METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING BLEND YARN WITH BAMBOO FIBER

Abstract

Bamboo is immersed in alkali solution. The bamboo is took out from the alkali solution, and dried. Bamboo fiber is obtained from the dried bamboo. A heat and pressure treatment is performed over the obtained bamboo fiber. The treated bamboo fiber is mixed and spun with second fiber to form blend yarn.

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing blend yarn with bamboo fiber, the method comprising: immersing bamboo in alkali solution; drying the bamboo took out from the alkali solution; obtaining bamboo fiber from the dried bamboo; performing a heat and pressure treatment over the obtained bamboo fiber; and mixing and spinning the treated bamboo fiber with second fiber to form blend yarn, the second fiber being not bamboo fiber.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the heat and pressure treatment is dry distillation treatment.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the heat and pressure treatment is steam explosion treatment.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the heat and pressure treatment is performed under a pressure between five and six atmospheric pressures.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the heat and pressure treatment is performed under a temperature between 140 and 200 degrees Celsius.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the heat and pressure treatment is performed under a temperature between 150 and 160 degrees Celsius.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the heat and pressure treatment is performed during a period between three and ten minutes.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the bamboo immersed in the alkali solution is not washed before the drying.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the alkali solution is sodium hydroxide aqueous solution with concentration between one and six weight percent.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the alkali solution is sodium hydroxide aqueous solution with concentration between one and three weight percent.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the bamboo is immersed for a period between 24 and 48 hours.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the bamboo is immersed for substantially 36 hours.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein bamboo surface is not eliminated from the bamboo before the immersing, and the blend yarn includes bamboo fiber derived from the bamboo surface.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein a bamboo joint is eliminated from the bamboo before the immersing.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the bamboo is within the first year of growing.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the bamboo fiber is obtained by recarding the dried bamboo.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the bamboo fiber spun with the second fiber has a length between 15 and 70 millimeters.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the bamboo fiber spun with the second fiber has an average diameter of 0.2 millimeter or smaller.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the second fiber has a length of substantially 40 millimeters.

20. Blend yarn with bamboo fiber, the blend yarn manufactured by the method of claim 1.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0037] Referring to the accompanying drawings, embodiments will be described in detail. the embodiments and the drawings are provided only for more complete understanding of the present invention. They are not intended to limit the present invention in any meanings.

[0038] FIG. 1 shows an example of steps for manufacturing bamboo fiber.

[0039] FIG. 2 shows an example of steps for manufacturing blend yarn.

[0040] FIG. 3A and 3B show an example of cotton fiber;

[0041] FIG. 4 shows an example of a sliver;

[0042] FIG. 5A and 5B show an example of slivers and a drawn sliver; and

[0043] FIG. 6 shows an example of a rove wound around a bobbin.

EMBODIMENTS

[0044] Manufacturing Bamboo fiber

[0045] As shown in FIG. 1, Bamboo is firstly provided, for example, by logging bamboo within the first year of growing. And, bamboo splitting machine is used to split the provided bamboo into 4 to 6 pieces. Then, bamboo joints are eliminated from the split bamboo pieces. It should be noted that bamboo surfaces are not eliminated, in contrast to conventional methods. This enables blend yarn to inherit excellent properties, such as antibacterial, from the bamboo surface.

[0046] Next, the bamboo pieces are immersed in 1 to 6%, preferably 1 to 3%, sodium hydroxide aqueous solution. They are left as they are for about 36 hours.

[0047] Then, the bamboo pieces are took out from the solution. And, the bamboo pieces are drained and dried.

[0048] Next, bamboo fibers are obtained from the dried bamboo pieces. In some embodiments, a recarding machine may be used to scrape the bamboo pieces to make small fibers. Alternatively or Additionally, a pair or pairs of rollers may be used to crush the bamboo pieces to make them thinner, and a defibrating machine may be used to defibrate the crushed thin bamboo pieces to get fine and long fibers. In the same manner as strip processing of metal plates, each of the pairs of the rollers may be spaced with a different gap width, and they may be arranged in descending order of the gap widths. The rollers may have grooves with different shapes.

[0049] Then, the obtained bamboo fibers are screened to uniform their lengths and thickness. In some embodiments, the screening may be performed by eliminating nonstandard bamboo fibers, such as with lengths under 15 mm, with lengths over 70 mm, with average diameters under 0.07 mm, and with average diameters over 0.1 mm. The remaining bamboo fiber may further be dried.

