Crimped Filament-Containing Woven Or Knitted Fabric With Decreasing Air Space Upon Wetting With Water, Process For Producing The Same And Textile Products Therefrom

Abstract

A woven or knitted fabric with a air space which is reversibly decreased by wetting with water compared to its dry state, comprises crimped filaments A whose percentage of crimp decreases upon wetting with water, and filaments B selected from among filaments with no crimps and crimped filaments which undergo substantially no change in percentage of crimp upon wetting with water, wherein the difference between the dry percentage of crimp DC f (%) and the wet percentage of crimp (HC f ) (DC f −HC f ) of a crimped filament A taken from the woven or knitted fabric is at least 10%, and the average value RA between the change in dimensions RP(%) of the woven or knitted fabric in the warp (or wale) direction when wet and when dry, and the change in dimensions RF(%) in the weft (or course) direction when wet and when dry (=(RP−RF)/2)(%) is at least 5%.

1 . A woven or knitted fabric comprising crimped filaments A whose percentage of crimp decreases upon wetting with water, and filaments B composed of at least one type selected from among filaments with no crimps and crimped filaments which undergo substantially no change in percentage of crimp upon wetting with water, 
 characterized in that the percentage of crimp DC f (%) of a sample of dry crimped filaments A prepared by allowing a sample of said crimped filaments A taken from said woven or knitted fabric to stand for 24 hours in an environment at a temperature of 20° C., 65% RH, and the percentage of crimp HC f (%) of a sample of the water wetted crimped filaments A prepared by immersing a sample of said crimped filaments A in water at a temperature of 20° C. for 2 hours, lifting it out from the water, sandwiching said sample between a pair of filter sheets within 60 seconds of lifting it, subjecting it to a pressure of 0.69 mN/m 2  for 5 seconds and lightly wiping the water from the sample, satisfy the following requirement (1):      (DC f −HC f )≧10(%)  (1),    and in that the length LPD (mm) in the warp (or wale) direction and the length LFD (mm) in the weft (or course) direction for a sample of the dry woven or knitted fabric prepared by taking a square sample with a 30 cm width in the warp (or wale) direction and a 30 cm length in the weft (or course) direction from the woven or knitted fabric and allowing it to stand for 24 hours in an environment at a temperature of 20° C., 65% RH, and the length LPH (mm) in the warp (or wale) direction and the length LFH (mm) in the weft (or course) direction for a sample of the water wetted woven or knitted fabric prepared by immersing said woven or knitted fabric sample in water at a temperature of 20° C. for 2 hours, lifting it out from the water, sandwiching said sample between a pair of filter sheets within 60 seconds of lifting it, subjecting it to a pressure of 0.69 mN/m 2  for 5 seconds and lightly wiping the water from said sample, are used in the following requirements (2) and (3):      RP(%)=((LPH−LPD)/LPD)×100  (2)  RF(%)=((LFH−LFD)/LFD)×100,  (3)    to calculate the change in dimensions RP (%) representing the proportion of the difference between the length when wet (LPH) and the length when dry (LPD) with respect to the length when dry (LPD) for the warp (or wale) direction of said woven or knitted fabric, and the change in dimensions RF (%) representing the proportion of the difference between the length when wet (LFH) and the length when dry (LFD) with respect to the length when dry (LFD) for the weft (or course) direction of said woven or knitted fabric, the average RA of which satisfies the following requirement (4):      RA(%)=(RP+RF)/2≦5%,  (4)    whereby the air space is reduced upon wetting with water.    
   
   
       2 . A crimped filament-containing woven or knitted fabric which has a decreased air space upon wetting with water according to  claim 1 , wherein said crimped filaments A are selected from among crimped conjugated fibers which differ from one another in terms of water-absorbing and self-extending properties, are composed of a polyester resin component and a polyamide resin component bonded in a side-by-side fashion, and have crimps formed by expression of their latent crimping performance.  
   
   
       3 . A crimped filament-containing woven or knitted fabric which has a decreased air space upon wetting with water according to  claim 2 , wherein said polyester resin component is composed of a modified polyethylene terephthalate resin comprising 5-sodiumsulfoisophthalic acid copolymerized in an amount of 2.0 to 4.5 mole percent based on the acid component content.  
   
   
       4 . A crimped filament-containing woven or knitted fabric which has a decreased air space upon wetting with water according to  claim 1 , wherein said crimped filaments A are included in yarn twisted at the number of twists of 0 to 300 T/m.  
   
   
       5 . A crimped filament-containing woven or knitted fabric which has a decreased air space upon wetting with water according to  claim 1 , wherein said filaments B are formed of a polyester resin.  
   
