Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02647567 2008-12-22
A Process for Producing Porous Polymer Masterbatch and Fiber
thereof Having Anti-bacteria and Odor Eliminating Functions
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the invention
The invention relates to a process for producing porous polymer
masterbatch and fiber thereof that have anti-bacteria and odor eliminating
functions, and in particular, to a process for producing anti-bacteria and
odor
eliminating polymer masterbatch and fiber thereof containing organic or
inorganic
materials.
2. Description of the prior art
As the demand of a modern life for hygienic request is increasing,
anti-bacteria products receive gradually consumer's welcome. This trend
extends
to textile industry and results into considerable progress on the production
of
anti-bacteria fibers and clothing and other articles of daily use.
Anti-bacteria agent used in the anti-bacteria fiber can be divided generally
into two types, namely, an organic anti-bacteria agent, and an inorganic
anti-bacteria agent. One of the organic anti-bacteria agent is quaternary
ammonium salt. Unfortunately, quaternary ammonium salt has poor heat
resistance and can not used on the processed products of plastics or fiber
spinning.
On the other hand, an inorganic anti-bacteria agent is a carrier (for example
zeolite) containing metal ions (for example Ag+, Zn2+, Cue+), or certain types
of
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nano-scale metal particles (for example nano-scale silver particles), and both
are
considered as effective particles in the following description.
Silver has a well-accepted anti-bacteria effect. In general, an antibiotic can
kill approximately six different types of anti-living body, while silver can
kill
about 600 types of bacteria. In addition, silver is a non-toxic substance, and
therefore, utilization of silver is extensive and has a long history.
Furthermore,
through high nanotechnology way, silver particle becomes more active, its
anti-bacteria function is enhanced, and these promote in turn the quality of
home
environment and personal hygiene. Aqueous solution containing silver ions
released from both of nano-scale fine silver granules and nanometer silver has
remarkable anti-bacteria effect. Under the circumstance of multiple dilutions,
nanometer silver has still an inhibition efficiency of 99.99% against
Escherichia
coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Sarmonella, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the like.
The principal cause of this resides in the biological action that silver has
itself.
Active silver ion can attract the sulfhydryl group on the enzymatic protein in
the
bacteria and causes these groups binding fast with each other, thereby render
enzymes containing sulfhydryl groups to lose activity and hence kill the
bacteria.
Traditional process for using silver ion to produce fiber comprises
immersing fiber in an organic anti-bacteria agent so as to adhere a carrier or
nanometer silver particle on the surface of the fiber. In such traditional
process,
effective particles in the anti-bacteria inorganic solvent may be washed off
easily,
and at the same time, may induce easily the user an allergic response. Another
process for producing anti-bacteria fiber comprises of mixing previously an
inorganic anti-bacteria agent and polyester, and then drawing the mixture
thus-obtained into fibers containing effective particles. In such process for
making
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anti-bacteria fiber, most of the anti-bacteria materials are embedded within
the
fiber, and hence the anti-bacteria and odor eliminating functions are unable
to
display. Further, part of the anti-bacteria material exposed on the outside of
the
fiber might lose its anti-bacteria and odor eliminating functions after
washing or
dying and finishing due to bind with chlorine, sulfur and the like.
In view of the foregoing, conventional techniques mentioned above have
still many disadvantages, are not good designed and needs to be improved
urgently.
In view of the foregoing, conventional techniques mentioned above have
still many disadvantages, are not good designed and needs to be improved
urgently.
The inventor had learned the various disadvantages and shortcomings
derived from such conventional techniques described above, and had thought to
improve and innovate, and finally, after studying intensively for many years,
has
developed a process for producing porous polymer masterbatch and fiber thereof
that have anti-bacteria and odor eliminating functions according to the
invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a process for producing porous
polymer masterbatch and fiber thereof that have anti-bacteria and odor
eliminating
functions, for the purpose of reducing lost particles in the anti-bacteria
inorganic
solvent, which tend to be washed off easily, and hence tend to lower the
anti-bacteria effect as well as may lead to an unknown effect on the
environmental
ecological equilibrium.
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The invention also relates to a process for producing porous
polymer masterbatch and fiber thereof that have anti-bacteria and odor
eliminating
functions, characterized in that the inventive process can improve the
previous
conventional process for making anti-bacteria fiber; where in the conventional
process, an inorganic anti-bacteria agent is mixed in a polymer and then the
resulted mixture is drawn to form fiber containing fine nanometer particles,
and in
such conventional process for making anti-bacteria fiber, the nanometer
particles
are difficult to be dispersed homogeneously in the fiber, and further, most of
the
nanometer particles are embedded within the fiber, so that its anti-bacteria
effect
can not function effectively.
