JPS637773B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a cleaning tool that uses a fibrous material in its wiping portion, such as a hair duster, mop mop, etc., and more specifically to an electret solution of olefin resin as the fibrous material. The present invention relates to a cleaning tool characterized by using fiber-wrapped yarn.

Conventionally, a thermoplastic resin film such as polyethylene or polypropylene that can be oriented by stretching is stretched to form a fibrillated film, and friction or mechanical force is applied to this film in the lateral direction or in the stretching direction. It is known to produce split fibers by mechanically creating a number of fissures along the length of the fiber. Such defibrated yarns or crimped yarns obtained by further heating and crimping them have the characteristics of having minute and relatively uniform fuzz, and being lightweight and bulky. Furthermore, since fibrillated yarns such as polyolefins have the property of being electrically charged by friction, it is expected that, for example, fluff batts in which these fibrillated yarns are implanted will have excellent dust-collecting and dust-retaining properties. Ru. However, in experiments conducted by the present inventor, the dust retention rate of flutter using bird feathers was approximately 20%, while that of defibrated yarn was 5%, and that of defibrated yarn subjected to crimping treatment was 5%. However, the actual effectiveness is still unsatisfactory, with only 15 to 20%.

Electret the fibrillated yarn (electric stone, permanently charged body)
It is already known that this material can be used as a filter. For example, in JP-A-50-132223, a film of polypropylene or the like is stretched,
A method is disclosed for producing a filter made of electret fibers by charging the fibers by corona discharge and then defibrating them by needle rolls. This invention has important significance in that it has succeeded in producing electret fibers, which are difficult to produce, by a combination of the steps of charging a stretched film and defibrating the charged film. As shown in the examples below, electret fibers are still not fully satisfactory in terms of dust collection and retention properties.

The present inventor has discovered that when the electret defibrated yarn obtained by the above-described method is crimped under specific conditions detailed below, the charge is significantly attenuated.
That is, it is possible to perform the crimping process without causing loss of electret action, and the electret defibrated and crimped yarn can be easily obtained, and the electret deflated and crimped yarn can be used as a cleaning fibrous material. It has been found that this provides significantly higher dust collection and dust retention than conventional cleaning tools of this type.

The cleaning implements of the present invention have numerous advantages associated with the use of olefin resin electret defibrated crimped yarns not found in conventional cleaning implement products. In other words, conventional cleaning tools:
In order to adsorb and retain dust on cleaning fiber materials, treatments such as moistening the surface with water and applying a dust-absorbing oil composition to the surface are necessary, and also defibration and winding. Even with a cloth like a curly yarn hataki, which can be used as is, in order to effectively attract dust, a means of shaking the feather to triboelectrically charge it is required. On the other hand, the electret defibrated and crimped yarn used in the present invention is a permanently charged body, so there is no need for any pre-treatment prior to cleaning, and the dust collection and retention properties are improved. This property can be permanently obtained for the life of the product.

Further, in the cleaning tool of the present invention, the fibrous material constituting the wiping portion is made of electret,
Conventionally known defibrated yarn, which has been refined to the order of fibrils and has an extremely bulky structure through defibration and crimping treatment.
Compared to cleaning tools made of fibrous materials such as defibrated wound fibers or electret defibrated yarns, the dust collection and retention properties are significantly higher, and the dust rate is generally 2 to 10 times higher. Thus, by using the cleaning tool of the present invention, cleaning work is easy and it is also easy to reduce the indoor dust concentration to a low level.

Moreover, the fibrous material used in the present invention is composed of an olefin resin with the lowest specific gravity, and has a significantly large specific surface area per unit weight. It is possible to reduce the manufacturing cost and to significantly improve cleaning workability.

The electret defibrated and wound yarn used in the present invention is produced by a process of stretching a film made of olefin resin in the longitudinal direction, a process of defibrating the stretched film, and a process before or after defibration. It is produced by a combination of a step of charging the film by corona discharge at an arbitrary stage and a step of crimping the charged defibrated yarn at a temperature of 110° C. or lower.

In this case, the olefin resin film can be stretched by means known per se. As the olefin resin, any olefin homopolymer, copolymer, or blend thereof that can be oriented by stretching can be used, and suitable examples thereof include:
These include polyethylene, isotactic polypropylene, ethylene-propylene copolymer, etc. Blends of isotactic polypropylene and polyethylene may also be suitably used. Generally, the film is preferably stretched at a stretching ratio of 6.0 to 8.5 times. The stretching can be carried out using a device known per se, for example, at room temperature or higher and lower than the softening temperature of the olefin resin, and at different circumferential speeds.
This can be easily carried out by passing the film between a pair of rotating rolls. When stretching is carried out under heating, a hot roll, hot plate, or
A heated air bath or other heating medium can be used. There is no particular restriction on the film line speed, but it is advantageous in terms of workability to set it to 60 to 140 m/min.

