Reflective yarn and method of producing the same

Abstract

Disclosed is a reflective yarn and method of producing it. The reflective yarn comprises 5 to 25 wt % of metalized spherical glass beads, or if necessary, further comprising non-metalized glass beads and/or pearl beads. The spherical glass bead has a bead size of 10 to 50 μm and is vacuum-metalized with materials having reflective function such that ¼ to ½ of surface areas of glass beads are metalized. A method of producing the reflective yarn comprising the steps of vacuum-metalizing materials having reflective function on surfaces of spherical glass beads; melt-spinning the resulting glass beads with synthetic resin having fiber formative function, or melt-spinning the resulting glass beads and the synthetic resin in conjunction with non-metalized glass beads and/or pearl beads to produce monofilaments or hollow fibers; and doubling monofilaments or hollow fibers to produce the reflective yarn. Therefore, the reflective yarn is advantageous in that it realizes an omnidirectional reflection, has a good texture, an improved workability, and an excellent color fastness to washing, physical properties of the reflective yarn are not changed after washing, it can be applied to various applications and can be produced in commercial quantity, and it has a low price.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . An omnidirectional reflective yarn, comprising: 
 a synthetic yarn produced using synthetic resin with fiber formative function by a melt-spinning process; and    5 to 25 wt % of metalized glass beads, ¼ to ½ of a surface area of which is vacuum-metalized with material having reflective function.    
     
     
         2 . The omnidirectional reflective yarn according to  claim 1 , further comprising 10 wt % or less of non-metalized glass beads and/or pearl beads, said glass beads being not vacuum-metalized with the material having reflective function.  
     
     
         3 . The omnidirectional reflective yarn according to  claim 1  or  2 , wherein glass and pearl beads are 10 to 50 μm in bead size and take a shape of a sphere.  
     
     
         4 . The omnidirectional reflective yarn according to  claim 1 , wherein the material having reflective function is aluminum.  
     
     
         5 . The omnidirectional reflective yarn according to  claim 1 , wherein the metalized glass beads have a specific weight of about 4.2 and a reflective index of 1.93±0.02 in 100%.  
     
     
         6 . A method of producing an omnidirectional reflective yarn, comprising the steps of: 
 vacuum-metalizing a material having reflective function on surfaces of spherical glass beads with a bead size of 10 to 50 μm, ¼ to ½ of surface areas of said glass beads being vacuum-metalized with the material having reflective function;    melt-spinning metalized glass beads with synthetic resin having fiber formative function, or melt-spinning the metalized glass beads and the synthetic resin in conjunction with 10 wt % or less of non-metalized glass beads and/or pearl beads to produce monofilaments or hollow fibers, said non-metalized glass beads being not vacuum-metalized with the material having reflective function; and    doubling the monofilaments or the hollow fibers.    
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 6 , wherein the metalized glass beads are melt-spun in an amount of 5 to 25 wt %.  
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 6  or  7 , wherein 0.2 to 0.5 wt % of a softner and 0.2 to 0.5 wt % of a dispersing agent are used so as to uniformly mix beads with the synthetic resin, provide softness to the synthetic resin during the melt-spinning step, and improve softness of the omnidirectional reflective yarn.  
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 8 , wherein the softner is dioctylphthalate (DOP) and the dispersing agent is Ca antiadditive.