Stretchable composite fabric and clothing product therefrom

Abstract

A stretchable composite fabric appropriate to sports wear and under wear is a woven or knitted fabric including a composite yarns (A) formed from stretchable yarns ( 1 ) having a self-elongation of 5% or more upon absorbing water and an elongation at break of 200% or more and non-stretchable yarns ( 2 ) having a self-elongation less than 5% upon absorbing water, and yarns (B) including stretchable yarns ( 3 ) having a self-elongation less than 5% upon absorbing water and an elongation at break of 30% or more, wherein the yarns ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) in a sample taken from the composite fabric respectively have a length L 1 and a length L 2 , the ratio L 1 /L 2 is 0.9 or less, and the yarns ( 1 ) can self-elongate upon absorbing water and shrink upon drying.

1 . A stretchable composite fabric which is a woven or knitted fabric comprising at least three types of yarns ( 1 ), ( 2 ), and ( 3 ) different from each other, 
 wherein    the yarn ( 1 ) is a stretchable, high water-absorbent and high self-elongative yarn, comprising stretchable fibers having relatively high self-elongation upon absorbing water, and an elongation at break of 200% or more;    the yarn ( 2 ) is a non-stretchable, low water-absorbent and low self-elongative yarn comprising substantially non-stretchable fibers having relatively low self-elongation upon absorbing water;    the yarn ( 3 ) is a stretchable, low water-absorbent and low self-elongative yarn, comprising stretchable fibers having a relatively low self-elongation upon absorbing water, and an elongation at break of 30% or more;    the yarn ( 1 ) has a self-elongation of 5% or more upon absorbing water and the yarn ( 2 ) and ( 3 ) have an self-elongation less than 5% upon absorbing water, determined in such a manner that each type of yarn selected from the yarns ( 1 ), ( 2 ) and ( 3 ) is wound around a hank frame having a frame girth of 1.125 m under a load of 0.88 mN/d tex, to provide a hank with a winding number of 10, the hank yarn is removed from the hank frame and left to stand in the air atmosphere having a temperature of 20° C. and a relative humidity of 65% for 24 hours to condition the hank yarn, the resultant dried hank yarn is subjected to a measurement of the dry length (Ld, mm) thereof under a load of 0.0080 mN/d tex, immersed in water at a water temperature of 20° C. for 5 minutes, and then taken up from water, the resultant water-wetted hank yarn is subjected to a measurement of the wet length (LW, mm) thereof under a load of 0.0088 mN/d tex, and the self-elongation of the yarn is calculated in accordance with the following equation:     Self elongation (%) of yarn upon absorbing water=[( Lw−Ld )/( Ld )]×100;   from the yarn ( 1 ) and the yarn ( 2 ), a stretchable, water-absorbent, and self-elongative composite yarn (A) is formed, and the yarn ( 3 ) is contained in a stretchable and non-water-absorbent and non-self-elongative yarn (B) having substantially no self elongation; and    the woven or knitted fabric has a ratio L 1 /L 2  of 0.9 or less, determined in such a manner that the woven or knitted fabric is subjected to dimension stabilization in the air atmosphere having a temperature of 20° C. and a relative humidity of 65%; then, from the dimension-stabilized woven or knitted fabric, a specimen of the composite yarn (A) having a length of 30 cm is picked up; and average lengthes L 1  and L 2  of the yarns ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) contained in the specimen of the composite yarn (A) are measured under a load of 0.0088 mN/d tex, then the ratio of L 1  to L 2  is calculated.    
   
   
       2 . The composite fabric as claimed in  claim 1 , having a woven fabric structure, in the warp yarn group and/or weft yarn group of which woven fabric structure, the stretchable, water-absorbent and self-elongative composite yarn (A) and the stretchable, non-water absorbent and non-self-elongative yarn (B) are alternately arranged with every one yarn or every two or more yarns.  
   
   
       3 . The composite fabric as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the yarn of only one group selected from the warp and weft yarn groups are formed from the composite yarn (A) and the yarn (B), and the yarn of the other group are formed from at least one type of yarn different from the composite yarn (A) and the yarn (B).  
   
   
       4 . The composite fabric as claimed in  claim 3 , wherein the yarn different from the composite yarn (A) and the yarn (B) is selected from yarns formed from a plurality of individual fibers having a flat cross-sectional profile and yarns formed from a plurality of individual fine fibers having a thickness of 1.5 d tex or less.  
   
