Multicomponent Fiber

Disposable absorbent articles generally contain absorbent fibrous webs, such as airlaid or bonded carded webs. Such webs are often stabilized with binder fibers during web formation. 

These binder fibers are multicomponent fibers with a significant difference in their melt temperature. The fibers are heated at a temperature sufficient to melt the lower melting components, but not the higher melting components (25). 

Several binder fibers have been developed that are biodegradable to enhance the disposability of the absorbent article. Most often, biodegradable polymers are formed from aliphatic polyester materials. A multicomponent fiber that contains a high melting aliphatic polyester and a low-melting aliphatic polyester has been developed (25). 

the a low-melting component is poly(butylene succinate) (PBSU). The low melting point polyesters may contain a minor portion of other monomer constituents, such as aromatic monomers. 

A wetting agent may be used to improve the hydrophilicity of the fibers. Suitable wetting agents should be compatible with the aliphatic polyesters. Examples of wetting agents are surfactants, ethoxylated alcohols, or acid amide ethoxylates (25). 

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C. Placek, Multicomponent Fibers, Noyes Development, Pearl River, New Jersey, 1971. 

Sulfonated Polyesters may be also used for water-dispersible fibers (63). The fibers contain a single or a blend of a sulfopoly-ester with a water-dispersible polymer. The multicomponent fibers can be used to produce microdenier fibers. The biodegradability of the polymers have been assessed by the ASTM Standard Method D6340-98 (64). 

W.A. Haile, S.E. George, W.R. Hale, and W.L. Jenkins, Water-dispersible and multicomponent fibers from sulfopolyesters, US Patent 8 444 896, assigned to Eastman Chemical Company (Kingsport, TN), May 21, 2013. 

The multicomponent fibers are substantially biodegradable, yet readily processed into nonwoven structures that exhibit effective fibrous mechanical properties. 

J. Chakravarty, V. Topolkaraev, and G.J. Wideman, Biodegradable multicomponent fibers, US Patent 7972692, assigned to Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc. (Neenah, WI), July 5,2011. 

El-Mogahzy Y (2004), An integrated approach to analyzing the natme of multicomponent fiber blending Part I Analytical aspects . Text Res J, 74(8), 701-712. 

Blending of pol)uners is practiced also in the production of synthetic (chemical) fibers. Multicomponent fibers are usually prepared by mixing more than two polymers. In this case, the ordinary spinning equipment... 

Multicomponent fibers produced from polymer blends have interesting possibilities for many kinds textile goods including technical textiles [3]. 

Keywords bicomponent fiber, multicomponent fiber, fibers of noncircular cross-section, sorption properties, separation, bioactive fibers, filled fibers, antibacterial textiles. 

To date, multicomponent fibers have been used much less in micro-filtration than melt blown fibers, and they are far less well known for their small size than electrospun fibers. 

However, modern melt spinning distribution system technology has clearly demonstrated the capability to produce fibers with smaller size and better consistency than either of the two aforementioned techniques. Multicomponent fiber sizes as low as -0.04 pm (-40 nm) have now been demonstrated commercially at attractive production rates [22]. In addition, micro-sized (1-10 pm) and nano-sized (<1 pm) multicomponent fibers can be produced with improved production rates, economics and physical properties over the other systems, and with an even broader choice of polymers [22]. Multicomponent fiber production can be used to create fibers in staple or continuous filament form using the spunbond and melt blowing processes. 

Metall ic fibers are defined as fibers composed of metal, plastic-coated metal, or metal-coated plastic. Single-component metall ic fibers for textile usage are fine drawn filaments of metal which can be spun and woven on normal textile machinery. These metallic fibers possess the properties of the metal from which they are formed. Multicomponent metallic fibers are more commonly used in textiles and are usually made from flat aluminum filaments surrounded with or bonded between clear layers of polyester, cellophane, or cellulose ester or from polyester film which has been metallized through vacuum deposition of aluminum and then encapsulated in polyester. In general, the properties of these fibers resemble the properties of the plastic film used to form the multicomponent fiber. The fibers are generally weak and easily stretched but can be used for decorative purposes and for applications where electrical conductivity and heat resistance are important. Trade names for metallic fibers include Brunsmet and Lurex. 

Porous polymer fibers have been of inunense interest because of their potential applications in the biochemical and biomedical fields [1]. Various techniques such as blend mono-filament spinning, hollow fiber spinning, multicomponent fiber spinning (e.g., with islands-in-sea morphology), and solution spinning have been used for the fabrication of porous fibers [1-5]. However, these techniques are limited by their capability to produce highly co-continuous (CC) structures and controlled pore size. 

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