The invention also relates to provide a process for producing
porous polymer masterbatch and fiber thereof that have anti-bacteria and odor
eliminating functions, characterized in that wide and diverse materials can be
used,
and has a wide spectrum of anti-bacteria and anti-fungus effects.
The process for producing porous polymer masterbatch and fiber thereof
that have anti-bacteria and odor eliminating functions comprises: step 1,
grinding
kieselguhr or active carbon into micro-particles; step 2, immersing said
micro-particles obtained in step 1 in an organic Chinese herbal medicine and
inorganic anti-bacteria minerals and polyvinyl alcohol with constant stirring;
step
3, air-drying micro-particles thus-obtained in step 2, and dry-grinding
further the
dried micro-particles into finer particles suitable for drawing and to be
dispersed
homogeneously in a solution; step 4, carrying out a esterification reaction
for
binding monomer to form an anti-bacteria polyester masterbatch; and/or step 5,
producing the polyester masterbatch formed in step 4 into anti-bacteria
polyester
fiber by cold grain spin-drawing technique.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
These features and advantages of the present invention will be fully
understood
and appreciated from the following detailed description of the accompanying
drawings, wherein:
Figure 1 shows the flow chart for carrying out the process according to
the invention;
Figure 2 is a schematic view of porous micro-particles according to the
invention;
Figure 3 is a schematic view of finer micro-particles obtained after
dry-grinding according to the invention; and
Figure 4 is a schematic view of anti-bacteria polyester fibers according to
the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
For understanding further the objects, characteristics and effects of the
invention, following non-limiting examples will be illustrated in conjunction
with
the accompanied drawings below.
Referring to Fig. 1, the process for producing porous polymer masterbatch
and fiber thereof having anti-bacteria and odor eliminating functions provided
according to the invention comprises following steps:
step 1: grinding kieselguhr or active carbon into micro-particles of 11000
micron (111);
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= Referring to Fig. 2, a schematic view of kieselguhr or active carbon
micro-particles. In the step 1, kieselguhr or active carbon is ground at
first into micro-particles 1. In the case of active carbon, the principal
component of active carbon is carbon, combined with minor amount of
hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and the like, and is a black porous
material 2 with complex surface. It has a six ring structure formed
from carbon and its shape may be from a cylindrical coarse granule to
a fine powder particle, and hence it has two type of morphology of
granule and powder. The granule has generally a diameter of 1-6 mm,
and its length is 0.7-4 times of its diameter. Alternatively, it may be
present as a granule of irregular shape with a size of 6120 meshes.
The active carbon is odorless, and tasteless, and is insoluble in water
and organic solvent. Active carbon has a packing density of about
0.30.6 g/ml, a volume of the very large micro-pore of about 0.60.8
ml/g, and a specific surface of about 5001,500 m2/g, and therefore,
exhibits a very strong adhesive force to an organic macromolecular
material;
= In addition, kieselguhr can be used in the process of the invention.
Kieselguhr is mined from fossil lake bed. Such kieselguhr is formed
from the deposition of tremendous dead micro-diatoms in the ancient
lake or sea on lake or sea beds. Diatom is classified into two
morphologies of salty water diatom and fresh water diatom.
Accordingly, the thus-mined kieselguhr is classified also into two
types of salty water kieselguhr and fresh water kieselguhr. After mined,
it can be washed, processed and ground into micro-powder of various
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specific sizes;
step 2: impregnating micro-particles obtained in step 1 in an organic
Chinese herbal medicine and a water-soluble cementing agent, adding inorganic
anti-bacteria minerals of 1100 nm in size, and then stirring continuously for
more than 24 hours, thereby enabling the organic Chinese herbal medicine and
inorganic anti-bacteria minerals being impregnated, bound and adhered
sufficiently in pores of the micro-particle (112);
= Referring to Table 1, each of inorganic anti-bacteria minerals
mentioned above has its own special effect. Inorganic anti-bacteria
minerals used in the process of the invention may be selected from the
group consisting of realgar, calamine, melanterite, talc, alum, sulfur,
borax, nanometer silver (Ag), nanometer zinc (Zn), nanometer copper
(Cu), titanium dioxide (TiO2) and any combination thereof;
Table 1: The pharmacological effect, function and chemical component of
inorganic anti bacteria minerals.