The film can be easily charged by subjecting the stretched film to corona discharge. As a corona discharge mechanism, a combination of a discharge electrode such as a corona wire or an electrode with many needles and a counter electrode is used, and the running film and the counter electrode are brought into close contact with each other.
This is easily carried out by applying a high voltage, for example a DC voltage of 3 to 15 KV, between the discharge electrode and the counter electrode located on the film. The distance between the discharge electrode and the film varies depending on the applied voltage, but generally an appropriate distance may be selected from a range that does not cause spark discharge, for example, a distance of 15 mm or more. The discharge treatment is
Normally, the treatment is carried out once, but if desired, it can be carried out multiple times. For example, one surface of the film can be subjected to a positive corona discharge, and the other surface can be subjected to a negative corona discharge. The surface potential of the film is
After the corona discharge ends, it rapidly attenuates, but after a certain period of time it reaches a certain saturation potential, and the film becomes electrified.

A charged stretched film can be easily defibrated by fibrillating the film itself, by applying friction or mechanical force in the lateral direction of the film, or by bringing the film into contact with a rotating needle roll. It will be done. Generally, the latter method is advantageous. The gap between each needle in the needle roll is preferably in the range of 0.2 to 2 mm.

Instead of subjecting the stretched film to the charging process and the defibrating process in the above order, the defibrating process may be performed first and then the charging process.

In order to produce a defibrated and crimped yarn in the form of an electret, it is important to subject the thus obtained electret fibrillated yarn to a crimping treatment at a temperature of 110° C. or lower. Generally, the manufacturing method of crimped yarn is based on the principle of deforming the internal structure using physical or chemical strain within the filament, and the drawn yarn is heated with hot water or steam. Methods of relaxing heat treatment in a heating medium such as It is being Regardless of which crimp method is adopted, in the case of electret defibrated yarn, if the crimp treatment temperature exceeds 110°C, the dust collection rate of the product crimped yarn will decrease significantly. This fact will be readily apparent by referring to the comparative examples described below. The reason for this is thought to be that as the crimp treatment temperature increases, the crimp effect increases, but on the other hand, the electret effect is lost due to excessive deformation or relaxation of the internal structure.

Electret defibrated yarn has particularly excellent dust collection and retention properties.
It is produced by crimping in contact with a fluid jet at a temperature below 110°C, preferably a hot air jet at a temperature of 60 to 90°C. The contact between the electret defibrated yarn and the fluid jet is achieved by blowing the fluid jet into the passage of the defibrated yarn, which has an introduction part at one end and an injection hole at the other end, and creates turbulence or excessive flow in the passage. This is easily done by forming a flow. Such a crimping device is known per se, and is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 35-6684 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 36-8123. Air is preferably used as the fluid, but other gases may also be used.
The pressure of the fluid may be such that it can form the above-mentioned turbulent flow or turbulent flow in the passage of the defibrated yarn,
Generally, a range of 5 to 30 kg/cm ² is suitable.

For the crimping treatment of the electret fibrillated yarn, the above-mentioned strong twisting method, rubbing method, etc. can be used as long as the treatment temperature is 110°C or less, but the so-called heat treatment method in which it is brought into contact with hot water, steam, etc. should be avoided.

The cleaning tool of the present invention is formed into a cleaning tool by a method known per se, except that the above-mentioned electret defibrated and curled yarn is used as the cleaning fibrous material. This cleaning tool performs cleaning by wiping, and can take the form of a mop, broom, duster, bristle duster, brush, scrubber, cloth, rag, dusting mat, etc.

When manufacturing these cleaning tools, depending on the application, the electret defibrated and crimped yarn can be used as it is in the form of a bulky yarn, or it can be spun, twisted, knitted, woven, brushed, or non-woven. It may be used after processing such as formation. Of course, there is no problem in mixing other fibers by means such as blending, doubling, or blending, as long as the excellent dust collection and retention properties of the electret defibrated and curled yarn are not impaired. do not have.

In FIG. 1 showing a cleaning tool in the form of a motsupu,
A mop 4 can be easily obtained by arranging a large number of electret defibrated and curled yarns 1 in parallel and fixing them to the base fabric 2 with the seams 3. As shown in FIG. A cleaning mop is formed by attaching it to the provided mop support frame 6. Instead of attaching the electret defibrated and wound yarn 1 directly to the base fabric 2, the electret deflated and wound yarn 1 can also be attached to the base fabric 2 in the form of a twisted yarn, a so-called pile yarn.

Similarly, by fixing the electret defibrated and curled yarn to a thin string or ribbon, and wrapping this in a spiral around the core rod and fixing it, you can easily obtain flutter and attach it to the tip of the core rod. If only it sticks, you can get a normal flycatcher.

Furthermore, a brush can be obtained by planting the defibrated and curled yarn as a tip on a suitable support base.
A dusting mat can be easily obtained by tufting it onto a base such as a net and fixing the back side with adhesive, synthetic rubber, or the like.

