Economical Fire Barrier Nonwoven or Fabric Material with Antimicrobial Properties

Abstract

Provided herein is a new fire barrier material composed of flame retardant (FR) cellulosic fiber(s) and one or more of an antimicrobial (AM) cellulosic fiber and an untreated cellulosic fiber(s). The fire barrier material may be a fabric woven or knitted from the yarn containing the FR cellulosic fiber(s) and the one or more of AM cellulosic fibers and untreated cellulosic fibers. When AM cellulosic fibers are combined with FR treated cellulosic fibers, the fire barrier material has the dual features of flame retardancy and antimicrobial properties. The fire barrier material may also be a nonwoven, and in preferred embodiments optionally includes a binder fiber. The FR cellulosic fiber contains FR chemical(s) or FR compound(s) that have a melting point or decomposition temperature at 400° C. (752° F.) or below. The FR performance of the new nonwoven provided herein is comparable to the conventional FR nonwoven (FR cellulosic fiber/binder fiber), but has advantages in cost effectiveness, as well as antimicrobial properties.

Claims

1. A fire barrier material, comprising: at least one flame retardant (FR) cellulosic fiber, wherein said at least one FR cellulosic fiber contains or is treated with FR chemicals or FR compounds having a melting point or decomposition temperature at 400° C. (752° F.) or below; and one or more of an antimicrobial (AM) cellulosic fiber and an untreated cellulosic fiber, wherein the cellulosic fiber in the one or more of the AM cellulosic fiber and the untreated cellulosic fiber is the same as or different from the cellulosic fiber of the FR cellulosic fiber, and wherein the at least one FR cellulosic fiber and the one or more of the AM cellulosic fiber and the untreated cellulosic fiber are assembled together as a fire barrier nonwoven, or wherein the at least one FR cellulosic fiber and the one or more of the AM cellulosic fiber and the untreated cellulosic fiber are converted to a yarn and the yarn is further converted to a fire barrier woven or knitted fabric.

2. The fire barrier material of claim 1 further comprising one or more fibers which are different from the at least one FR cellulosic fiber and the one or more of the AM cellulosic fiber and the untreated cellulosic fiber.

3. The fire barrier material of claim 2 wherein said one or more fibers include one or more of metal fibers, high performance fibers, polyester fibers, and colored fibers.

4. The fire barrier material of claim 3 wherein said high performance fibers are selected from glass fibers, aramid fibers, and basalt fibers.

5. The fire barrier material of claim 1 wherein the fire barrier material is a nonwoven and is assembled together by a bonding material which bonds fibers together.

6. The fire barrier material of claim 5 wherein the bonding material is formed from melted binder fibers or melted surface portions of binder fibers.

7. The fire barrier material of claim 5 wherein said bonding material is formed from a chemical reaction involving at least one of the at least one FR cellulosic fiber and the one or more of the AM cellulosic fiber and the untreated cellulosic fiber.

8. The fire barrier material of claim 1 wherein the fire barrier material is a nonwoven and is assembled from a mechanical interconnection involving at least one of the at least one FR cellulosic fiber and the one or more AM cellulosic fiber and the untreated cellulosic fiber.

9. The fire barrier material of claim 1 wherein the at least one FR cellulosic fiber constitutes at least 10 wt % of the fire barrier material.

10. The fire barrier material of claim 1 wherein the at least one untreated cellulosic fiber constitutes at least 10 wt % of the fire barrier material.

11. The fire barrier material of claim 1 wherein the AM cellulosic fiber constitutes at least 10 wt % of the fire barrier material.

12. The fire barrier material of claim 1 wherein each of the at least one FR cellulosic fiber and the one or more of the AM cellulosic fiber and the untreated cellulosic fiber constitute at least 10 wt % of said fire barrier material.

13. The fire barrier material of claim 1 wherein the one or more of the AM cellulosic fiber and the untreated cellulosic fiber includes both AM cellulosic fiber and untreated cellulosic fiber.

