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Bicomponent
Fibers |
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Concentric Sheath/Core |
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 Typically
used in binder fibers with a low-melting sheath around a higher-melting
core. A nonwoven fabric is made with these fibers, then heated to
melt the sheath, which bonds the fabric together upon cooling. The
concentric sheath/core can also be used to deliver an outer layer of a
high value (and/or low strength) polymer around a lower cost, yet
stronger core. |
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Eccentric Sheath/Core |
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 Similar
to the concentric sheath/core, but with the core shifted off-center.
The different shrinkage rates of the two polymers causes the fiber to
curl into a helix when heated under relaxation. This allows an
otherwise flat fiber to develop crimp and bulk. |
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Side-by-Side |
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 A
further extension of the eccentric sheath/core fiber, in which both
polymers occupy a part of the fiber surface. With proper polymer
selection, this fiber can develop higher levels of latent crimp than the
eccentric sheath/core. |
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Pie Wedge |
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 A
round cross section made of 16 adjacent wedges, similar to slices of
pie. Each wedge of polymer A has a wedge of polymer B on either
side, for a total of 8 wedges of each polymer. These fibers are
designed to be split into the component wedges by mechanical agitation
(typically hydroentangling), yielding microfibers of 0.1 to 0.2 denier
in the final fabric. You can download our paper describing novel
uses for splittable fibers here. |
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Hollow Pie Wedge |
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 Similar
to the above but with a hollow center core that prevents the inner tips
of the wedges from joining; thus making splitting easier. Hollow
centers can be used in other fibers, too, but are particularly useful
here. Novel applications for these fibers are also discussed in
our paper on splittable fibers. |
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Islands/Sea |
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 Also
known as the "pepperoni pizza" configuration where Polymer A
is the pepperoni and polymer B is the cheese. This fiber allows
the placement of many fine strands of a fiber polymer within a matrix of
soluble polymer that is subsequently dissolved away. This allows
the production of a fabric made of very fine microfibers because the
fibers are easier to process in the "pizza" form rather than
as individual "pepperonis." Staple fibers can be made
with 37 pepperonis on each pizza, producing fibers as low as 0.04 denier
(about 2 microns diameter). We are working on methods to make
these fibers even smaller. |
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Three Islands |
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 This
configuration can be described as either three islands in a sea (or
pepperonis on a pizza) or as a sheath/core arrangement with three cores
instead of one. It can be used to reduce the cost of fibers valued
for resilience, by filling the cores with a low-cost polymer. Or a
high-strength material in the core can reinforce a weak polymer used for
its surface properties, while reducing delamination of incompatible
polymers. |
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