Abstract Textile products comprising an assembly of fibrils. The assembly can be in the form of a yarn, plexifilament, fabric, or the like, and is of at least staple fiber length. The fibrils are of irregular cross-section and are composed of a non-cellulosic, synthetic organic polymer, and most are interconnected to form a plexus. The products are stable to repeated water exposure, and have a limiting surface tension greater than 72 dynes per centimeter, a specific surface of at least about 0.8 square meter per gram, a fibril concentration of at least about 5 X 103 per quare centimeter, and a wicking parameter greater than 6. The products can be prepared by extruding an aqueous dispersion of the polymer at selected elevated temperature and pressure conditions. Preferred products are plexifilamentary strands of an acrylonitrile polymer. The products are useful in textile applications, particularly in such applications where good waterabsorption characteristics are desirable.
The textile product of claim 1 wherein said product is a yarn.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
12 words
The textile product of claim 1 wherein said product is a fabric.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
14 words
The textile product of claim 1 wherein said product is a continuous plexifilamentary strand.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
17 words
The continuous plexifilamentary strand of claim 4 wherein said non-cellulosic synthetic organic polymer is an acrylonitrile polymer.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
26 words
The continuous plexifilamentary strand of claim 5 wherein said acrylonitrile polymer is a copolymer wherein the major portion of the copolymer is composed of acrylonitrile units.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
30 words
The continuous plexifilamentary strand of claim 6 wherein the acrylonitrile polymer is a terpolymer containing a major amount of acrylonitrile and minor amounts of methyl acrylate and sodium styrene sulfonate.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
28 words
The continuous plexifilamentary strand of claim 6 wherein the acrylonitrile polymer is a copolymer containing a major amount of acrylonitrile and a minor amount of sodium styrene sulfonate.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
16 words
The continuous plexifilamentary strand of claim 4 wherein said non-cellulosic synthetic organic polymer is a polyamide.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
12 words
The continuous plexifilamentary strand of claim 9 wherein said polyamide is polycaproamide.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
17 words
The textile product of claim 1 wherein the ratio of wet-to-dry scattering coefficient is less than 0.4.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
24 words
The textile product of claim 11 wherein said product is a continuous plexifilamentary strand and said non-cellulosic synthetic organic polymer is an acrylonitrile polymer.