disclosure is to provide a thermal insulation textile, such as a knitted or woven product, which includes at least a part of the above fibers, or may be fully made of the thermal insulation fiber of the present disclosure.

[0072] Yet another object of the present disclosure is to provide a use of a fiber containing the nano unit in manufacturing a warm textile. The fiber containing the nano unit is any one of the thermal insulation fibers described above. The thermal insulation fiber of the present disclosure may have other uses in other or similar fields, however, in the present disclosure, the multi-group experiments are sufficient to prove that the thermal insulation fiber of the present disclosure has a better thermal insulation performance under the same conditions (for example, the same gram weight), therefore can be effectively used in the field of warm textile manufacture.

[0073] It is obvious that one skilled in the art can use a thermal insulation fiber of the present disclosure and textile made from the fiber to constitute various types of textile fibers and textiles and the corresponding preparation methods.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

[0074] The thermal insulation fiber according to embodiments of the present disclosure has advantages of better thermal insulation, lower cost, being easy to be manufactured and industrialized as compared with the existing thermal fiber, and can be effectively used in manufacturing the thermal insulation textile.

[0075] Although explanatory embodiments have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the above embodiments cannot be construed to limit the present disclosure, and changes, alternatives, and modifications can be made in the embodiments without departing from spirit, principles and scope of the present disclosure.

[0076] Reference throughout this specification to "an embodiment," "some embodiments," "one embodiment", "another example," "an example," "a specific example," or "some examples," means that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the present disclosure. Thus, the appearances of the phrases such as "in some embodiments," "in one embodiment", "in an embodiment", "in another example," "in an example," "in a specific example," or "in some examples," in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment or example of the present disclosure. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments or examples.

Claims

1. A thermal insulation fiber, comprising: a conventional fiber; and a nano unit, wherein based on a total weight of the convention fiber, the nano unit is of a content of 0.1 wt % to 3 wt %, so as to improve an insulation rate of the thermal insulation fiber; the nano unit comprises a microparticle having a size of 300 nm to 8000 nm; and the microparticle comprises at least one of a mixture of titanium (Ti) and cerium (Ce), a mixture of Ti and magnesium (Mg), and a mixture of Ti, Ce, Mg, silicon (Si) and calcium (Ca).

2. The thermal insulation fiber according to claim 1, wherein the conventional fiber comprises a chemical fiber, and the chemical fiber comprises at least one of an artificial fiber and a synthetic fiber.

3. The thermal insulation fiber according to claim 2, wherein based on the total weight of the convention fiber, the nano unit is of a content of 1.5 wt % to 3 wt %; and the nano unit comprises the microparticle having a size of 300 nm to 4000 nm.

4. The thermal insulation fiber according to claim 3, wherein in the nano unit, the microparticle comprises: Ti being of a content of 500 weight units to 10000 weight units; and Ce being of a content of 60 weight units to 300 weight units, or Ti being of a content of 500 weight units to 10000 weight units; and Mg being of a content of 10 weight units to 500 weight units, or Ti being of a content of 500 weight units to 10000 weight units; Ce being of a content of 60 weight units to 300 weight units; Ca being of a content of 50 weight units to 500 weight units; Mg being of a content of 10 weight units to 500 weight units; and Si being of a content of 50 weight units to 3000 weight units.

5. The thermal insulation fiber according to claim 2, wherein based on the total weight of the convention fiber, the nano unit is of a content of 0.1 wt % to 1.5 wt %; and the nano unit comprises the microparticle having a size of 4000 nm to 8000 nm.

6. The thermal insulation fiber according to claim 5, wherein in the nano unit, the microparticle comprises: Ti being of a content of 500 weight units to 10000 weight units; and Ce being of a content of 60 weight units to 300 weight units, or Ti being of a content of 500 weight units to 10000 weight units; and Mg being of a content of 10 weight units to 500 weight units, or Ti being of a content of 500 weight units to 10000 weight units; Ce being of a content of 60 weight units to 300 weight units; Ca being of a content of 50 weight units to 500 weight units; Mg being of a content of 10 weight units to 500 weight units; and Si being of a content of 50 weight units to 3000 weight units.

7. The thermal insulation fiber according to claim 4, wherein in the nano unit, the microparticle further comprises: K being of a content of 50 weight units to 100 weight units; Sn being of a content of 100 weight units to 500 weight units; and S being of a content of 50 weight units to 100 weight units.

8. A thermal insulation textile, at least comprising a part of the thermal insulation fiber according to claim 1.

9. A use of a fiber containing a nano unit in manufacturing a thermal textile, wherein the fiber containing the nano unit is the thermal insulation fiber according to claim 1.

10. The thermal insulation fiber according to claim 6, wherein in the nano unit, the microparticle further comprises: K being of a content of 50 weight units to 100 weight units; Sn being of a content of 100 weight units to 500 weight units; and S being of a content of 50 weight units to 100 weight units.

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