Water absorptive fabric, and process of producing the same

• US 5,204,175 A
• Filed: 06/07/1991
• Issued: 04/20/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/1990
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sumitomo Electric Industries Limited (Sumitomo Corporation), Tokai Rubber Industries Limited
• Original Assignee: Sumitomo Electric Industries Limited (Sumitomo Corporation), Tokai Rubber Industries Limited
• Inventors: Baba, Hiroshi, Umeda, Masanari, Sakuraba, Yukio
• Primary Examiner(s): CANNON, JAMES
• Application Number:
  US07/711,888
• Time in Patent Office: 683 Days
• Field of Search: 174/23 C, 174/107, 385/102, 385/107, 350/96.23, 427/389.9, 427/392, 428/288, 428/290
• US Class Current: 442/118
• CPC Class Codes: D06M 15/263 of unsaturated carboxylic acids; Salts or esters thereof
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 442/2484 Coating or impregnation is water absorbency-increasing or hydrophilicity-increasing or hydrophilicity-imparting

Abstract

A water absorptive fabric including a layer of a water absorptive polymer whose major components consist of a cross-linked poly(metal salt of acrylic acid) and a water-soluble resin. The fabric may be produced by first impregnating a fabric substrate with a solution which contains a metal salt of acrylic acid in the form of a monomer, a cross-linking agent and a water-soluble resin, and then heating the impregnated fabric substrate to thereby copolymerize the monomer and the cross-linking agent, in the presence of the water-soluble resin.

Claims

1. A water absorptive fabric having sufficient flexibility to be formed about a communication cable which includes a layer of a water absorptive polymeric material formed by the in situ reaction of a metal salt of acrylic acid, a cross-linking agent and a water soluble resin.

2. A water absorptive fabric according to claim 1, wherein said polymeric material is produced by copolymerizing said metal salt of acrylic acid, and a cross-linking agent selected from the group consisting of:

methylenebis acrylamide;

trimethylolpropane triyacrylate;

ethylene glycol diacrylate;

polyethylene glycol diacrylate;

neopentyl glycol diacrylate;

tetramethylolmethane tetraacrylate.

3. A water absorptive fabric according to claim 1, wherein said water-soluble resin is selected from the group consisting of:

sodium polyacrylate;

polyethylene oxide;

polyacrylamide;

polyvinyl alcohol;

water-soluble nylon;

polyethyleneimide;

polyvinyl pyrrolidone; and

copolymer of vinyl pyrrolidone and vinyl acetate.

4. A process of producing a water absorptive fabric, comprising the steps of:

impregnating a fabric substrate with a solution which contains a metal salt of acrylic acid in the form of a monomer, a cross-linking agent and a water-soluble resin; and

heating the impregnated fabric substrate to thereby copolymerize said monomer and said cross-linking agent, in the presence of said water-soluble resin.

5. A process according to claim 4, wherein said metal salt of acrylic acid is sodium acrylate.

6. A process according to claim 4, wherein said cross-linking agent is selected from the group consisting of:

methylenebis;

trimethylolpropane triacrylate;

ethylene glycol diacrylate;

polyethylene glycol diacrylate;

neopentyl glycol diacrylate;

tetramethylolmethane tetraacrylate.

7. A process according to claim 4, wherein said water-soluble resin is selected from the group consisting of:

sodium polyacrylate;

polyethylene oxide;

polyacrylamide;

polyvinyl alcohol;

water-soluble nylon;

polyethyleneimide;

polyvinyl pyrrolidone; and

copolymer of vinyl pyrrolidone and vinyl acetate.

8. A process according to claim 4, wherein said solution further contains a copolymerizing catalyst as an initiator for copolymerizing said metal salt of acrylic acid and said cross-linking agent.

9. A process according to claim 8, wherein said copolymerizing catalyst consists of potassium persulfate or benzoyl peroxide.

10. A process according to claim 4, wherein said fabric substrate consists of a nonwoven fabric of a synthetic fiber.

11. A process according to claim 4, wherein said fabric substrate consists of a nonwoven fabric of a natural fiber.

12. A process according to claim 4, wherein said solution contains 1-50 parts by weight of said water-soluble resin per 100 parts by weight of said metal salt of acrylic acid.