This invention relates generally to flexible materials, especially those made of carbon fiber. The materials exhibit a first flexural modulus over a first range of flexural strain and a second flexural modulus over a second range of flexural strain. The materials provide advantages when used in an article of manufacture in which the performance may be improved by having a different flexural modulus depending on the amount of flexural strain, and thus dislocation, of the material.

Provided is a composition for the treatment of fibers, such as PAN precursor fibers. The finish composition includes a polysiloxane; an emulsifier; water; and a dicarboxylic acid having a pK.sub.a from 1 to 4, and boiling point from 200 to 400° C. The dicarboxylic acid may have the following formula: ##STR00001##
where R.sub.1 is absent or a saturated or unsaturated, linear or branched, aromatic substituted or unsubstituted, hydrocarbon group; Y.sub.1 and Y.sub.2 are independently hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, phosphorus, C.sub.1-C.sub.6 alkyl group, or an alkoxy group; and X.sub.1 and X.sub.2 are independently one or more hydrogen atoms, a metal, a quaternary amine, or a hydrocarbon group having up to 6 carbon atoms, the hydrocarbon group being an alkyl group, an alkylene group, or an aromatic group, which may be branched or linear, and may optionally have one or more heteroatoms selected from the group consisting of nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur and phosphorus.

A thermal-moisture comfortable polyester FDY for summer use and a preparation method thereof are provided. The FDY is made of matting agents dispersed polyester via the steps of spinning melt metering, extruding via the compositional spinneret, cooling, oiling, drawing, heat setting and winding. The woven fabrics manufactured with the FDY possess a wicking height and an evaporation rate of larger than or equal to 135 mm and 0.22 g/h, respectively. The compositional spinneret is simultaneously provided with cruciform orifices and circular orifices, and the length ratio of cruciform orifice to circular orifice is equal to the product of their equivalent diameter ratio and a coefficient K, here equivalent diameter is the ratio of orifice cross-section area to its circumference and K ranges from 0.97 to 1.03, and the oiling involves the oiling agent containing 67.30-85.58 wt % of crown ether.

Carbon nanotube threads are coated with a coating solution such as dimethylformamide (DMF), ethylene glycol (EG), polyethylene glycol (PEG), PEG200 (PEG with a average molecular weight of approximately 200 grams per mole (g/mol)), PEG400 (PEG with a average molecular weight of approximately 400 g/mol), dimethyl sulfide (DMS 100 cP), HP1632, poly(methylhydrosiloxane), polyalkylene glycol, (3-aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane, hydride functional siloxane 0 resin, platinum (0) -1,3-divinyl-1,1,3,3-tetramethyl-disiloxane, moisture in air, acetic acid, water, poly(dimethylsiloxane) hydroxy terminated, (3-glycidyloxypropyl)-trimethoxysilane or a combination thereof. The coated carbon nanotubes may be used to stitch in a Z-direction into a composite such as a polymer prepreg to strengthen the composite. The stitching may occur using a sewing machine.

Provided are a sizing agent coated carbon fiber bundle that has excellent mechanical characteristics when used as a carbon fiber reinforced composite material, as well as excellent ease of handling; a method for manufacturing the same; and a prepreg and carbon fiber reinforced composite material of excellent mechanical characteristics, employing the fiber bundle. The carbon fiber bundle is coated with a sizing agent that includes a polyether aliphatic epoxy compound having two or more epoxy groups per molecule and/or a polyol aliphatic epoxy compound or a non-water-soluble compound having a glass transition temperature of −100-50° C., wherein the sizing agent coated carbon fiber bundle is characterized in that the flatness ratio (width/thickness) of the carbon fiber bundle cross section is 10-150, and a two edge part/center part sizing agent deposition ratio, obtained by dividing the carbon fiber bundle in the width direction along the fiber direction into three equal parts by mass, and computing the ratio from the ratio of the mass of the sizing agent to the mass of the carbon fiber bundle in the center part and in both end parts, is 1.05-1.5.

Provided is a sizing agent for synthetic fibers, the sizing agent including an organo-modified silicone represented by the following General Formula (1):

##STR00001##

in which in Formula (1), R.sup.1 represents a hydrogen atom, a methyl group or an ethyl group; R.sup.2 represents a group represented by the following General Formula (2); R.sup.3 represents a hydrocarbon group having 8 to 40 carbon atoms and having an aromatic ring, or an alkyl group having 3 to 22 carbon atoms; R.sup.4 represents a group similar to R.sup.1, R.sup.2 or R.sup.3; in a case in which there are numerous R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3 or R.sup.4, the substituents may be respectively identical with or different from each other; x represents an integer of 0 or more; y and z each represent an integer of 1 or more; and (x+y+z) is 10 to 200,

##STR00002##

in which in Formula (2), R.sup.5 represents an alkylene group having 2 to 6 carbon atoms; AO represents an alkyleneoxy group having 2 to 4 carbon atoms; R.sup.6 represents an alkylene group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms; c represents an integer from 0 to 4; f represents an integer of 0 or 1; and Ep represents a group represented by the following Formula (3) or the following Formula (4):

##STR00003##

Disclosed is a method for manufacturing a polyester fabric for an airbag that can not only prevent or minimize the separation of a sizing agent, which is provided to a yarn through a sizing process, during a weaving process, but can also maximize a peel strength between a textile substrate and a coating layer to be subsequently formed thereon and lower the stiffness of an airbag fabric by effectively removing the sizing agent from the textile substrate after the weaving process is completed. The method of the present invention comprises: applying a polyester-based sizing agent to a polyester yarn; manufacturing a textile substrate with the sizing agent-applied polyester yarn; removing the sizing agent from the textile substrate under an alkaline condition of pH 8 to 10; and forming a coating layer on the sizing agent-removed textile substrate in order to enhance air-tightness.

There is disclosed a material comprising an assembly of at least one spun yarn, comprising: synthetic inorganic fibers, such as carbon, metal, oxides, carbides or alloys or combinations thereof, wherein a majority of the fibers: (a) are longer than 300 μm, (b) have a diameter ranging from 0.25 nm and 700 nm, and (c) are substantially crystalline, wherein the yarn has substantial flexibility and uniformity in diameter. A method of making the material is also disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises spinning yarn by pulling fibers from a bulk material with at least one spinner that has real time feedback controls.

An oil for a carbon fiber precursor acrylic fiber including: a hydroxybenzoate ester (A) indicated by formula (1a); an amino-modified silicone (H) indicated by formula (3e); and an organic compound (X) which is compatible with the hydroxybenzoate ester (A), in which a residual mass rate R1 at 300° C. in thermal mass analysis in an air atmosphere is 70-100 mass % inclusive, and which is a liquid at 100° C., and a carbon fiber precursor acrylic fiber bundle to which the oil for a carbon fiber precursor acrylic fiber is adhered.

##STR00001##

The present invention provides a fiber sizing agent composition containing a polyester resin (A) and a reactive compound (B), wherein the polyester resin (A) is a polyester resin having an HLB of 4 to 18 and a viscosity at 30° C. of 10 to 1,000,000 Pa.Math.s, the reactive compound (B) is at least one reactive compound selected from the group consisting of blocked isocyanates, tertiary amines, tertiary amine salts, quaternary ammonium salts, quaternary phosphonium salts, and phosphine compounds, and the weight ratio of the polyester resin (A) to the reactive compound (B) [(A)/(B)] in the fiber sizing agent composition is 99.9/0.1 to 10/90.