Woven or Knitted Fabric and Clothes Containing Crimped Composite Filaments and Having an Air Permeability Which Increases When the Fabric is Wetted With Water

Abstract

A woven or knit fabric containing crimped composite fibers having its air permeability enhanced by water wetting and being useful in clothes such as outerwear, which woven or knit fabric contains 10 to 100 mass % of composite fibers of side-by-side type or eccentric core sheath type composed of polyester resin component and polyamide resin component whose thermal shrinkages are different from each other, the composite fibers having crimps developed by heat treatment. The composite fibers exhibit humid crimp factor HC F (%), as measured through a procedure comprising immersing the same in water of 30° C. for 2 hr, pulling them up, interposing them between a pair of filter papers at 30° C. in a humidity of 90% RH within 60 sec of the pulling up and applying a pressure of 0.69 mN/cm 2 for 5 sec, of ≧10% lower than the dry crimp factor DC F (%) after dying by allowing them to stand still at 20° C. in a humidity of 65% RH for 24 hr, so that the woven or knit fabric exerts of the effect of air permeability enhancement by water wetting.

1 . A woven or knitted fabric comprising a yarn comprising composite filaments formed from a polyester resin component and a polyamide resin component different from each other in thermal shrinkage and bonded together in a side-by-side structure or in an eccentric core-sheath structure, and having crimps manifested by heat treatment applied thereto, the crimped composite filaments being contained in a content of 10 to 100% by mass in the woven or knitted fabric, and satisfying the following formula
   ( DC   F   −HC   F )≧10%   
     wherein DC F  represents a percentage of crimp of a sample of crimped composite filaments taken from the woven or knitted fabric, determined by leaving the sample to stand for 24 hours in a test environment at a temperature of 20° C. at a humidity of 65% RH to dry and HC F  represents a percentage of crimp of another sample of the taken crimped composite filaments, determined by immersing the another sample in water at a temperature of 30° C. for 2 hours, pulling up the sample from the water, holding the sample between a pair of filter paper sheets in the ambient atmospheric air at a temperature of 30° C. at a humidity of 90% RH within 60 sec after pulling up the sample, leaving the sample under a pressure of 0.69 mN/cm 2  for 5 seconds to lightly wipe out water from the sample, whereby the woven or knitted fabric exhibit an air permeability which increases when the fabric is wetted with water. 
   
   
       2 . The woven or knitted fabric according to  claim 1  comprising crimped composite filaments and having an air permeability which increases upon with water, wherein the polyester resin component comprises a modified polyester resin in which 5-sodiosulfoisophthalic acid is copolymerized in an amount of 2.0 to 4.5 molar % based on the content of the acid component. 
   
   
       3 . The woven or knitted fabric according to  claim 1  comprising crimped composite filaments and having an air permeability which increases when the fabric is wetted with water, wherein the yarn comprising the crimped composite filaments has a number of twists of 0 to 300 turns/m. 
   
   
       4 . The woven or knitted fabric according to  claim 1  comprising crimped composite filaments and having an air permeability which increases when the fabric is wetted with water, wherein the woven or knitted fabric contains the crimped composite filaments and other filaments different from the crimped composite filaments. 
   
   
       5 . The woven or knitted fabric according to  claim 1  comprising crimped composite filaments and having an air permeability which increases when the fabric is wetted with water, wherein the other filaments are selected from non-crimped filaments or filaments showing a difference in percentage of crimp DC F −HC F  of 10% or less. 
   
   
       6 . The woven or knitted fabric according to  claim 1  comprising crimped composite filaments and having an air permeability which increases when the fabric is wetted with water, wherein when the woven or knitted fabric comprising the crimped composite filaments is subjected to determination of the stretchability of a stretchable woven fabric in accordance with JIS L1096, 8.14.1 Method B, except that the load value applied to a sample woven or knitted fabric test piece is altered to 1.47 N, where the woven or knitted fabric is a woven fabric, a stretchability of the woven fabric in at least one direction selected from the warp direction and the weft direction is 10% or more, and where the woven or knitted fabric is a knitted one, the stretchability of the knitted fabric in at least one direction selected from the course direction and the wale direction is 10% or more. 
   
   
       7 . The woven or knitted fabric according to  claim 1  comprising crimped composite filaments and having an air permeability which increases when the fabric is wetted with water, wherein the woven or knitted fabric comprising the crimped composite filaments has a multiply structure, and at least one ply thereof comprises the crimped composite filaments in an amount of 30 to 100 mass % based on the weight of the ply. 
   