14. The fire barrier material of claim 1 wherein one or more of the at least one FR cellulosic fiber and the one or more of the AM cellulosic fiber and the untreated cellulosic fiber constitute at least 40 wt % of the fire barrier material.

15. The fire barrier material of claim 1 wherein the FR chemicals or FR compounds are selected from the group consisting of phosphorus-containing FR chemicals or compounds, sulfur-containing FR chemicals or compounds, halogen-containing FR chemicals or compounds, and boron-containing FR chemicals or compounds.

16. The fire barrier material of claim 1 wherein the at least one FR cellulosic fiber is a FR-treated cellulosic fiber.

17. A nonwoven for forming a fire barrier nonwoven, comprising: at least one flame retardant (FR) cellulosic fiber, wherein said at least one FR cellulosic fiber contains or is treated with FR chemicals or FR compounds having a melting point or decomposition temperature at 400° C. (752° F.) or below; one or more of an antimicrobial (AM) cellulosic fiber and an untreated cellulosic fiber, wherein the cellulosic fiber in the one or more of the AM cellulosic fiber and the untreated cellulosic fiber is same as or different from the cellulosic fiber in the FR treated cellulosic fiber; and at least one binder fiber which has a melting temperature below 185° C.

18. The nonwoven of claim 17 wherein each of the at least one FR cellulosic fiber and the one or more of the AM cellulosic fiber and the untreated cellulosic fiber constitute at least 10 wt % of the nonwoven, and wherein the at least one binder fiber constitutes at least 5 wt % of the nonwoven.

19. The nonwoven of claim 17 further comprising one or more fibers which are different from the at least one FR cellulosic fiber, the one or more of the AM cellulosic fiber and the untreated cellulosic fiber, and the at least one binder fiber.

20. The nonwoven of claim 17 wherein the at least one FR cellulosic fiber is a FR-treated cellulosic fiber.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0015] The present invention generally relates to fire barrier materials (e.g., fabrics knitted or woven from different cellulosic fibers as described herein, and nonwovens made from different cellulosic fibers as described herein) made with FR cellulosic fiber and one or more of AM cellulosic fiber and untreated cellulosic fiber. In some applications, the fire barrier is a fabric knitted or woven with yarns containing FR cellulosic fiber and AM cellulosic fiber. In other applications, the fire barrier is a fabric knitted or woven with yarns containing FR cellulosic fiber and untreated cellulosic fiber. In still other applications, the fire barrier is a fabric knitted or woven with yarns containing FR cellulosic fiber, AM cellulosic fiber, and untreated cellulosic fiber. In any of these embodiments the fabric may contain additional fibers. In such applications, the fabric preferably contains at least 20 wt %, 25 wt %, 30 wt %, 35 wt %, or 40 wt % or more of FR cellulosic fiber.

[0016] In some applications the fire barrier is a nonwoven containing FR cellulosic fiber and one or more of an AM cellulosic fiber and an untreated cellulosic fiber. The nonwoven may contain additional fibers which are not FR cellulosic fiber, AM cellulosic fiber, or untreated cellulosic fiber. In such applications, the nonwoven preferably contains at least 20 wt %, 25 wt %, 30 wt %, 35 wt %, or 40 wt % or more of FR cellulosic fiber. In nonwoven applications, the fiber barrier optionally includes binder fiber. Binder fiber is generally required for a thermally bonded nonwoven, however, binder fiber is generally not required for mechanically or chemically bonded nonwovens.

[0017] Unexpectedly, it was found that the FR performance of the new fire barrier material, when in nonwoven form, was comparable to or better than the conventional FR nonwoven (FR cellulosic fiber/binder fiber). Furthermore, the fire barrier materials, in some embodiments, have the added advantage of antimicrobial properties imparted by the AM cellulosic fibers. When AM cellulosic fibers are utilized in a yarn (to be knitted or woven into a fabric) or a nonwoven together with the FR cellulosic fibers, there will be advantages in fabrication (e.g., incompatibility issues between FR and AM chemicals, when these chemicals are applied together during fiber treatment, can be eliminated).

