North Carolina State University

Stephen R Sharp

Behnam Pourdeyhimi

Nataliya V Fedorova

The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to fabrics composed of micro-denier fibers wherein said fibers are formed as bicomponent fibrillated fiber. The energy is sufficient for fibrillating as well as entangling (bonding) the fibers. These fabrics can be woven or knitted and made from made from bicomponent islands in the sea fibers and filaments or can be nonwovens and formed by either spunbonding or through the use of bicomponent staple fibers formed into a web by any one of several means and bonded similarly to those used for the spunbonded filament webs.

High strength, durable micro and nano-fiber fabrics produced by fibrillating bicomponent islands in the sea fibers

The invention provides methods for the preparation of nonwoven spunbonded fabrics and various materials prepared using such spunbonded fabrics. The method generally comprises extruding multicomponent fibers having an islands in the sea configuration such that upon removal of the sea component, the island components remain as micro- and nanofibers. The method further comprises mechanically entangling the multicomponent fibers to provide a nonwoven spunbonded fabric exhibiting superior strength and durability without the need for thermal bonding.

Micro and nanofiber nonwoven spunbonded fabric

A method of producing a nonwoven fabric comprising spinning a set of bicomponent fibers which include an external fiber component and an internal fiber component. The external fiber enwraps said internal fiber and has a higher elongation to break value than the internal fiber and a lower melting temperature than the internal fiber component. The set of bicomponent fibers are positioned onto a web and thermally bonded to produce a nonwoven fabric.

Lightweight high-tensile, high-tear strength biocomponent nonwoven fabrics

A fabric including microdenier fibers is provided, the microdenier fibers prepared by fibrillating a multicomponent, multilobal fiber including a contiguous core fiber component enwrapped by a multilobal sheath fiber component such that the sheath fiber component forms the entire outer surface of the multicomponent fiber, wherein the core fiber component and the multilobal sheath fiber component are sized such that the multicomponent, multilobal fiber can be fibrillated to expose the core fiber component and split the fiber into multiple microdenier fibers.

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Holly Springs, NC, United States of America

Stephen R Sharp