Toray Industries, Inc.

Tetsuya Katoh

Masayuki Hirata

Koichi Kubota

Kazuya Hayashi

Yumiko Sawai

Naoyuki Kinoshita

A highly hygroscopic polyamide fiber formed from a polyamide compound containing a polyvinylpyrrolidone (in an amount of 3-15 wt %) which is synthesized in isopropyl alcohol as a solvent, contains pyrrolidone in an amount less than 0.1 wt %, and has a K-value of 20-70. This fiber contains pyrrolidone in an amount less than 0.1 wt % of the amount of polyvinylpyrrolidone. This fiber is characterized by a yellowness index lower than 10 before dyeing, a large difference between the maximum moisture absorptivity and the standard moisture absorptivity, and a low content of water-soluble components that are subject to leaching.

Highly hygroscopic polyamide fiber, and production and application

A dyed synthetic fiber having antibacterial and antifungal properties is described, which contains 0.01 to 20 weight % of a silver-substituted zeolite and 0.001 to 1.0 weight % of a substantially water-insoluble copper compound. The copper compound is present independent of zeolite particles in the fiber. The dyed synthetic fiber is prepared by incorporating a silver-substituted zeolite in a monomer or a polymerization mixture before the completion of polymerization in the step of preparing a polymer for the fiber; further incorporating the copper compound in the polymer before the spinning thereof into a fiber; spinning the polymer into a fiber; and dyeing the fiber. The dyed fiber retains a high level of antibacterial and antifungal properties.

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Aichi, Japan

Tetsuya Katoh