Spinning process of waterless colored heather yarns

Abstract

A method of forming a colored heather yarn, comprising the sequential steps: (a) processing a natural fiber; (b) obtaining a regenerated cellulose man-made fiber; (c) producing a waterless dope-dyed man-made fiber; (d) blending the individual fibers from steps (a)-(c) to produce a blended composite of fibers; and (e) roving, spinning and winding the blended composite of fibers of step (d) into a final colored heather yarn; wherein the colored heather yarn comprises a predetermined fiber content ratio. There is also provided a colored heather yarn made according to the foregoing method.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of forming a colored heather yarn, comprising the steps of:
 a) processing a natural fiber;   b) obtaining a regenerated cellulose man-made fiber;   c) producing a waterless dope-dyed man-made fiber;   d) blending the individual fibers from steps (a)-(c) to produce a blended composite of fibers; and   e) roving, spinning and winding the blended composite of fibers of step (d) into a final colored heather yarn;   
       wherein the natural fiber, the regenerated cellulose man-made fiber and the waterless dope-dyed man-made fiber each have a predetermined fiber content ratio in forming the colored heather yarn. 
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the predetermined fiber content ratio of the regenerated cellulose man-made fiber is between 2% to 25%, and the predetermined fiber content ratio of the waterless dope-dyed man-made fiber is between 3% to 20%. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the step (a) of processing said natural fiber comprises a process selected from a combed process or a carded process. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein said waterless dope-dyed man-made fiber of step (c) comprises a waterless dope-dyed polyester fiber. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 4 , wherein the step of producing the waterless dope-dyed polyester fiber comprises producing the waterless dope-dyed polyester fiber using waterless colored polyester chips. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 5 , wherein the step of producing the waterless dope-dyed polyester fiber comprises:
 heating said waterless colored polyester chips to a molten state; and   spinning the molten polyester chips to form said waterless dope-dyed polyester fiber.   
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 5 , wherein said waterless colored polyester chips are from one or more liquid-containing vessels. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 7 , wherein said one or more liquid-containing vessels are made of a biodegradable synthetic polyester. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 8 , wherein said one or more liquid-containing vessels comprise said biodegradable synthetic polyester selected from the group consisting of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), poly-3-hydroxybutyrates (PHBs), polyhydroxyvalerate (PHV), polyhydroxyhexanoate (PHH), polylactic acid (PLA), polybutylene succinate (PBS) and polycaprolactone (PCL). 
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 9 , wherein said one or more liquid-containing vessels are in the form of colored or uncolored PET granules. 
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 10 , wherein the step of producing the colored PET granules comprises:
 selecting specific colorants; and   adding and fixing said selected specific colorants to said uncolored PET granules by a thermodiffusion process.   
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the step (d) of blending the individual fibers to produce the blended composite of fibers comprises blending at least 55% of natural fiber with at least 3% of dope-dyed man-made fiber and at least 2% of regenerated cellulose man-made fiber. 
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the step (d) of blending the individual fibers to produce the blended composite of fibers comprises:
 a first passage drawing to form a first blended fiber having a first predetermined fiber content ratio; and   a second passage drawing to form a second blended fiber having a second predetermined fiber content ratio.   
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 13 , wherein said first passage drawing step comprises drawing one dope-dyed polyester fiber with seven raw sliver fibers to form the first blended fiber having a 12.5% colored sliver fiber content ratio, the raw sliver fibers containing raw cotton sliver fibers, raw regenerated cellulose sliver fibers, or both. 
     
     
         15 . The method according to  claim 13 , wherein said second passage drawing step comprises drawing two 12.5% colored sliver fibers with six raw sliver fibers to form the second blended fiber having a 3.125% colored blended heather sliver fiber content ratio, the raw sliver fibers containing raw cotton sliver fibers, raw regenerated cellulose sliver fibers, or both. 
     
     
         16 . The method according to  claim 14 , wherein said second passage drawing step comprises drawing two 12.5% colored sliver fibers with six raw sliver fibers to form the second blended fiber having a 3.125% colored blended heather sliver fiber content ratio, the raw sliver fibers containing raw cotton sliver fibers, raw regenerated cellulose sliver fibers, or both. 
     
     
         17 . A colored heather yarn made according to the method of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         18 . The colored heather yarn according to  claim 17 , wherein the predetermined fiber content ratio of the colored heather yarn is in the range of 55/45 to 95/5 cotton/others. 
     
     
         19 . The colored heather yarn according to  claim 17 , wherein the colored heather yarn has a yarn count of 21/1 Ne or coarser. 
     
     
         20 . The colored heather yarn according to  claim 17 , wherein the colored heather yarn has a yarn count of 21/1 Ne or finer.