[0018] A “nonwoven” is a manufactured sheet, web, or batt of natural and/or man-made fibers or filaments that are bonded to each other by any of several means. Manufacturing of nonwoven products is well described in “Nonwoven Textile Fabrics” in Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, 3rd Ed., Vol. 16, July 1984, John Wiley & Sons, p. 72˜124 and in “Nonwoven Textiles”, November 1988, Carolina Academic Press. Web bonding methods include mechanical bonding (e.g., needle punching, stitch, and hydro-entanglement), chemical bonding using binder chemicals (e.g., saturation, spraying, screen printing, and foam), and thermal bonding using binder fibers with low-melting points. Two common thermal bonding methods are air heating and calendaring. In air heating, hot air fuses low-melt binder fibers within and on the surface of the web to make high-loft nonwoven. In the calendaring process, the web is passed and compressed between heated cylinders to produce a low-loft nonwoven.

[0019] A nonwoven may be made using mechanical bonding, chemical bonding, or thermal bonding techniques. In an exemplary embodiment, hot-air thermal bonding using low-melt binder fiber may be employed to manufacture the nonwoven (i.e., the low-melt binder fibers melt at a lower temperature than the melting point or decomposition temperature of FR cellulosic fibers and the one or more AM cellulosic fibers and untreated cellulosic fibers and serve to hold the FR cellulosic fibers and the one or more AM cellulosic fibers and untreated cellulosic fibers together in a nonwoven). The low-melt binder fibers can be any of those commonly used for thermal bonding which include, but are not limited to, those that melt from 80 to 150° C. Examples include but are not limited to polyester and polyester copolymers. The low-melt binder fibers (and in some applications high-melt binder fibers) serve to mix readily with the other fibers of a nonwoven, and to melt on application of heat and then to re-solidify on cooling to hold the other fibers in the nonwoven together. In some applications the low melt binder fibers might have a core-sheath configuration where the sheath melts on application of heat and functions to hold the other fibers of the nonwoven together. The nonwoven preferably has a basis weight of a basis weight ranging from 0.1˜5.0 oz/ft.sup.2 (more preferably, 0.3˜2.0 oz/ft.sup.2); however, the basis weight of the nonwoven can vary widely depending on the intended application and desired characteristics of the nonwoven.

[0020] FR cellulosic fibers for this invention include FR-treated cellulosic fibers, inherent FR cellulosic fibers, or a mixture of any combination of these fibers. FR chemicals/compounds for FR treatment or which are included within inherent FR cellulosic fibers in the context of this invention include organic or inorganic FR chemicals/compounds having a melting point or decomposition temperature at 400° C. (752° F.) or below. FR chemicals/compounds for FR treatment include, but are not limited to, phosphorus-containing FR chemicals/compounds, sulfur-containing FR chemicals/compounds, halogen-containing FR chemicals/compounds, and boron-containing FR chemicals/compounds. Examples of FR chemicals/compounds include, but not limited to, phosphoric acid and its derivatives, phosphonic acid and its derivatives, sulfuric acid and its derivatives, sulfamic acid and its derivatives, boric acid, ammonium phosphates, ammonium polyphosphates, ammonium sulfate, ammonium sulfamate, ammonium chloride, ammonium bromide.

[0021] AM cellulosic fibers are made by treating cellulosic fibers with antimicrobial chemicals or other substances. For example, antimicrobial chemicals can be applied on cellulosic fibers by using a stock dyeing machine. One example of antimicrobial chemicals is the silver containing composition SmartSilver® PRO sold by NanoHorizons Inc. In addition to silver compounds, other antimicrobial agents may include, but not limited to, quaternary ammonium compounds, polybiguanides, metallic compounds, N-halamines, triclosan, and chitosan.