Furthermore, this electret defibrated and wound yarn,
fabric by means of weaving, knitting, non-woven fabric formation, etc.
If necessary, by further raising the cloth, it can be made into a so-called dry maintenance cloth or rag.

The electretted defibrated wound yarn according to the present invention is
It has significant advantages over non-electrified defibrated and wound yarns.

It has been known that polyolefin fibers are easily triboelectrically charged. However, since the fibrillated and curled yarn is triboelectrically charged, the external electric field is strong, causing discomfort to people and causing so-called static electricity damage. In addition, even if dust is attracted from a distance, the electric charge is easy to move, so the dust will fall off easily, and once the dust falls, it will be repelled and escape because it has the same charge. Although it looks good at first glance, the method using triboelectric charging has such inaccuracies as dust control.

On the other hand, the electret defibrated and crimped yarn used in the present invention has a small external electric field due to the coexistence of positive and negative charges, so it does not have the power to attract dust from a distance, but once it comes in contact with This has the remarkable advantage of not releasing dust, and since the charge is fixed, it does not cause static electricity damage, and since the charge does not transfer to the dust, it is difficult for dust to fall off.

Since the cleaning tool of the present invention is made of electret defibrated and crimped yarn, it has excellent dust collection and retention properties, and is also extremely durable. In addition, the electret defibrated and crimped yarn can be provided at a significantly lower cost than conventional cleaning fiber materials, making it particularly useful as a disposable cleaning tool that can be used for a considerable period of time.

The excellent effects of the present invention will be explained with the following example.

Example 1 and Comparative Examples 1 and 2 A blend of 80% by weight of isotactic polypropylene and 20% by weight of high-density polyethylene was formed into a film with a thickness of 0.08 mm by the T-die method at a resin temperature of 230°C in the die part. did. This film was stretched in the longitudinal direction at a stretching ratio of 7.1 times,
Next, the distance between the film electrodes was 15 mm, and the needle density was 0.2 needles/
cm ² and applied voltage ±10 KV. Film line speed is 100m/
It was a minute. The charged stretched film was brought into contact with a rotating needle roll with a needle spacing of 1 mm, and then the electret fibrillated yarn was wound onto a bobbin.

The defibrated thread unwound from the bobbin is heated at an air temperature of 80°C.
℃, air supply pressure 7.0Kg/cm ² and air volume 0.01m ³ /
The yarn was fed into a fluid jet device at a speed of 50 m/min, and the yarn ejected from the device was wound onto the bobbin of a twisting machine so that the number of twists per inch was 0.2.

The resulting electret defibrated and curled yarn was formed into a feather with an ear length of 100 mm, and the dust rate was measured by the method described below.

How to measure the dust rate: To measure the dust rate, cut the ear from any part of the formed flycatcher, bundle one end and use it as a sample. After shaking the container for 30 seconds, the sample is taken out and the amount of dust attached is measured.The amount of dust attached is calculated from the formula: Weight of the sample with dust attached - Initial weight of the sample / Initial weight of the sample x 100 (%).

For comparison, the same procedure was applied to the defibrated yarn (Comparative Example 1) which was not subjected to the electrification treatment and crimping treatment in the above example, and the defibrated and crimped yarn (Comparative Example 2) which was not subjected to the electrification treatment. It was molded into a square shape and the dust rate was measured.

The dust rate of flycatcher in Comparative Example 1 is 5%, Comparative Example 2
The dust ratio of the electret fiber-wrapped yarn of Example 1 was 56%, whereas the dust ratio of the electret fiber-wrapped yarn of Example 1 was 56%.

Comparative Examples 3 and 4 For comparison, the electret fibrillated yarn obtained in Example 1 was defibrated and crimped in the same manner as in Example 1, except that the electret fibrillated yarn was crimped with hot air at a temperature of 130°C. A yarn (Comparative Example 3) was produced.

Further, the electret fibrillated yarn obtained in Example 1 was subjected to relaxation heat treatment in a heat treatment air bath at a temperature of 180°C to produce an electret fibrillated yarn (Comparative Example 4).

These crimped yarns were formed into a hataki in the same manner as in Example 1, and the dust rate was measured, and it was found that Comparative Example 3
showed a dust ratio of 36%, and Comparative Example 4 showed a dust ratio of 27%.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a mop-shaped cleaning tool, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the cleaning tool equipped with the mop of FIG. ,3
indicates a seam.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A cleaning tool using a fibrous material in its wiping portion, characterized in that the fibrous material is an electret defibrated and curled yarn of an olefin resin. 2. Claim 1, characterized in that the electret crimped yarn is obtained by crimping a charged defibrated yarn of olefin resin at a temperature of 110° C. or lower. Cleaning tools listed. 3. The cleaning tool according to claim 1, wherein the olefin resin is made of isotactic polypropylene, polyethylene, or a blend of both. 4. The cleaning tool according to claim 1 in the form of a fluffy flutter. 5. The cleaning tool according to claim 1 in the form of a mop.