Item Name Pharmacological effect
e-toxicating, removing moist, killing insect,
1. ealgar
anti-bacteria
Absorbing moist, stopping itch, controlling sore,
2. Calamine
antiseptic, anti-bacteria
3. elanterite Treating eczema, killing insect, anti-bacteria
4. Talc Treating eczema, wet sore, scarbies, anti-bacteria
etoxicating, killing insect, drying moist, stopping
5. Alum
tch, wide spectrum anti-bacteria
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Killing insect, stopping itch, scabies , eczema,
6. Sulfur
itching, killing insect, anti-bacteria
etumescence, antiseptic, anti-bacteria, treating
7. Borax
scarbies and itch
8. 1anometer silver (Ag) Anti-bacteria, anti-fungus
9. 4anometer zinc (Zn) Anti-bacteria, anti-fungus
10. anometer copper (Cu) ti-bacteria, anti-fungus
11. titanium dioxide (TiO2) [Anti-bacteria, anti-fungus
= The water-soluble cementing agent 3 may be selected from polyvinyl
alcohol (PVA) or the like. PVA is an extensively used water-soluble
macromolecular polymer, with a property between those of plastic and
rubber. Since PVA possesses strong bonding property, skin flexibility,
smoothness, oil resistance, solvent resistance, protective gel property,
gas insulating property, wear resistance and after special treatment,
water resistance, it is used very often in raw materials for fiber;
= The binding property of PVA is utilized to adhere the extract essence
fluid of herbal plant on the surface of the outer and inner holes of
micro-particles so as to increase the amount and surface area of the
organic Chinese herbal medicine and inorganic anti-bacteria minerals
thus-adhered. The herbal plants useful in the process according to the
invention may be selected from the group consisting of Radix et
RhizomanNotopterygii, Black false hellebore, Hibiscus syriacus skin,
Cinnamomum cassia Presl, camphor, Cnidium monnieri (L) Cuss),
Hydnocarpus anthelmintica Pier., rosin and any combination thereof.
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Each of herbal plants mentioned above has its own specific effect as
shown in Table 2;
Table 2: Pharmacological effect, functions and chemical components of
Chinese herbs
Pharmacological
Item Name Function Chemical components
effect
Radix et Rhizoma Anti-bacteria ,
1.
notopterygii anti-fungus
Anti-bacteria ,
2. Black false hellebore anti-fungus, killing
insect
Killing insect,
Hibiscus syriacus
3. stopping itch,
skin
anti-bacteria
Anti-bacteria, Cinnamic aldehyde,
Sedation,
Cinnamomum cassia anti-bacteria Cinnamic acid,
4 Analgesia,
Presl anti-tinea, Cinnamyl acetate,
Allaying fever
anti-fungus Phenylpropyl acetate
Removing moist,
killing insect,
5. Camphor
anti-bacteria ,
anti-fungus
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Anti-fungus, L-Piuene,
Removing
anti-Gram negative L-Camphene,
rheumatic,
Cnidium monnieri bacteria, Bornyl isovalerate,
6 drying moist,
(L) Cuss anti-mould Isoborneol, Edultim,
killing insect,
Anti-Ringworm Cnidimine,
stopping itch
fungus Xanthotoxin
Anti-bacteria, Detoxication,
Chaulmoogric Acid,
Hydnocarpus treating tinea killing insect,
7 Hydnocarpic Acid,
anthelmintica Pier. manus and tinea removing tinea
Gorlic Acid
pedis cruris
Anti-bacteria,
8. Rosin anti-mould, treating
scarbies, wet itch
= The organic Chinese herbal medicine and inorganic anti-bacteria
minerals mentioned in step 2 may be used in combination with one
another to achieve the desired pharmacological effect and function;
step 3: air drying the micro-particle impregnated in step 2, and dry grinding
them further into finer micro-particle of 1-50 micron in size suitable for
drawing,
and dispersing them homogeneously in a solution (113);
= Referring to Fig. 2, the surface and the outside and inside of holes in
the thus-impregnated micro-particles had been adhered with extract
essence fluid of the herbal plants. Thereafter, the impregnated
micro-particles thus air dried were dry ground further into finer
micro-particles. The surface 6 and the outside and inside of holes 4 in
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the thus-obtained finer micro-particles 7 had been adhered with the
organic Chinese herbal medicine and inorganic anti-bacteria minerals
5. The air-dried finer micro-particle 7 had a size of 1-50 micron and
became a finer micro-particle suitable for drawing as well as could be
dispersed homogeneously in a solution.