[0022] Fire barrier materials made with both FR cellulosic fibers and AM cellulosic fibers provide the dual functionality of flame retardancy and antimicrobial properties.

[0023] Cellulosic fibers which can be used as FR-treated cellulosic fibers or AM-treated cellulosic fibers or untreated cellulosic fibers in the practice of this invention, include, but are not limited to, cotton, kapok, flax, ramie, kenaf, abaca, coir, hemp, jute, sisal, and pineapple, rayon, lyocell, bamboo fiber, Tencel®, and Modal®fibers.

[0024] Inherent FR cellulosic fibers that can be used for this invention should contain FR chemicals/compounds having a melting point or decomposition temperature at 400° C. (752° F.) or below. These FR chemicals/compounds are added to viscose dope before the fiber extrusion. Examples of this type of inherent FR cellulosic fibers include, but are not limited to, inherent FR rayon and inherent FR lyocell containing phosphorus FR compounds. There is silica-containing inherent FR rayon that is commonly used for fire barrier nonwoven. But the melting point of silica is much higher than 400° C. (752° F.), so the silica-containing inherent FR rayon is not applicable for the invention.

[0025] In addition to the fibers described herein, other fibers (optional fibers) may be included in the fire barrier materials (e.g., knitted or woven fabrics formed from yarns made with FR cellulosic fibers and AM cellulosic fibers, and nonwovens made with FR cellulosic fibers and one or more of AM cellulosic fibers and untreated cellulosic fibers) to achieve properties or characteristics of interest (e.g., color, texture, etc.). The optional fibers may be present in sufficient quantity to provide a characteristic to the fire barrier materials such as softness, texture, appearance, resilience, and cost benefit. Optional fibers include any man-made fibers and natural fibers.

[0026] One would expect when untreated cellulosic fiber is mixed with FR cellulosic fiber, that FR performance of the blend would decrease due to the burning of the untreated cellulosic fiber, which would function as fuel of the burning. Surprisingly, it was found that the FR performance of a new nonwoven which includes both FR cellulosic fiber and untreated cellulosic fiber was comparable to or better than the conventional FR nonwoven (FR cellulosic fiber/binder fiber). This is a new economical solution for the mattress industry due to the substitution of some portion of the FR cellulosic fiber with untreated cellulosic fiber, which results in a significant cost saving since FR cellulosic fiber is more expensive than the untreated cellulosic fiber. The nonwoven fire barrier produced has a variety of uses including without limitation use in mattresses and upholstered furniture. Fire barrier materials woven or knitted from yarns that include both FR cellulosic fiber and untreated cellulosic fiber will have the same advantages of the nonwovens. That is, these materials will be lower cost, but will have similar performance properties to fire barrier materials made from yarns containing only FR cellulosic fibers. Furthermore, dual functionality of flame retardancy and antimicrobial activity can be achieved in either nonwovens or fabrics (knitted or woven) made with FR cellulosic fibers and AM cellulosic fibers (with or without additional untreated cellulosic fibers).

[0027] In some embodiments, the amount of the FR cellulosic fiber in the nonwoven or the fabric (knitted or woven) is in the range of 5-95 wt. %, preferably 10-60 wt. %, and more preferably 20-50 wt. %. In some embodiments, the amount of the one or more of AM cellulosic fiber and untreated cellulosic fiber in the nonwoven or the fabric (knitted or woven) is in the range of 5-95 wt. %, preferably 10-60 wt. %, and more preferably 20-50 wt. %. In some nonwoven embodiments, the amount of binder fiber in the nonwoven is in the range of 0-70 wt. %, preferably 5-50 wt. %, and more preferably 10-30 wt. %.

[0028] Those of skill in the art will recognize that the preferred amounts of fibers are not limited to the ranges specified above, and that, depending on the application, manufacturing process, or other conditions, the amounts of each fiber can be varied considerably within the practice of this invention, and further, that a wide variety of optional fibers may be incorporated into the fire barrier material.