[0050] Finally, dry distillation treatment is applied to the bamboo fibers. The dry distillation may be performed under 5.5 atmospheric pressures and 156 C. Alternatively, steam explosion treatment may be applied to the bamboo fibers.

Manufacturing Blend Yarn

[0051] As shown in FIG. 2, cotton fibers are firstly provided, as well as the manufactured bamboo fiber. The cotton fibers may have lengths of about 40 mm. Alternatively, silk fiber may be provided. The silk fiber may be cut to have about 40 mm lengths.

[0052] Next, a mixing and blowing machine is used to mixing and blowing the provided cotton fibers to form a lap (1), which has a sheet shape as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, and which includes a large number of randomly entangled cotton fibers (3). This eliminates dust adhered with the cotton fibers. Different types of cotton fiber may be mixed. This restrains ununiformity of quality. The lap may be wound around a roller.

[0053] Then, the cotton fiber lap is mixed with the bamboo fibers to make mixed fiber. The blend ratio may be arbitrary. Proportion of the bamboo fibers over 50% facilitates to exert excellent effect of bamboo fiber. In contrast, lower ratio of the bamboo fiber makes the mixing and spinning easier. However, a ratio of the bamboo fiber is preferable to be a few % or more, in order to keep excellent properties derived from bamboo.

[0054] Next, a carding machine is used to comb the mixed fiber to form a sliver. This makes the mixed fiber separated to each of the fibers, and arranged parallelly. Also, small dust and short fibers are removed. Remaining long fibers, which include a large number of bamboo fibers (2) and cotton fibers (3) as shown in FIG. 4, are shaped into a thin sheet (4), which is converged to form a converged sheet (5) with a triangle shape, which is further converged to form a sliver (6) with a string shape.

[0055] As shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, a drawing machine is used to double 6 or 8 strings of the slivers (6) and draft them to increase their lengths by 6 or 8 times, to form one drawn sliver (7) with a string shape. This makes the fibers straight, and eliminates unevenness of thickness to make the drawn sliver uniform. Also, short fibers are removed. A plurality of the drawn sliver may be drawn to form one further drawn sliver. The drawing step may be repeated 2 times or more.

[0056] Then, a roving machine is used to draft and twist the drawn sliver to form a rove. This makes the rove sufficiently thin to make blend yarn. The rove (8) may be wound around a bobbin (9) as shown in FIG. 6.

[0057] Next, the rove is further drafted and twisted to form a blend yarn, which is an end product. The twist of the blend yarn may be between 150 and 3000 turns per meter. The blend yarn may be immersed in and thereby coated with paste of arum root. This significantly enhances its fineness, and it can be used for making beautiful fabric or knitting. The blend yarn may be wound around a bobbin.

[0058] Finally, plural strings of the blend yarn are wound together to make one large package. The package may be shaped into a cone.

[0059] The blend yarn manufactured in this manner has about twice the strength of yarn made of only cotton fiber. Also, it has an adsorbing effect of formaldehyde or the like, a deodorizing effect, a soundproof effect, and an antibacterial effect against Staphylococcus aureus or the like. These effects are remarkable, and scarcely decreased even when laundered. The blend yarn is suitable to be used in products, especially required to have antioxidative effect, antibacterial effect, and/or deodorizing effect.

[0060] When the blend ratio of the bamboo fiber to the cotton fiber is 55:45, the blend yarn is suitable to be used for business shirts or jeans. This can be achieved by using cotton fiber with cotton count of 12, i.e., about 50 tex. When the blend ratio is 30:70, it is suitable to be used for socks or towels. This can be achieved by cotton fiber having cotton count of 20, i.e., about 300 tex. Using cotton fiber with cotton count of 5, i.e., about 120 tex, enables to make blend yarn in which the bamboo fiber is more than the cotton fiber and which is suitable to be used for shop curtains or carpet rags.

[0061] The manufacturing method in this manner is suitable to mass production. Also, its environmental load is very small. Thus, the blend yarn can be manufactured with low-cost.

[0062] The above described embodiments are examples to make it easier to understand the present invention. The present invention is not limited to the example, and includes any modified, altered, added, or removed variations, without departing from the scope of the claims attached herewith. This can be easily understood by persons skilled in the art.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

[0063] 1: lap; 2: bamboo fiber; 3: cotton fiber; 4: sheet; 5: converged sheet; 6: sliver; 7: drawn sliver; 8: rove; and 9: bobbin.