   
       8 . The woven or knitted fabric according to  claim 4  comprising crimped composite filaments and having an air permeability which increases when the fabric is wetted with water, wherein the woven or knitted fabric is a knitted fabric having a tubular knitted stitch, and the loop of the tubular knitted stitch is formed from a yarn comprising the crimped composite filaments and the other filaments. 
   
   
       9 . The woven or knitted fabric according to  claim 4  comprising crimped composite filaments and having an air permeability which increases when the fabric is wetted with water, wherein the woven or knitted fabric is a woven fabric, the yarn containing composite filaments is a doubled yarn of the crimped composite filaments and the other or the warp filaments, and the warp and weft yarns or the warp or weft yarn of the woven fabric is constituted from a doubled yarn of the crimped composite filaments and the other filaments. 
   
   
       10 . The woven or knitted fabric according to  claim 4  comprising crimped composite filaments and having an air permeability which increases when the fabric is wetted with water, wherein the yarns composed of the crimped composite filaments and the yarn composed of the other filaments are alternately arranged with one each other in at least one direction selected from the warp direction and the weft direction, or in at least one direction selected from the course direction and the wale direction. 
   
   
       11 . The woven or knitted fabric according to  claim 4  comprising crimped composite filaments and having an air permeability which increases when the fabric is wetted with water, wherein from the crimped composite filaments and the other filaments, a core-sheath composite yarn is formed, the core portion of the composite yarn is formed from the crimped composite filaments, and the sheath portion is formed from the other filaments. 
   
   
       12 . The woven or knitted fabric according to  claim 4  comprising crimped composite filaments and having an air permeability which increases when the fabric is wetted with water, wherein the other filaments are selected from polyester filaments. 
   
   
       13 . The woven or knitted fabric according to  claim 1  comprising crimped composite filaments and having an air permeability which increases when the fabric is wetted with water, wherein the woven or knitted fabric is one treated with a water-absorbing agent. 
   
   
       14 . The woven or knitted fabric according to  claim 1  comprising crimped composite filaments and having an air permeability which increases when the fabric is wetted with water, wherein the woven or knitted fabric is one treated with a water-repellent treatment. 
   
   
       15 . The woven or knitted fabric according to  claim 1  comprising crimped composite filaments and having an air permeability which increases when the fabric is wetted with water, wherein the woven or knitted fabric is dyed. 
   
   
       16 . The woven or knitted fabric according to  claim 1  comprising crimped composite filaments and having an air permeability which increases when the fabric is wetted with water,
 wherein when a dried sample is prepared by leaving a test sample of the woven or knitted fabric to stand for 24 hours in an environment at a temperature of 20° C. at a humidity of 65% RH, separately a water-wetted sample is prepared by immersing a test sample of the woven or knitted fabric in water at a temperature of 30° C. for 2 hours, pulling up the test sample from the water, holding the test sample between a pair of filter paper sheets in the ambient atmospheric air at a temperature of 30° C. at a humidity of 90% RH within 60 seconds after pulling up the test sample, and leaving the test sample under a pressure of 490 N/m 2  (50 kgf/m 2 ) for 1 minute to lightly remove water from the test sample, and the air permeabilities of the dried sample and the water wetted sample are determined in accordance with JIS L 1096-1998, 6.27.1, Method A (fragile type air permeability testing machine method), a rate of change in air permeability of the woven or knitted fabric calculated in accordance with the following equation:   Rate of change (%) in air permeability={[(Air permeability of water wetted sample)−(Air permeability of dried sample)]/(Air permeability of dried sample)}×100   
     is 30% or more. 
   
   
       17 . Clothes comprising the woven or knitted fabric according to  claim 1  comprising the crimped composite filaments and having dimensions which are reversibly enlarged when the fabric is wetted with water to increase the air permeability thereof. 
   
   
       18 . The clothes according to  claim 17 , wherein at least one of the flank, the side, the breast, the back and the shoulder of the clothes is formed from the woven or knitted fabric comprising the crimped composite filaments. 
   
   
       19 . The clothes according to  claim 17 , wherein each of the portions of the clothes formed from the woven or knitted fabric comprising the crimped composite filaments has an area of 1 cm or more. 
   
   
       20 . The clothes according to  claim 17 , wherein the woven or knitted fabric comprising the crimped composite filaments is selected from tubular knitted fabrics and mesh-like coarse woven or knitted fabrics. 
   
   
       21 . The clothes according to  claim 17 , selected from outerwear, sportswear and underwear.