Thermoplastic fibres with reduced surface tension

Abstract

The present invention relates to a process for producing thermoplastic fibres having reduced surface tension and also to products obtainable by the melt-spinning process from these thermoplastic fibres having reduced surface tension, wherein the thermoplastic to be used is admixed with a copolymer of at least one α-olefin and at least one acrylic or methacrylic ester of an aliphatic alcohol.

1 . Process for reducing the surface tension of thermoplastic-based fibres or filaments, the process comprising:
 introducing into the thermoplastic at least one E/X copolymer of an α-olefin and an acrylic or methacrylic ester of an unsubstituted aliphatic alcohol having 6 to 30 carbon atoms to produce a thermoplastic-copolymer mixture, wherein the thermoplastic is polyamide or polyester; and   melt-spinning the thermoplastic-copolymer mixture into fibres or filaments.   
     
     
         2 . Process according to  claim 1 , wherein the polyesters are polyalkylene terephthalates. 
     
     
         3 . Process according to  claim 1 , wherein the polyamides are aliphatic polyamides. 
     
     
         4 . Process according to  claim 1 , wherein mixtures are used for spinning which are based on 99.9 to 10 parts by weight of at least one thermoplastic and 0.1 to 20 parts by weight of copolymer. 
     
     
         5 . Process according to  claim 1 , wherein the α-olefins have between 2 and 10 carbon atoms and may be unsubstituted or substituted with one or more aliphatic, cycloaliphatic or aromatic groups. 
     
     
         6 . Process according to  claim 5 , wherein the α-olefins are selected from the group consisting of ethane, propene, 1-butene, 1-pentene, 1-hexene, 1-octene, 3-methyl-1-pentene, and mixtures of these α-olefins. 
     
     
         7 . Process according to  claim 5 , wherein the α-olefin content of the copolymer is between 50 and 90 wt %. 
     
     
         8 . Process according to  claim 1 , further comprising adding at least one of: dyes, further hydrophobicizing agents, delustrants, stabilizers, antistats, lubricants, and branching agents, to the thermoplastic-copolymer mixture in amounts of 0.001 to 5.0 wt %. 
     
     
         9 . Process according to  claim 1 , wherein the the E/X copolymer is an E/X copolymer of ethylene and an acrylic ester of an unsubstituted aliphatic alcohol having 6 to 30 carbon atoms. 
     
     
         10 . Reducing the surface tension of thermoplastic fibres or thermoplastic filaments by mixing into the thermoplastic at least one E/X copolymer of an α-olefin and an acrylic or methacrylic ester. 
     
     
         11 . Process according to  claim 2 , wherein the polyesters are selected from the group consisting of polyethylene terephthalates, polytrimethylene terephthalates, polybutylene terephthalates, or mixtures of these terephthalates. 
     
     
         12 . Process according to  claim 5 , wherein the α-olefin content of the copolymer is between 55 and 75 wt %. 
     
     
         13 . Process according to  claim 1 , wherein the E/X copolymer is an E/X copolymer of ethylene and an acrylic ester of an unsubstituted aliphatic alcohol having 6 to 20 carbon atoms. 
     
     
         14 . Process according to  claim 1 , wherein the E/X copolymer is an E/X copolymer of, ethylene and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate.