Abrasion resistant fabric

Abstract

The invention relates to a woven fabric comprising a weft yarn and at most two warp yarns A and B, wherein the weft yarn comprises a high performance fiber; the warp yarn A comprises at least 50 wt % of a natural fiber; the warp yarn B comprises a high performance fiber; and wherein the fabric has an outside layer comprising the warp yarn A and an inside layer comprising the warp yarn B and said outside and inside layers being at least partially interconnected by the weft yarn. The invention also relates to products comprising said woven fabric such as clothing, lining, sport apparel, gloves, curtains, upholstery fabric and floor covering.

Claims

1. A woven fabric comprising: a weft yarn, and at most two warp yarns A and B, wherein the weft yarn comprises a fiber having a tenacity or tensile strength of at least 2.5 N/tex; the warp yarn A comprises at least 50 wt % of a natural fiber; the warp yarn B comprises a fiber having a tenacity or tensile strength of at least 2.5 N/tex; and wherein the fabric has an outside layer comprising the warp yarn A and an inside layer comprising the warp yarn B and said outside and inside layers being at least partially interconnected by the weft yarn.

2. The fabric of claim 1, wherein the natural fiber is cotton or wool.

3. The fabric of claim 1, wherein the warp yarn B comprises at least 1 wt % of the fiber having a tenacity or tensile strength of at least 2.5 N/tex.

4. The fabric of claim 1, wherein the weft yarn comprises at least 10 wt % of the fiber having a tenacity or tensile strength of at least 2.5 N/tex.

5. The fabric of claim 1, wherein warp yarn A further comprises synthetic fibers of polyamides, polyesters, polytetrafluoroethylene, polyolefins, polyvinyl alcohols and polyacrylonitriles; and/or fibers having a tenacity or tensile strength of at least 2.5 N/tex; and/or other natural fibers than cotton, hemp, wool, silk, jute, linen.

6. The fabric of claim 1, wherein the fibers having a tenacity or tensile strength of at least 2.5 N/tex of the weft yarn and the warp yarn B are individually at least one selected from the group consisting of aromatic polyamide fibers, liquid crystalline polymer fibers, polybenzimidazoles fibers, polybenzoxazoles fibers, polyarylate fibers, highly oriented polyethylene fibers and highly oriented polypropylene fibers.

7. The fabric of claim 1, wherein the amount of the fiber having a tenacity or tensile strength of at least 2.5 N/tex in the weft yarn and the warp yarn B is at least 10wt % wherein the wt % is a ratio of cumulative weight of fiber having a tenacity or tensile strength of at least 2.5 N/tex which is present in the weft yarn and warp yarn B to cumulative weight of the weft yarn and the warp yarn B.

8. The fabric of claim 1, wherein the warp yarn B is a spun yarn.

9. The fabric of claim 1, wherein the weft yarn is a continuous filament yarn.

10. The fabric of claim 1, wherein the warp yarn B further comprises at least one fiber selected from the group consisting of cotton fibers, hemp fibers, wool fibers, silk fibers, jute fibers, linen fibers, polyamide fibers, polytetrafluoroethylene fibers, polyester fibers, polyolefin fibers, polyvinyl alcohol fibers and polyacrylonitriles fibers.

11. The fabric of claim 1, wherein the weft yarn further comprises at least one fiber selected from the group consisting of cotton fibers, hemp fibers, wool fibers, silk fibers, jute fibers, linen fibers, polyamide fibers, polytetrafluoroethylene fibers, polyester fibers, polyolefin fibers, polyvinyl alcohol fibers and polyacrylonitriles fibers.

12. The fabric of claim 1, wherein the warp yarn B comprises ultrahigh molecular weight (UHMWPE) fibers and the weft yarn comprises aromatic polyamide fibers.

13. The fabric of claim 1, wherein the warp yarn A consists essentially of cotton, the warp yarn B is a spun yarn consists essentially of ultrahigh molecular weight (UHMWPE) staple fibers and the weft yarn consists essentially of continuous UHMWPE filaments.

14. The fabric of claim 1, wherein the amount of the fiber having a tenacity or tensile strength of at least 2.5 N/tex in the weft yarn and the warp yarn B is at least 30 wt %.

15. The fabric of claim 1, wherein the amount of the fiber having a tenacity or tensile strength of at least 2.5 N/tex in the weft yarn and the warp yarn B is at least 50 wt %.

16. The fabric of claim 1, wherein the amount of the fiber having a tenacity or tensile strength of at least 2.5 N/tex in the weft yarn and the warp yarn B is at least 70 wt %.

17. The fabric of claim 1, wherein the amount of the fiber having a tenacity or tensile strength of at least 2.5 N/tex in the weft yarn and the warp yarn B is at least 80 wt %.