[0029] While exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described in greater detail, it is to be understood that this invention is not limited to particular embodiments described, and as such embodiments of the invention may, of course, vary. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting, since the scope of the present invention will be limited only by the appended claims.

[0030] Where a range of values is provided, it is understood that each intervening value, to the tenth of the unit of the lower limit unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, between the upper and lower limit of that range and any other stated or intervening value in that stated range, is encompassed within the invention. The upper and lower limits of these smaller ranges may independently be included in the smaller ranges and are also encompassed within the invention, subject to any specifically excluded limit in the stated range. Where the stated range includes one or both of the limits, ranges excluding either or both of those included limits are also included in the invention.

[0031] Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Although any methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can also be used in the practice or testing of the present invention, representative illustrative methods and materials are now described.

[0032] All publications and patents cited in this specification are herein incorporated by reference as if each individual publication or patent were specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference and are incorporated herein by reference to disclose and describe the methods and/or materials in connection with which the publications are cited. The citation of any publication is for its disclosure prior to the filing date and should not be construed as an admission that the present invention is not entitled to antedate such publication by virtue of prior invention. Further, the dates of publication provided may be different from the actual publication dates which may need to be independently confirmed.

[0033] It is noted that, as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. It is further noted that the claims may be drafted to exclude any optional element. As such, this statement is intended to serve as antecedent basis for use of such exclusive terminology as “solely,” “only” and the like in connection with the recitation of claim elements, or use of a “negative” limitation.

[0034] As will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading this disclosure, each of the individual embodiments described and illustrated herein has discrete components and features which may be readily separated from or combined with the features of any of the other several embodiments without departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention. Any recited method can be carried out in the order of events recited or in any other order which is logically possible.

[0035] The invention is further described by the following non-limiting examples which further illustrate the invention, and are not intended, nor should they be interpreted to, limit the scope of the invention.

EXAMPLE 1

[0036] Thermally bonded high-loft nonwoven samples were prepared by using a nonwoven production line. FR-treated Tencel® fiber (a lyocell fiber), untreated Tencel® fiber, and low-melt binder fiber (LM) were blended at specific wt. % ratios. The blended fibers were carded to form a fiber web on a conveyor. The web is cross-lapped and passed through an oven to form a high-loft nonwoven. Samples were prepared at the same basis weight expressed as ounce per square foot (oz/ft.sup.2). The nonwoven samples were tested for char strength and char enlogation using an in-house char tester. The char tester was equipped with a loadcell connected to a vertically movable steel disc which presses a char until its breakage. Elongation was measured in the unit of inches and char strength was measured as peak force in the unit of pounds (lb). Before the char test, each sample (6 inches×6 inches) was completely burned to form a char using a burner beneath the sample. The burning was done for 60 seconds for each side of the sample. While burning each side, the surface temperature of the sample was measured by an IR thermometer mounted above the sample. The highest temperature from the 2.sup.nd burning was recorded.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Comparison of samples with/without untreated cellulosic fiber Fiber blends (wt. %) FR-treated Tencel ®: Temperature Elongation Char strength Untreated Tencel ®:LM (° F.) (inch) (lb) 80:0:20 613 0.310 1.58 65:15:20 618 0.313 1.71 50:30:20 624 0.313 1.58 35:45:20 641 0.311 1.36 20:60:20 650 0.303 1.18  0:80:20 890 0 0 1. FR chemical for the FR treatment: ammonium phosphates 2. Tencel ® fiber specification: 3 denier, 64 mm 3. All samples basis weights are same at 0.85 oz/ft.sup.2

[0037] As seen in Table 1, the nonwoven sample containing untreated Tencel® fiber up to 60% showed a surprisingly good performance. It is noted that the sample containing no FR-treated Tencel® showed a very high temperature and no char performance due to its complete burning (no char formation). Without being bound by theory, the good performance can be explained by the melting of the FR chemical on the FR-treated fibers and its subsequent movement to untreated fibers during the burning. This can be explained that FR chemical on the FR-treated Tencel® is melted and moved to untreated Tencel® so the untreated Tencel® becomes FR-treated Tencel® during the burning.