= The solution mentioned in the step 3 of the inventive process may be
ethylene glycol solution. Ethylene glycol is a catalyst used in the
condensation polymerization of polyester, and has following
advantages: 1. It has greater solubility and better dispersability in
ethylene glycol solution; 2. It has good activity, and can enhance
productivity of the apparatus; 3. This catalyst itself will not introduce
new contaminant, can increase the intrinsic mass of the slice, and
improve post-procession spinning ability; 4. It can improve hues and
heat stability of the slice.
step 4: binding the finer micro-particle dispersed homogeneously in the
solution to a monomer through esterification reaction to form anti-bacteria
polyester masterbatch, wherein such finer micro-particle in each of the
polyester masterbatch comprises about 10 - 25% of the total weight of each
masterbatch (114);
step 5: Using low temperature batch processing chip spinning technique to
produce the anti-bacteria polyester masterbatch to produce anti-bacteria
polyester
fiber 8, wherein the ratio of the anti-bacteria polyester masterbatch added is
about
5-10%(115).
In summary, the process for producing porous polymer masterbatch and
fiber thereof having anti-bacteria and odor eliminating functions provided by
the
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invention comprises following steps:
step 1: grinding kieselguhr or active carbon into micro-particles of 11000
micron in size (111);
step 2: impregnating micro-particles obtained in step 1 with organic
Chinese herbal medicine and water-soluble cementing agent and inorganic
anti-bacteria minerals of 1100 micron in size, and stirring continuously for
more
than 24 hours, thereby enabling sufficient penetration, binding and adsorption
of
the organic Chinese herbal medicine and inorganic anti-bacteria minerals in
pores
of micro-particles (112);
step 3: air drying micro-particles impregnated in step 2, and then dry
grinding said dried micro-particles into finer micro-particle of 1-50 micron
in size
suitable for drawing and dispersing homogeneously in a solution (113);
step 4: binding said finer micro-particles dispersed homogeneously in a
solution with monomer through esterification reaction to form said anti-
bacteria
polyester masterbatch, wherein such finer micro-particle in each of the
polyester
masterbatch comprises about 10 - 25% of the total weight of each masterbatch
(114);
step 5: producing anti-bacteria polyester fiber from said anti-bacteria
polyester masterbatch by low temperature batch processing chip spinning
technique, wherein the ratio of the anti-bacteria polyester masterbatch added
is
about 5 - 10% (115).
Accordingly, the process for producing porous polymer masterbatch and
fiber thereof having anti-bacteria and odor eliminating functions provided by
the
invention has following advantages over other conventional techniques:
1. The inventive process for producing porous polymer masterbatch and
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fiber thereof having anti-bacteria and odor eliminating functions can reduce
the
lost amount of particles originally present in the anti-bacteria inorganic
solvent,
wherein said particles is susceptible to be washed off, and thus, may lower
its
anti-bacteria effect as well as may cause an unexpected influence on the
environmental ecological equilibrium.
2. The inventive process for producing porous polymer masterbatch and
fiber thereof having anti-bacteria and odor eliminating functions can enable
these
odor eliminating anti-bacteria materials to penetrate and adhere into
tremendous
micro-pores of these porous particles, and further, since they can bind in
these
micro-pores by means of water-soluble cementing agent, thereby these materials
tend not to lose and hence can achieve the purpose of increasing its anti-
bacteria
and odor eliminating functions.
3. The inventive process for producing porous polymer masterbatch and
fiber thereof having anti-bacteria and odor eliminating functions can be
extended
to make various related products having anti-bacteria and odor eliminating
functions, such as shoes, bags, socks, clothes.
4. The inventive process for producing porous polymer masterbatch and
fiber thereof having anti-bacteria and odor eliminating functions can adopt
wide
and diverse materials, and hence can retain wide spectrum anti-bacteria and
anti-fungus effects, without loses its anti-bacteria function during dying and
finishing process due to bind with chlorine and sulfur like, for example,
using
nanometer silver alone.
Many changes and modifications in the above-described embodiment of the
invention can, of course, be carried out without departing from the scope
thereof.
Accordingly, to promote the progress in science and useful arts, the invention
is
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disclosed and is intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended
claims.
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