   
       5 . The composite fabric as claimed in  claim 1 , having a multi-ply structure having two or more plies, in which multi-ply structure at least one ply in the multi-ply structure comprises the composite yarn (A) in a content of 20% by mass or more, based on the total mass of the ply and another at least one yarn comprises the yarn (B) in a content of 20% by mass or more, based on the total mass of the another ply.  
   
   
       6 . The composite fabric as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the fibers, from which the stretchable, high water-absorbent and self-elongative yarn ( 1 ) contained in the composite yarn (A) is constituted, are selected from polyetherester fibers formed from polyetherester elastomers comprising hard segments formed from polybutylene terephthalate blocks and soft segments formed from polyoxyethyleneglycol blocks.  
   
   
       7 . The composite fabric as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the fibers, from which the non-stretchable, low water-absorbent and low self-elongative yarn ( 2 ) contained in the composite yarn (A) is constituted, are selected from polyester fibers.  
   
   
       8 . The composite fabric as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the fibers, from which the yarn ( 2 ) is constituted, have an individual fiber thickness of 1.5 d tex or less.  
   
   
       9 . The composite fabric as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the stretchable, non-water absorbent and non-self-elongative yarn (B) is a composite yarn comprising another yarn ( 4 ) in addition to the stretchable, low water-absorbent and low self-elongative yarn ( 3 ), the yarn ( 3 ) has an elongation at break of 200% or more, the yarn ( 4 ) comprises fibers having substantially no self-elongation upon absorbing water and no stretchability, and the ratio L 3 /L 4  of the average length L 3  of the yarn ( 3 ) to the average length L 4  of the yarn ( 4 ) in the composite yarn (B), is 0.9 or less, determined by the same manner of measurement as that applied to the composite yarn (A).  
   
   
       10 . The composite fabric as claimed in  claim 9 , wherein the fibers, from which the yarn ( 3 ) having the elongation at break of 200% or more is constituted, are selected from polyetherester fibers formed from polyetherester elastomers comprising hard segments formed from polybutylene terephthalate blocks and soft segments formed from polytetramethyleneoxide glycol blocks.  
   
   
       11 . The composite fabric as claimed in  claim 9 , wherein the fibers, from which the yarn ( 4 ) is constituted, are selected from polyester fibers.  
   
   
       12 . The composite fabric as claimed in  claim 1 , having a roughness change of 10% or more, determined by a measurement such that a plurality of specimens having dimensions of 5 cm×2 cm are prepared from the composite fabric, and left to stand in air atmosphere at a temperature of 20° C. at a relative humidity of 65% for 24 hours to provide a plurality of dried specimens; separately, a plurality of specimens having dimensions of 5 cm×2 cm are prepared from the composite fabric, immersed in water at a temperature of 20° C. for 5 minutes, taken up from water, and subjected to a water removement by interposing each specimen between a pair of filter paper sheets, and applying a pressure of 490 N/m 2  to the interposed specimen for one minute to remove water remaining between fibers in the specimens and provide a plurality of wetted specimens; an average largest thickness Dw of the wetted specimens and an average largest thickness Dd of the dried specimens are measured, and the roughness change of the composite fabric is calculated in accordance with the following equation: 
       Roughness change (%)=[( Dw−Dd )/( Dd )]×100 
   
   
       13 . The composite fabric as claimed in  claim 1 , having a woven fabric structure, wherein the woven fabric has a cover factor of 2500 or more.  
   
   
       14 . The composite fabric as claimed in  claim 1 , having at least one surface applied with a water-repellent treatment.  
   
   
       15 . The composite fabric as claimed in  claim 1 , having an air permeability of 50 ml/cm 2  ·s or less, determined in accordance with JIS L 1096-1998, 6.27, method A (Fragir-type method), in the air atmosphere at a temperature of 20° C. at a relative humidity of 65%.  
   
   
       16 . The composite fabric as claimed in  claim 1 , having a hydraulic pressure resistance of 100 mmH 2 O or more, determined in accordance with JIS L 1092-1998, 4(1.1) (low hydrostatic pressure method) in the air atmosphere at a temperature of 20° C. at a relative humidity of 65%.  
   
   
       17 . A cloth material comprising the stretchable composite fabric as claimed in  claim 1  and being capable of generating a rough pattern on at least one surface of the cloth material when wetted with water.  
   
   
       18 . Clothing having at least one portion selected from armhole, side, breast, back and shoulder portions and formed from the cloth material as claimed in  claim 16 .  
   
   
       19 . The clothing as claimed in  claim 18 , selected from under wear.  
   
   
       20 . The clothing as claimed in  claim 18 , selected from sports wear.