   
       6 . A crimped filament-containing woven or knitted fabric which has a decreased air space upon wetting with water according to  claim 1 , wherein said woven or knitted fabric has a multilayer woven or knitted structure with two or more layers, wherein at least one layer of said multilayer woven or knitted structure comprises said crimped filaments A at a content of 30 to 100 wt % of the total layer weight, and at least one other layer comprises said filaments B at a content of 30 to 100 wt % of the total layer weight.  
   
   
       7 . A crimped filament-containing woven or knitted fabric which has a decreased air space upon wetting with water according to  claim 1 , wherein said woven or knitted fabric is a knitted fabric with a tubular knitting structure, the composite loops of which tubular knitting structure are formed from said crimped filaments A and filaments B.  
   
   
       8 . A crimped filament-containing woven or knitted fabric which has a decreased air space upon wetting with water according to  claim 1 , wherein said woven or knitted fabric is a woven fabric with a weave structure, wherein either or both of the warp and weft yarns are composed of both paralleled yarns comprising yarn made of said crimped filaments A and yarns made of said filaments B.  
   
   
       9 . A crimped filament-containing woven or knitted fabric which has a decreased air space upon wetting with water according to  claim 1 , wherein the yarns made of said crimped filaments A and the yarns made of said filaments B are arranged alternately with every one yarn being in either or both the warp and weft direction or in either or both the course and wale directions.  
   
   
       10 . A crimped filament-containing woven or knitted fabric which has a decreased air space upon wetting with water according to  claim 1 , wherein the yarns made of said crimped filaments A and the yarns made of said filaments B are combined with each other to form a core-in-sheath type composite yarn, the core of said composite yarn being composed of said filament B yarns and the sheath being composed of said crimped filament A yarns.  
   
   
       11 . A crimped filament-containing woven or knitted fabric which has a decreased air space upon wetting with water according to  claim 1 , wherein said filaments B are selected from among elastic fibers with a breaking elongation of 300% or greater.  
   
   
       12 . A crimped filament-containing woven or knitted fabric which has a decreased air space upon wetting with water according to  claim 1 , wherein the woven or knitted fabric has an air permeability upon wetting with water which is at least 20% lower than the air permeability upon drying.  
   
   
       13 . A crimped filament-containing woven or knitted fabric which has a decreased air space upon wetting with water according to  claim 1 , which is a dyeing treatment applied fabric.  
   
   
       14 . A crimped filament-containing woven or knitted fabric which has a decreased air space upon wetting with water according to  claim 1 , which is a water absorption treatment applied fabric.  
   
   
       15 . A crimped filament-containing woven or knitted fabric which has a decreased air space upon wetting with water according to  claim 1 , which is a water repellent treatment applied fabric.  
   
   
       16 . A process for production of a crimped filament-containing woven or knitted fabric having a decreased air space upon wetting with water, according to  claim 1 , 
 the process being characterized by comprising a step of producing a precursor woven or knitted fabric from uncrimped fibers for formation of crimped filaments A which express crimping by heat treatment and wherein the crimps have a property such that the percentage of crimp decreases upon wetting with water, and fibers for formation of filaments B comprising at least one type selected from among fibers which do not express crimping by said heat treatment, and fibers which express crimping by said heat treatment but wherein the crimps have a property such that the percentage of crimp substantially does not decrease upon wetting with water, and a step wherein the precursor woven or knitted fabric is subjected to heat treatment to form a woven or knitted fabric containing the crimped filaments A and the filaments B.    
   
   
       17 . A process for production of a crimped filament-containing woven or knitted fabric according to  claim 16 , wherein the fibers for formation of said crimped filaments A are selected from among uncrimped conjugated fibers made of a polyester resin component and a polyamide resin component, which differ in their moisture-absorbing and self-elongating properties and are combined in a side-by-side structure.  
   
   
       18 . A process for production of a crimped filament-containing woven or knitted fabric according to  claim 16 , wherein the polyester resin component in said uncrimped fibers includes a polyester resin with an intrinsic viscosity of 0.30 to 0.43, and said polyamide resin component includes a polyamide resin with an intrinsic viscosity of 1.0 to 1.4.  
   
   
       19 . A process for production of a crimped filament-containing woven or knitted fabric according to  claim 17 , wherein said uncrimped fibers have, after crimping treatment in boiling water, 
 (1) a dry percentage of crimp DC in the range of 1.5 to 13% after standing for 24 hours in an environment at a temperature of 20° C., 65% RH,    (2) a wet percentage of crimp HC in the range of 0.5 to 7.0% immediately after immersion in water at a temperature of 20° C. for 2 hours, and    (3) a difference between said dry percentage of crimp DC and wet percentage of crimp HC (DC-HC) of 0.5% or greater.    
   
   
       20 . A textile product including a crimped filament-containing woven or knitted fabric with a decreased air space upon wetting with water according to  claim 1 .  
   
   
       21 . A textile product according to  claim 21  which is selected from among outerwear, sportswear and underwear.