EXAMPLE 2

[0038] Another set of thermally bonded high-loft nonwoven samples were prepared by using a nonwoven production line and tested by the same methods described in Example 1. Table 2 shows samples blend ratio and test results.

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Comparison of samples with/without untreated cellulosic fiber Temper- Elon- Char ature gation strength Fiber blends (wt. %) (° F.) (inch) (lb) Inherent FR Rayon:LM = 80:20 640 0.419 0.43 Inherent FR Rayon:Unteated 820 0.251 0.13 Rayon:LM = 40:40:20 FR-treated Rayon:LM = 80:20 666 0.316 0.66 FR-treated Rayon:Unteated 663 0.318 0.77 Rayon:LM = 40:40:20 FR-treated Rayon:Unteated 634 0.322 0.82 Cotton:LM = 40:40:20 1. Untreated Rayon: 3 denier, 60 mm 2. FR chemical for the FR-treated Rayon: ammonium phosphates 3. Inherent FR Rayon (slica-containing inherent FR rayon): 3 denier, 60 mm 4. All samples basis weights are same at 0.85 oz/ft.sup.2

[0039] As seen in Table 2, the nonwoven sample containing untreated rayon and cotton fiber showed a surprisingly good performance. Without being bound by theory, the good performance can be explained by the melting of the FR chemical on the FR-treated rayon and its subsequent movement to untreated fibers during the burning. It is notable that this effect is shown only by FR-treated cellulosic fiber/untreated cellulosic fiber (rayon or cotton) blend. This effect is not shown by inherent FR rayon/untreated cellulosic (rayon) blend, which can be explained by the fact that the inherent FR rayon used for this test does not contain FR chemical/compound that melts at 400° C.(752° F.) or less. Rather, the inherent FR rayon contains silica as flame retardant material, which melts at much higher than 400° C.(752° F.). That means, for this blend, there was no melted flame retardant movement to the untreated rayon fiber during the burning, so the untreated rayon fiber part is burned and as the result the burn temperature is much higher and char performance is much worse (reduction in elongation and char strength) than 80% inherent FR Rayon/20% LM blend.

EXAMPLE 3

[0040] A thermally bonded high-loft nonwoven sample containing FR-treated rayon, AM-treated rayon, and low-melt binder (LM) was prepared by using a nonwoven production line and tested by the same methods described in Example 1. Table 3 shows the burn test result.

TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Nonwoven containing FR-treated rayon and AM-treated rayon Temper- Elon- Char ature gation strength Fiber blends (wt. %) (° F.) (inch) (lb) FR-treated Rayon:AM-treated 575 0.318 1.46 Rayon:LM = 40:40:20 1. Rayon: 3 denier, 60 mm 2. FR chemical for the FR-treated Rayon: ammonium phosphates 3. AM chemical for the AM-treated Rayon: SmartSilver ® PRO 4. Samples basis weight: 0.90 oz/ft.sup.2

[0041] The nonwoven sample was tested for antimicrobial activity against S. aureus using AATCC TM100 and the bacteria reduction was 99.6%.

EXAMPLE 4

[0042] Blend of FR-treated cotton fiber and untreated cotton fiber at 50:50 ratio was spun into a yarn (20/1 Ne) by open-end yarn spinning and the yarn was used to make a knitted fabric. The knitted fabric was compared with a knitted fabric made with yarn containing 100% FR-treated cotton. When the both fabric were exposed to an open flame, both fabrics showed a good flame retardancy, whereas a knitted fabric made with yarn containing 100% untreated cotton was burned completely.

[0043] Having thus described the invention in rather full detail, it will be understood that such detail need not be strictly adhered to, but that additional changes and modifications may suggest themselves to one skilled in the art, all falling within the scope of the invention as defined by the subjoined claims.