Chemically treated glass fibers

Abstract

Chemically treated glass fiber strands can have a reduced tendency for fiber breakage and fuzz ball production through the present invention. The present invention constitutes glass fiber strands where the glass fibers have a moisture-reduced, non-homogeneous residue having a lubricious phase, where the residue results from an aqueous chemical treating composition having: a lubricating system; an aqueous soluble, dispersible or emulsifiable film forming polymer that produces a non-rigid film; and water. The lubricating system has one or more polyoxyalkylene polyols and/or polyalkylene polyols with an effective high molecular weight in an effective amount of the solids of the aqueous chemical treating composition to form a lubricious phase and a cationic lubricant. The lubricating system can also have polyethylene glycol, wax, internally lubricated organo silane esters and mixtures thereof. The film forming polymer can be a polymer that results in a film less rigid than unplasticized polyvinyl acetate such as polyvinyl pyrrolidone, carboxylated styrene butadiene copolymer, starch, elastomeric polyurethanes and mixtures thereof. The aqueous chemical treating composition can also have one or more organo silane coupling agents in an effective coupling amount. The chemically treated glass fiber strands are most suitable for twisting while achieving a reduced tendency for filament breakage.