Spinnerets for making fibers capable of spontaneously transporting fluids

US5723159A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Eastman Chemical Company · US

Inventors

• Bobby M. Phillips · Kingsport, US
• Shriram Bagrodia · Kingsport, US
• William Alston Haile · Kingsport, US
• Harry P. Hall · Kingsport, US
• David A. Casey · Kingsport, US
• J. Nelson Dalton · Kingsport, US
• Ronnie J. Jones · Kingsport, US
• Ronald S. Scalf · Elizabethton, US
• Richard D. Neal · Kingsport, US
• Lewis C. Trent · Jonesborough, US
• Jack L. Nelson · Johnson City, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 20, 1996
• Grant date: Mar 3, 1998
• Expiry date: Mar 20, 2016

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10T442/611
• WIPO field: Medical technology
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

Spinnerets are used to make synthetic fibers having the unique property of spontaneously transporting water on their surface. The synthetic fibers satisfy the equation EQU (1-X cos .theta..sub.a)<0, wherein PA1 .theta..sub.a is the advancing contact angle of water measured on a flat film made from the same material as the fiber and having the same surface treatment, if any, PA1 X is a shape factor of the fiber cross-section that satisfies the following equation ##EQU1## wherein P.sub.w is the wetted perimeter of the fiber and r is the radius of the circumscribed circle circumscribing the fiber cross-section and D is the minor axis dimension across the fiber cross-section, and wherein the uphill flux value of said fiber is from 2 to 60 cc/g/hr when measured from a reservoir of synthetic urine test fluid along a 20 cm long ramp to an absorbent on an attached platform at 10 cm height.