Fibers are clad with a responsive liquid crystal material and a polymer. The clad fibers may be useful for advanced textiles and wearable sensors.

The present invention can provide a fiber having a further enhanced strength while serving as a ceramic fiber. To this end, a composite fiber according to the present invention a first fiber component member made of a material having a volume resistivity of 5×10.sup.−6 to 5×10 .sup.6 Ω.Math.m, or a material of a semiconductor or metalloid; and a second fiber component member comprising a ceramic material, wherein the first fiber component member and the second fiber component member are adjacent to each other such that the first and second fiber component members form a fibrous body.

The invention provides a surface-functionalised polymeric object (10), comprising: a bulk material (11) comprising a copolymer containing constitution units derived from a first comonomer and constitution units derived from a second comonomer, the first comonomer being selected from L-lactide and D-lactide and forming sequences of oligo(L-lactide) or oligo(D-lactide) in the copolymer the copolymer having a substantially random, partially blocky structure with a dyad ratio of (lactide-lactide)-dyads to (lactide-second comonomer)-dyads of at least 2.0:1; and a surface layer (12) disposed on a surface of the bulk material (11), the surface layer (12) comprising a functionalising species and at least one chain of poly(D-lactide) or of poly(L-lactide) covalently bound to the functionalising species, and at least one chain being different from the oligo(L-lactide) sequences or oligo(D-lactide) sequences contained in the copolymer; wherein the surface layer (12) is attached to the bulk material (11) via stereocomplexes formed between the poly(D-lactide) chain(s) of the functionalising species and the oligo(L-lactide) sequences contained in the copolymer or via stereocomplexes formed between the poly(L-lactide) chain(s) of the functionalising species and the oligo(D-lactide) sequences contained in the copolymer, respectively. The surface-functionalised polymeric object can be produced in a one-step procedure by coaxial electrospinning.

A method of creating a soft and lofty continuous fiber nonwoven web is provided. The method includes providing first and second, different molten polymers to a spinneret defining a plurality of orifices and flowing a fluid intermediate the spinneret and a moving porous member. The method includes using the fluid to draw the first and second molten polymers, in a direction toward the porous member, through at least some of the plurality of orifices to form a plurality of individual continuous fiber strands. The method includes depositing the continuous fiber strands onto the porous member at a first location to produce an intermediate continuous fiber nonwoven web, and intermittently varying, in at least two different zones, a vacuum force applied to the moving porous member and to the intermediate web downstream of the first location and without the addition of more continuous fibers and without any heat applied.

A method for producing an artificial turf fiber, comprising: preparing a core polymer mixture from a core polymer and a thread polymer forming beads within the core polymer; coextruding the core polymer mixture with a cladding polymer component into a monofilament, the core polymer mixture forming a cylindrical core, The cladding polymer component forming a cladding encompassing the core with a non-circular profile; quenching the monofilament; reheating the quenched monofilament; stretching the reheated monofilament to deform the beads into threadlike regions; and providing one or more of the stretched monofilaments as the artificial turf fiber.

A method for producing an artificial turf fiber, comprising: preparing a core polymer mixture from a core polymer and a thread polymer forming beads within the core polymer; coextruding the core polymer mixture with a cladding polymer component into a monofilament, the core polymer mixture forming a cylindrical core, The cladding polymer component forming a cladding encompassing the core with a non-circular profile; quenching the monofilament; reheating the quenched monofilament; stretching the reheated monofilament to deform the beads into threadlike regions; and providing one or more of the stretched monofilaments as the artificial turf fiber.

A composite fiber is provided. The composite fiber includes a first region and a second region. The component of the first region includes a coloring agent and a resin. The component of the second region includes a crosslinked thermoplastic polymer and the crosslinked thermoplastic polymer includes gel particles with an average particle size no more than 1000 nm. A method for forming the composite fiber is also provided.

A composite fiber is provided. The composite fiber includes a first region and a second region. The component of the first region includes a coloring agent and a resin. The component of the second region includes a crosslinked thermoplastic polymer and the crosslinked thermoplastic polymer includes gel particles with an average particle size no more than 1000 nm. A method for forming the composite fiber is also provided.

Bi— or multicomponent fibre (3) comprising a reinforcing core (1) of a first material and at least one sheath (2) of a second, thermoplastic or pre-polymerized thermoset material, for the manufacturing of composite parts, the matrix of which composite parts consists of the material of said sheath (2), wherein said first material has a degradation temperature, ignition temperature, glass transition temperature, melting temperature or liquidus temperature which is higher than the melting temperature, flowing temperature, r softening temperature of said second, thermoplastic or pre-polymerized thermoset material, wherein said reinforcing core (1) has a core volume fraction (v.sub.f) defined as the volume fraction of the reinforcing core (1) in the bi- or multicomponent fibre (3), which is in the range of 0.3-0.8, and wherein along a longitudinal axis (Z) of the bi- or multicomponent fibre outer surface (4) of the sheath (2) has a corrugated, preferably irregular corrugated shape.

The disclosed methods and apparatus improve the fabrication of solid fibers and microstructures. In many embodiments, the fabrication is from gaseous, solid, semi-solid, liquid, critical, and supercritical mixtures using one or more low molar mass precursor(s), in combination with one or more high molar mass precursor(s). The methods and systems generally employ the thermal diffusion/Soret effect to concentrate the low molar mass precursor at a reaction zone, where the presence of the high molar mass precursor contributes to this concentration, and may also contribute to the reaction and insulate the reaction zone, thereby achieving higher fiber growth rates and/or reduced energy/heat expenditures together with reduced homogeneous nucleation. In some embodiments, the invention also relates to the permanent or semi-permanent recording and/or reading of information on or within fabricated fibers and microstructures. In some embodiments, the invention also relates to the fabrication of certain functionally-shaped fibers and microstructures. In some embodiments, the invention may also utilize laser beam profiling to enhance fiber and microstructure fabrication.