The present invention relates to fibers and fabrics designed for the effective destruction of pathogens such as bacteria, mold, mildew, fungus, spores and viruses.
Anti-microbial additives containing copper, silver, gold, and zinc, either individually or combined, have been effective against pathogens such as bacteria, mold, mildew, virus, spores, and fungus. Accordingly, fibers and fabrics have been produced with anti-microbial alloys in various synthetic polymers such as polyester, polypropylene, nylon, rayon, and polylactic acid (PLA). There are many uses and applications for these types of anti-microbial fibers and fabrics, including the healthcare industry, hospitality industry, military, and infant care, among others. However, current anti-microbial fibers and fabrics have shortcomings in meeting the requirements of these uses and applications.
For example, in the healthcare and hospitality industry—such as in a hospital, nursing homes, extended care facilities, hotels, spas or the like—it is required that privacy curtains, isolation gowns, sheets, towels, scrubs, doctor's coats, bath robes, pajamas, and uniforms for medical personnel, both be sanitary and be perceived as sanitary. Therefore, the healthcare and hospitality industries require that these fabrics and garments conform to certain sanitation criteria. As there has been a rise in the possibility of contracting various contagious diseases such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) over the past few years, most in the healthcare industry now require bleaching of the towels, garments and other fabrics used in hospitals and various places where repeated use of the towels, garments and fabrics will, or is likely to, occur. This, of course, eliminates many of the types and colors of towels, garments and fabrics that can be used in the healthcare industry and is one reason why most of the fabrics are white. Moreover, because fibers and fabrics produced with known methods lose their effectiveness during repeated launderings with chlorine bleach, the laundering process required in these industries causes issues with known anti-microbial fibers and fabrics.
While the selection of white fabrics can be beneficial because of the repeated launderings, additives of copper, silver, gold, and zinc will discolor the fibers and fabrics during the life of the product, primarily due to oxidation. Accordingly, there is a need to add coloration to hide the undesirable shades created by the oxidation of the additives. In some cases, pigments have been used to color synthetic fibers by adding the pigments to the molten polymer of thermoplastic resins such as polyester, polypropylene, nylon, acrylic, or PLA. But in many cases pigments have been shown to have destructive effects on anti-microbial performance. These destructive effects are only increased due to bleach treatments that are commonly used on sanitary fabrics.
Thus the need exists for an anti-microbial fabric that will resist the destructiveness of washing in chlorine bleach and maintain its color and efficacy against pathogens. Although present fabrics and methods of making fabrics are functional, they are not sufficiently effective or otherwise satisfactory. Accordingly, a system and method are needed to address the shortfalls of present technology and to provide other new and innovative features.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention that are shown in the drawings are summarized below. These and other embodiments are more fully described in the Detailed Description section. It is to be understood, however, that there is no intention to limit the invention to the forms described in this Summary of the Invention or in the Detailed Description. One skilled in the art can recognize that there are numerous modifications, equivalents and alternative constructions that fall within the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the claims.
In an embodiment, the present invention comprises a method for generating a halogen stable anti-microbial synthetic fiber, the method comprising creating a mixture, the mixture comprising a polymer, an anti-microbial agent, and a cationic pigment; and extruding the mixture to form an anti-microbial synthetic fiber. The cationic pigment may also be a non-halogen pigment, include halogen bonding sites that attract chlorine or other halogens known to be detrimental to anti-microbial fibers, and/or include an element with known anti-microbial properties. In certain embodiments, the cationic pigment may be Phthalo Blue. In yet further embodiments, Titanium Dioxide may be added to the mixture with the Phthalo Blue cationic pigment.
In another embodiment, the present invention comprises a synthetic fiber comprising a polymer, an anti-microbial agent, and a cationic pigment. The cationic pigment may also be a non-halogen pigment, include halogen bonding sites, and/or include an element with known anti-microbial properties. In certain embodiments, the cationic pigment may be Phthalo Blue. The synthetic fiber can have a density of 0.4 to 25 denier, and specifically 1.0 to 1.5 denier in some embodiments. The fiber may be in continuous form or cut to a staple length from 0.25″ to 7.5″ (6 mm to 190 mm), and specifically 1.5″ (38 mm) or 2″ (51 mm). In yet another embodiment, the fiber may be part of a continuous filament nonwoven fabric, such as a spunbond or spunmelt fabric.
As previously stated, the above-described embodiments and implementations are for illustration purposes only. Numerous other embodiments, implementations, and details of the invention are easily recognized by those of skill in the art from the following descriptions and claims.
Various objects and advantages and a more complete understanding of the present invention are apparent and more readily appreciated by reference to the following Detailed Description and to the appended claims when taken in conjunction with the accompanying Drawings wherein:
Referring now to the drawings, where like or similar elements are designated with identical reference numerals throughout the several views, and referring in particular to
An anti-microbial agent may be any suitable anti-microbial, such as silver, copper, zinc and/or gold in metallic forms (e.g., particulates, alloys and oxides), salts (e.g., sulfates, nitrates, acetates, citrates, and chlorides) and/or in ionic forms. In some embodiments, the anti-microbial agent is an anti-microbial alloy powder with a particle size of less than 1 micron, and preferably 0.3 to 0.6 micron.
