The present invention provides a process for modifying the surface of a polyvinyl alcohol film or fabric by applying heat and pressure to the film or fabric to increase the moisture on the surface which is held by the fabric and to coalesce the surface fibers and reduce the porosity of the surface.

Provided are reinforcing fibers using an adhesive component that does not contain resorcin and formalin, particularly reinforcing fibers that are excellent in adhesiveness to a high-polar rubber adherend, a method for producing the same, and an elastomer product using the reinforcing fibers. Reinforcing fibers include an adhesive layer formed from an adhesive component containing a liquid conjugated diene-based rubber and a crosslinking agent on at least a part of a fiber surface, and a solubility parameter (SP value) of the liquid conjugated diene-based rubber that is calculated by a Fedors method is larger than 9.0 (cal/cm.sup.3).sup.1/2.

An aqueous adhesive using an adhesive component that does not contain resorcin and formalin, particularly an aqueous adhesive that is excellent in adhesiveness to fibers and an elastomer and can suppress process contamination in a process of producing reinforcing fibers, reinforcing fibers using the same, and an elastomer product using the reinforcing fibers are provided. An aqueous adhesive for adhesion between fibers and an elastomer includes: an oil-in-water emulsion (A) containing a liquid conjugated diene-based rubber and a surfactant, and an aqueous solution or aqueous dispersion (B) of a crosslinking agent.

Methods of treating fibers comprising a polymer including at least one of a vinyl acetate moiety or a vinyl alcohol moiety, and resulting fibers or the products comprising the resulting fibers are disclosed. In an example embodiment, a fiber having a surface region and an interior region, includes a polymer comprising at least one of a vinyl acetate moiety or a vinyl alcohol moiety chemically modified with a modification agent. The fiber has a transverse cross-section including the interior region comprising the polymer having a first degree of modification and the surface region comprising the polymer having a second degree of modification greater than the first degree of modification.

A composite electrochromic material, a preparation method therefor and an application thereof, the material comprising a core layer, a skin layer having an electrochromic function, and a light-transmitting protective layer formed by a flexible polymer material, that are arranged in sequence. The material of the core layer comprises a fluid conductive mixture, which comprises liquid metal and carboxylated carbon nanotubes. The preparation method comprises: carrying out spinning by co-extrusion using a three-channel nozzle to form hollow double-layer fibers each having a skin layer and a protective layer as well as a cavity, injecting the conductive mixture into the cavity of the hollow double-layer fiber. The material has excellent deformation ability, stable and sensitive color changing function, and a controllable deformation degree. The material has a stable color changing function even in the case of severe defomation, good fatigue resistance, and is suitable for the preparation of intelligent textiles.

Disclosed is a polyamide fiber having a degree of orientation equal to or higher than 0.7 and equal to or lower than 0.85. The polyamide fiber is suitably obtained by forming a polyamide component having high moisture absorbency and a specific soluble component into a conjugated fiber under specific fiber formation conditions.

The method for producing a surface-modified base material according to the present invention includes a step of bringing a base material having a polar group present on a surface thereof into contact with a hydrosilane compound having a molecular structure A and having a SiH group composed of a silicon atom of the molecular structure A and a hydrogen atom bonded to the silicon atom in the presence of a borane catalyst so as to allow a dehydrocondensation reaction to take place between the base material and the compound, thereby forming the base material surface-modified with the molecular structure A. This production method is capable of surface-modifying a base material at a lower temperature in a shorter time than conventional methods and allows a wide variety of options for the form, type, and application of the base material, the mode of the modification reaction, and the type of the molecular structure with which the base material is surface-modified.

A method for producing hydrogelling fibers or fiber structures, involving tempering fibers or fiber structures composed of a first fiber raw material comprising water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol and/or water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol copolymer for a predetermined tempering duration at a predetermined tempering temperature that is greater than a glass transition temperature and/or less than a melting temperature of the first fiber raw material used, such that the fibers are cross-linked, wherein the fibers or fiber structures are provided with an acid catalyst before the tempering.

Described are polymer particles or polymer fibers covalently bonded to N-chloroamines, N,N-dichloroamines, N-chloro sulfonamides or N,N-dichloro sulfonamides, for removing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from a space above a wound. The removal of said VOCs is believed to be primarily or predominantly by chemical reaction of the VOCs with the N-chloro or the N,N dichloro group as covalently attached to the polymer. In particular, the functionalized polymer particles or polymer fibers are part of a wound dressing and have the functionality to control, in particular reduce, odor emanating from wounds, without interacting with the wound. The described dressings can be advantageously used, in particular, in the treatment of chronic wounds or infected wounds.