18. The fabric of claim 1, wherein the warp yarn B comprises ultrahigh molecular weight (UHMWPE) staple fiber.

19. A product comprising the fabric according to claim 1, wherein the product is selected from a group consisting of clothing, lining, sport apparel, gloves, curtains, upholstery fabric and floor covering.

Description

EXAMPLES

(1) Test Procedures

(2) Areal density of the fabrics was measured by weighing a 1010 cm.sup.2 square of fabric and multiplying the recorded weight in g by 100. Fabrics are subjected to an abrasion resistant test according to EN13595-2. Tenacity is measured on a Zwick tensile tester according to ISO 2062-93(A). Tensile properties, i.e. strength and modulus, of fibers were determined on multifilament yarns as specified in ASTM D885M, using a nominal gauge length of the fibre of 500 mm, a crosshead speed of 50%/min and Instron 2714 clamps, of type Fibre Grip D5618C. For calculation of the strength, the tensile forces measured are divided by the titre, as determined by weighing 10 meter of fibre; values in GPa are calculated assuming the natural density of the polymer, e.g. for UHMWPE is 0.97 g/cm.sup.3.
Experimental Details

Comparative Experiments A (Comp A)

(3) A plain single layer woven fabric A was produced from a single warp yarn and a weft yarn. The warp yarn I consists of a core yarn of commercially available fibers Dyneema SK62 (440 dtex) with a tenacity of 35 cN/dtex helically surrounded with 3000 turns per meter by a Nm80/2 cover yarn from cotton. The fabric consists of 29 wt % Dyneema SK62 and 71 wt % cotton, based on the total yarn composition. The weft yarn was a spun cotton yarn II. The obtained fabric corresponds to the fabrics as disclosed in US2007/0249250.

(4) The plain weave has been subjected to the abrasion test (EN13595-2). Abrasion test results of the fabric A in the different directions (warp direction, weft direction and 45) can be found in Table 1.

Comparative Experiment B (Comp B)

(5) A representative piece of fabric B was cut from a commercially available Jeans from the brand HELD. Visual inspection indicated that cotton was used as the single warp yarn and that the weft yarn were made by Kevlar fibers. The fabric consists of 60 wt % cotton and 40 wt % Kevlar, based on the total yarn composition. Abrasion test results of the fabric B in the different directions (warp direction, weft direction and 45) can be found in Table 1.

Examples 1-5

(6) Materials: Different yarns have been employed as warp A, warp B and weft yarns in single layer fabrics: Yarn I: Core yarn of commercially available fibers Dyneema SK62 (440 dtex) with a tenacity of 35 cN/dtex helically surrounded with 3000 turns per meter by a Nm80/2 cover yarn from cotton. The fabric consists of 60 wt % cotton and 40 wt % Kevlar, based on the total yarn composition. Yarn II: 100% spun cotton yarn (OENe6/1 Nm10/1) Yarn III: spun yarn from 37 wt % Dyneema SK75 staples and 63 wt % Nylon 6 staples with a count of Nm17/1 Yarn IV: spun yarn from 100% Dyneema SK75 staples, count Nm17/1 Yarn V: Alternating weft insertions of Yarn II and Yarn IV

(7) Single layer woven fabrics were produced using double weave beam technology providing 2 warp yarns A and B and a weft yarn in a twill arrangement. The specific types of warp yarns A and B and weft yarns in the obtained fabric are shown in the Examples 1-5 in Table 1.

(8) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Abrasion test results according to EN13595-2 Areal density In warp In weft In 45 Warp A Warp B Weft [g/m.sup.2] direction direction degree Average Comp A I II 435 3.1 0.9 1.4 1.8 Comp B II Kevlar 476 0.9 1.0 0.9 0.9 Comp C II IV 380 1.0 1.2 1.1 1.1 Comp D II V 380 1.6 1.2 1.5 1.5 Ex. 1 II III III 505 1.8 1.5 1.9 1.7 Ex. 2 II III IV 515 3.0 1.9 2.6 2.5 Ex. 3 II IV III 573 4.1 2.4 2.0 2.8 Ex. 4 II IV V 543 2.9 1.9 2.1 2.3 Ex. 5 II IV IV 511 4.1 2.6 4.1 3.6

(9) Table 1 shows that the fabric according to the present invention (Ex. 1-5) comprising of a weft yarn and two warp yarns A and B shows high abrasion resistance compared to the fabrics obtained by Comparative experiments (Comp A-D). In addition, it was observed that the production losses were low and the quality of the fabric according to the present invention was high, while maintaining a high level of wearing comfort. These advantages were obtained while using readily available materials for manufacturing the yarns.