The anti-microbial agent may be comprised of an anti-microbial powder formed from alloys of one or more metals that exhibit anti-microbial properties. Antimicrobial alloys made of two or more element alloys can have superior anti-microbial properties compared to one element particles. Embodiments of the present invention can include an anti-microbial alloy which includes a combination of: transition metals of the periodical table such as chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, silver, and/or gold; rare earth metals from the lanthanides such as cerium, neodymium, samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, and/or erbium; and/or alkali metals such as lithium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, and/or calcium. The combination may comprise a binary combination, ternary combination, quaternary combination, or even higher order combination. The selected alloys, and the relative percentages of each alloy, may be selected depending on the intended use of the fiber or other selection criteria. Different combinations will result in different anti-microbial classes that may be used with the present invention.
For example, different classes of anti-microbial alloys have been produced by QuarTek Corporation as described in various patent applications (U.S. Provisional Application Nos. 60/888,343 and 60/821,497 filed on Aug. 4, 2006 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/868,475 filed on Oct. 6, 2007, Ser. No. 11/858,157 filled on Sep. 20, 2007, and Ser. No. 11/671,675 filed on Feb. 6, 2007). These anti-microbial alloys have been produced by varying the elemental composition of the alloys, the elemental ratios within the same alloy, or by changing parameters in the synthesis process. As needed, these anti-microbial alloys may be synthesized in various size ranges from 5 nm to 2000 nm, preferably less than 1000 nm, or even within the range of 100-500 nm.
A cationic pigment is a pigment which has a positively charged molecular structure. In a preferred embodiment, the cationic pigment is a non-halogen pigment which does not include halogens such as chlorine, bromine or fluorine in its molecular structure. In another embodiment, the cationic pigment further includes halogen bonding sites that can attract chlorine or other halogens that may come into contact with the fiber, such as during laundering. These halogen bonding sites can attract and connect to a chlorine molecule or other halogen molecules and protect the alloys of copper, silver, gold, and/or zinc that provide the anti-microbial properties to the fiber. In yet further embodiments, the cationic pigment may be selected because it comprises an element with known anti-microbial properties.
For example, a preferred cationic pigment is Phthalo Blue Pigment (Phthalocyanine Blue), which has a molecular structure C32H16CuN8 as shown in
Other non-halogen pigments that may be selected include:
Egyptian Blue (Calcium Copper Silicate) CaCuS14O10
Vermillion (Mercury Sulfide) HgS
Iron Oxide Red FeO
Ultramarine Blue Na2OSAl2SiO6
Han Purple BaCuSi2O6
Paris Green (Aceto-arsenite) ({CuC2H3O2}2-3 Cu(AsO2)2)
Sheele's Green (Copper Arsenite) CuHA5O5
As indicated by Step 200 in
An exemplary fiber consistent with the present invention was made with between 99.3% and 99.6% Polyester (PET) resin, between 0.1% and 0.4% QuarTek Alloy QSM-ACL73 and 0.3% Phthalo Blue pigment. In some embodiments, Titanium Dioxide may also be added. The compounds were extruded at a melt temperature of 290° C. and pumped through a 2400 hole spinneret to produce a fiber of 5.5 denier. The fiber was then drawn to 1.5 denier, crimped, and cut to 1.5″ (38 mm). These exemplary fibers exhibit improved visual properties and improved anti-microbial effectiveness after launderings. Fibers produced with these pigments had very poor anti-microbial properties.
In accordance with the present method, pigments such as Phthalocyanine Green G (molecular structure is shown in
In conclusion, the present invention provides, among other things, method for producing fibers with improved color and anti-microbial properties. Those skilled in the art can readily recognize that numerous variations and substitutions may be made in the invention, its use and its configuration to achieve substantially the same results as achieved by the embodiments described herein. Accordingly, there is no intention to limit the invention to the disclosed exemplary forms. Many variations, modifications and alternative constructions fall within the scope and spirit of the disclosed invention as expressed in the claims.
The present application is a U.S. continuation patent application of, and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 120 to, U.S. nonprovisional patent application Ser. No. 15/175,398, filed Jun. 7, 2016, which '398 application published on Jan. 12, 2017 as U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2017/0006860 A1 and issued on Sep. 25, 2018 as U.S. Pat. No. 10,080,363, which '398 application, its publication, and the patent issuing therefrom are each incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, and which '398 application is a U.S. continuation patent application of, and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 120 to, U.S. nonprovisional patent application Ser. No. 14/482,123, filed Sep. 10, 2014 and now abandoned, which '123 application published on Dec. 25, 2014 as U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2014/0374941 A1, which '123 application and its publication are each incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, and which '123 application is a U.S. divisional patent application of, and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 120 to, U.S. nonprovisional patent application Ser. No. 13/276,069, filed Oct. 18, 2011 and now abandoned, which '069 application published on Apr. 19, 2012 as U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2012/0094120 A1, which '069 application and its publication are each incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, and which '069 application is a U.S. nonprovisional patent application of, and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to, U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/394,242, filed Oct. 18, 2010, which '242 application is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
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