A knitted sleeve for routing and protecting elongate members and method of construction thereof are provided. The sleeve includes an elongate, knitted wall having a circumferentially continuous, tubular outer periphery extending along a central axis between opposite open ends. The wall includes knitted shrinkable yarn and knitted non-shrinkable yarn. The shrinkable yarn provides the wall with an ability to be radially constricted from a first, diametrically enlarged state to a second, diametrically shrunken state, wherein said shrinkable yarn and said non-shrinkable yarn are knit in alternating groups of courses with one another.

Provided is a biodegradable yarn, comprising: a first biodegradable resin composition comprising a first biodegradable resin, wherein the first biodegradable resin includes diol, aromatic dicarboxylic acid and aliphatic dicarboxylic acid, and the first biodegradable resin composition has a melt index of 6 g/10 minutes to 15 g/10 minutes at 190 C. and a crystallization temperature of 40 C. to 85 C.

There is provided a system for creating a fibre, the system comprising, a first tube having a first tube outlet for dispensing a first liquid composition at a first dispensing rate; a second tube having a second tube outlet for dispensing a second liquid composition at a second dispensing rate; and a rotatable collector for applying a drawing force to draw and collect the fibre, said rotatable collector being configured to rotate about its longitudinal axis that is aligned substantially parallel to a horizontal plane; wherein the first tube is positioned in proximity with respect to the second tube to allow the first liquid composition from the first tube outlet and the second liquid composition from the second tube outlet to form an interfacial polyelectrolyte complex where a fibre is to be drawn therefrom.

A process for producing a core-sheath polymer strand involves inserting a nucleation element through a first pre-strand composition at least partially into a second pre-strand composition. The first pre-strand composition contains a first polymer and the second pre-strand composition contains a second polymer. The nucleation element is then withdrawn from the second pre-strand composition through the first pre-strand composition. The nucleation element is then pulled out of the first pre-strand composition so that a polymer strand having a core of the first polymer encapsulated by a sheath of the second polymer is pulled by the nucleation element out from the pre-strand compositions. The core-sheath polymer may be differentially cross-linked and functional additives may be included in the pre-strand compositions so that the core-sheath polymer contains different functional additives in the core vs. the sheath or different concentrations of the same additive in the core vs. the sheath.

A gel fiber manufacturing apparatus includes: a first ejection portion configured to eject a main liquid containing a core liquid; a second ejection portion provided to surround a radially outer side of the first ejection portion and configured to eject a sheath fluid that hardens the core liquid; and a sheath fluid supply portion configured to alternately apply to the sheath fluid a constant pressure and a high pressure to supply the sheath fluid to the second ejection portion, the high pressure being higher than the constant pressure.

The present disclosure describes non-PFAS nanofiber barrier layers for protective clothing, including chemical and biological protective suits (CBPS). The barrier layers offer both excellent protection against various hazards and reduced physiological, psychological, and thermal stress.