Staple fibers and filament yarns formed from cellulose esters, such as cellulose acetate, are described herein, along with methods of making the fibers and their use in nonwoven fabrics and articles. The filament yarns and fibers described herein may be coated with at least one finish and, in some cases, may be coated with two or more finishes selected to enhance the properties of the fibers. Staple fibers as described herein may be used to produce nonwoven webs that are strong, soft, absorbent, and biodegradable, and may be used in wet or dry nonwoven articles for a variety personal care, medical, industrial, and commercial applications.

Provided herein are scalable methods of spinning fiber comprising bi-constituent blends of cellulose and recombinant spider silk polypeptides. Also provided are compositions comprising blended fibers of cellulose and recombinant spider silk polypeptides.

Provided herein are scalable methods of spinning fiber comprising bi-constituent blends of cellulose and recombinant spider silk polypeptides. Also provided are compositions comprising blended fibers of cellulose and recombinant spider silk polypeptides.

Functional spunlaid fabrics incorporating fibers made from non-meltable polymers containing permanently one or more functional additives are provided. The fibers are entangled and interlocked to form a firm nonwoven composite, have different lengths, and aspect ratios above 1,000. The fibers have a mean diameter of 0.1 to 500 micrometres and diameter variations within a single fiber and among each other of at least 30%. The fibers contain more than 40 wt % of finely distributed functional additives in solid and/or liquid form. The spunlaid fabric is produced from a spinning solution containing the non-meltable polymer dissolved in a direct solvent and at least one functional additive. The spinning solution is extruded out of a spinneret, and the resulting strands are drawn in the longitudinal direction to form fibers, stabilized and laid down to form a nonwoven fabric with permanent functional properties. Exemplary spunlaid fabrics include clothing, technical textiles and filters.

Provided is a fabric comprising a layer of yarns combined (by weaving, braiding, knitting, or non-woven) to form the fabric wherein the yarns comprise one or a plurality of graphene-based long or continuous fibers. The long or continuous fiber comprises chemically functionalized graphene sheets that are chemically bonded with one another having an inter-planar spacing d.sub.002 from 0.36 nm to 1.5 nm as determined by X-ray diffraction and a non-carbon element content of 0.1% to 40% by weight, wherein the functionalized graphene sheets are substantially parallel to one another and parallel to the fiber axis direction and the fiber contains no core-shell structure, have no helically arranged graphene domains, and have a length no less than 0.5 cm and a physical density from 1.5 to 2.25 g/cm.sup.3. The graphene fiber typically has a thermal conductivity from 300 to 1,600 W/mK, an electrical conductivity from 600 to 15,000 S/cm, or a tensile strength higher than 1.0 GPa.

The present disclosure relates to a continuous process for preparing hydrophobic regenerated cellulosic fiber. Said process comprises treating never-dried cellulosic fiber with a hydrophobic composition comprising 0.05-2.5 weight % of an alkyl ketene dimer based on weight of cellulose. The alkyl ketene dimer has a formula I: wherein both R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 are hydrocarbon groups having 8-40 carbon atoms and which can be both, saturated or unsaturated, straight-chained or branched. The hydrophobic composition further comprises 0.02-1 weight % of a cationic polymer based on weight of cellulose. After treatment with the hydrophobic composition, the treated fiber is subjected to a drying step to form hydrophobic regenerated cellulose fiber.

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The present disclosure relates to a continuous process for preparing hydrophobic regenerated cellulosic fiber. Said process comprises treating never-dried cellulosic fiber with a hydrophobic composition comprising 0.05-2.5 weight % of an alkyl ketene dimer based on weight of cellulose. The alkyl ketene dimer has a formula I: wherein both R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 are hydrocarbon groups having 8-40 carbon atoms and which can be both, saturated or unsaturated, straight-chained or branched. The hydrophobic composition further comprises 0.02-1 weight % of a cationic polymer based on weight of cellulose. After treatment with the hydrophobic composition, the treated fiber is subjected to a drying step to form hydrophobic regenerated cellulose fiber.

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A method for producing shortened anionically modified cellulose fibers having an average fiber length of 1 ?m or more and 500 ?m or less, the method including cleaving sugar chains of anionically modified cellulose fibers by thermal decomposition under temperature conditions of 50? C. or higher and 230? C. or lower, wherein the average fiber length of the anionically modified cellulose fibers is 700 ?m or more and 10000 ?m or less. By the use of shortened anionically modified cellulose fibers or the like obtained by the method for production of the present invention, a dispersion containing fine cellulose fibers having a low viscosity and excellent handling property can be prepared while at a high concentration, so that the dispersion can be suitably used in various industrial applications such as daily sundries, household electric appliance parts, packaging materials for household electric appliances, automobile parts, and materials for three-dimensional modeling.

A method for producing shortened anionically modified cellulose fibers having an average fiber length of 1 ?m or more and 500 ?m or less, the method including cleaving sugar chains of anionically modified cellulose fibers by thermal decomposition under temperature conditions of 50? C. or higher and 230? C. or lower, wherein the average fiber length of the anionically modified cellulose fibers is 700 ?m or more and 10000 ?m or less. By the use of shortened anionically modified cellulose fibers or the like obtained by the method for production of the present invention, a dispersion containing fine cellulose fibers having a low viscosity and excellent handling property can be prepared while at a high concentration, so that the dispersion can be suitably used in various industrial applications such as daily sundries, household electric appliance parts, packaging materials for household electric appliances, automobile parts, and materials for three-dimensional modeling.

A method of simultaneously modifying degradation rates of at least two compounds including a first compound having a first unmodified degradation rate constant k.sub.1 and a second compound having a second unmodified degradation rate k.sub.2 is provided. The method includes combining a first composition including the first compound with a second composition including the second compound, degrading the first compound and forming a first degradation product; and degrading the second compound and forming a second degradation product. The second degradation product modifies the first unmodified degradation rate constant k.sub.1 of the first compound to a first modified degradation rate k.sub.1 and the first degradation product modifies the second unmodified degradation rate k.sub.2 of the second compound to a second modified degradation rate k.sub.2. Compositions resulting from the method are also provided.