Hygro Flat Woven Fabrics, Articles, And Related Processes

Abstract

A woven fabric and related process that includes hygro yarn structures with hollow cores that formed into flat woven fabrics suitable for bedding applications.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A woven fabric, comprising:
 a warp component including warp yarns; and   a weft component including weft yarns interwoven with the warp yarns to define the woven fabric, wherein at least one of a) the warp component, and b) the weft component include a plurality of plied staple yarns,   each plied staple yarn having a length and a plurality of separate package dyed staple yarns twisted together, each package dyed staple yarn including an outer sheath of staple fibers twisted together, and a hollow core within the outer sheath of staple fibers, wherein the hollow core extends along the length of the plied staple yarn.   
     
     
         2 . The woven fabric of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of plied staple yarns have a first tensile strength adapted for formation into the woven fabric, and each package dyed staple yarn has a second tensile strength that is less than the first tensile strength. 
     
     
         3 . The woven fabric of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one plied yarn is a two-ply yarn, and the plurality of separate package dyed staple yarns include a first package dyed staple yarn and a second package dyed staple yarn twisted with the first package dyed staple yarn to define the two-ply yarn. 
     
     
         4 . The woven fabric of  claim 1 , wherein each package dyed staple yarn defines a yarn cross-sectional dimension and the hollow core defines a core cross-sectional dimension that is aligned with the yarn cross-sectional dimension along a direction, wherein the core cross-sectional dimension is between about 5% to about 40% of the yarn cross-sectional dimension. 
     
     
         5 . The woven fabric of  claim 1 , wherein the staple fibers are a) cotton fibers, orb) blends of cotton fibers with one or more other fibers. 
     
     
         6 . The woven fabric of  claim 1 , wherein the warp and weft yarns are arranged to define a thread count between about 100 and about 1000. 
     
     
         7 . The woven fabric of  claim 1 , wherein the warp end density is between about 50 warp ends per inch and about 350 warp ends per inch. 
     
     
         8 . The woven fabric of  claim 1 , wherein the weft yarn density is between about 100 and about 700 weft yarns per inch. 
     
     
         9 . The woven fabric of  claim 1 , wherein each package dyed staple yarn has a count between about 20 Ne and about 120 Ne. 
     
     
         10 . The woven fabric of  claim 1 , wherein the weft component includes the plurality of plied staple yarns, and wherein each package dyed staple yarn has a count between about 20 Ne and about 120 Ne. 
     
     
         11 . The woven fabric of  claim 1 , wherein the warp component includes the plurality of staple yarns, and wherein each staple yarn has a count between about 20 Ne and about 120 Ne. 
     
     
         12 . A process for manufacturing a flat woven fabric, comprising:
 spinning a first staple yarn to include a first outer sheath of staple fibers twisted around a first inner core of water soluble fibers;   spinning a second staple yarn to include a second outer sheath of staple fibers twisted around a second inner core of water soluble fibers;   plying the first staple yarn and the second staple into a plied staple yarn; and   winding the plied staple yarn into a yarn package;   with the plied staple yarn on the yarn package, removing the first and second inner core of the water soluble fibers from each one of the first and second staple yarns in the plied staple yarn to form first and second hollow cores in the first and second staple yarns, respectively; and   after the removing step, weaving a plurality of the plied staple yarns into a flat woven fabric.   
     
     
         13 . The process of  claim 12 , wherein the weaving step is weaving a flat woven fabric having warp yarns and weft yarns, wherein at least one of the warp yarns and the weft yarns include the plied staple yarns. 
     
     
         14 . The process of  claim 12 , wherein the weft yarns include the plied staple yarns. 
     
     
         15 . The process of  claim 12 , wherein the weaving step includes inserting one or more weft yarns into warp yarns during a single weft insertion event. 
     
     
         16 . A woven fabric, comprising:
 a warp component including warp yarns; and   a weft component including weft yarns interwoven with the warp yarns to define the woven fabric, and at least one of a) the warp component and b) the weft component include a plurality of multi-core staple yarns,   each multi-core staple yarn including a length, an outer sheath of twisted staple fibers that extends along the length, a first hollow core that extends through the outer sheath of staple fibers along the length, and a second hollow core that extends through the outer sheath of staple fibers along the length.   
     
     
         17 . The woven fabric of  claim 16 , wherein the first hollow core and the second hollow core are twisted around and with respect to each other as each extends along the length. 
     
     
         18 . The woven fabric of  claim 17 , wherein the outer sheath of staple fibers and the first and second hollow cores have the same twist direction. 
     
     
         19 . The woven fabric of  claim 16 , wherein each multi-core yarn defines a yarn cross-sectional dimension that is perpendicular to the length, wherein the first and second hollow cores each define a core cross-sectional dimension that is aligned with the yarn cross-sectional dimension, wherein the combined core-cross sectional dimension comprise between about 5% to about 40% of the yarn cross-sectional dimension. 
     
     
         20 . The woven fabric of  claim 16 , wherein the combined core-cross sectional dimensions comprise between about 15% to about 25% of the yarn cross-sectional dimension. 
     
     
         21 . The woven fabric of  claim 16 , wherein the staple fibers are a) cotton fibers, or b) blends of cotton fibers with one or more other fibers. 
     
     
         22 . The woven fabric of  claim 16 , wherein the warp and weft yarns are arranged to define a thread count between about 100 and about 1000. 
     
     
         23 . The woven fabric of  claim 16 , wherein the warp end density is between about 50 warp ends per inch and about 350 warp ends per inch. 
     
     
         24 . The woven fabric of  claim 16 , wherein the weft yarn density is between about 100 and about 700 weft yarns per inch. 
     
     
         25 . The woven fabric of  claim 16 , wherein each multi-core staple yarn has a count between about 20 Ne and about 120 Ne. 
     
     
         26 . A process for manufacturing a woven fabric, comprising:
 spinning staple yarns to include an outer sheath of staple fibers twisted around a first core of water soluble fibers and a second core of water soluble fibers;   removing the first and second cores of water soluble fibers from each one of the staple yarns to from a multi-core staple yarn; and   weaving the multi-core staple yarns into a flat woven fabric.   
     
     
         27 . The process of  claim 26 , wherein the weaving step includes weaving warp yarns and weft yarns with each other to define the flat woven fabrics, wherein at least one of a) the warp yarns, and b) the weft yarns include the multi-core staple yarns. 
     
     
         28 . The process of  claim 26 , wherein the weaving step occurs after the removing step. 
     
     
         29 . The process of  claim 26 , wherein the weaving step occurs before the removing step. 
     
     
         30 . The process of  claim 26 , wherein the removing step includes dyeing the multi-core staple yarns.