Claims
- 1. A spun yarn having a total boil-off shrinkage of at least about 22% comprising cotton and a bicomponent staple fiber comprising poly(ethylene terephthalate) and poly(trimethylene terephthalate) said bicomponent staple fiber having:
a) a crimp development value of from about 35% to about 70%; b) a crimp index value of from about 15% to about 45%; c) a length of from about 1.3 cm to about 5.5 cm; and d) a linear density of from about 0.7 decitex per fiber to about 3.0 decitex per fiber; wherein the bicomponent staple fiber is present at a level of from about 20 wt %, to about about 65 wt %, based on total weight of the spun yarn; and wherein the cotton is present at a level of from about 35 wt % to about 80 wt %, based on total weight of the spun yarn.
- 2. The spun yarn of claim 1 wherein the bicomponent staple fiber has a crimp index value of from about 20% to about 30%.
- 3. The spun yarn of claim 1 having a coefficient of variation of mass no higher than about 22%, and wherein said bicomponent staple fiber has a decitex per fiber no higher than about 2.5.
- 4. The spun yarn of claim 1 wherein the bicomponent staple fiber is present at a level of less than 50 wt %, based on the total weight of spun yarn.
- 5. The spun yarn of claim 1 wherein the bicomponent staple fiber has a tenacity-at-break of from about 4.0 dN/tex to about 5.5 dN/tex, and the bicomponent staple fiber is present at a level of at least about 35 wt %, based on the total weight of spun yarn.
- 6. A process for making the spun yarn of claim 1 comprising the steps of:
a) providing bicomponent staple fiber having
(i) crimp development value of from about 35% to about 70%; (ii) crimp index value of from about 15% to about 45%; (iii) length of from about 1.3 cm to about 5.5 cm; and (iv) linear density of from about 0.7 decitex per fiber to about 3.0 decitex per fiber; b) providing cotton; c) combining the cotton and the bicomponent staple fiber so that the bicomponent staple fiber is present at a level of from about 20 wt % to about 65 wt % based on the total weight of the blended fibers and the cotton is present at a level of from about 35 wt % to about 80 wt % based on total weight of the blended fibers; d) carding the blended fibers to form a card sliver; e) drawing the card sliver; f) doubling and redrawing the card sliver up to about 3 times; g) converting the drawn sliver to roving; and h) ring-spinning the roving to form the spun yarn.
- 7. The process of claim 6 wherein the bicomponent staple fiber has a crimp index value of at least about 20% and is present at a level of less than 50 wt %, based on the total weight of the blended fibers.
- 8. The process of claim 6 wherein the spun yarn has a coefficient of variation of mass of no higher than about 22% and the bicomponent staple fiber is present at a level of at least about 35 wt %, based on the total weight of the blended fibers.
- 9. A fabric selected from the group consisting of knits and wovens and comprising the spun yarn of claim 1 made by the process of claim 6.
- 10. A process for making the spun yarn of claim 1 comprising the steps of:
a) providing bicomponent staple fiber; b) providing cotton; d) separately carding bicomponent staple fiber and cotton to form a bicomponent staple fiber card sliver and a cotton card sliver; e) draw-frame blending the bicomponent staple fiber card sliver and the cotton card sliver so that (i) the bicomponent fiber is present at a level of from about 20 wt % to about 65 wt %; and (ii) the cotton is present at a level of from about 35 wt % to about 80 wt %, based on total weight of the blended fibers; f) doubling and redrawing the blended card sliver of step (e) up to about 3 times; g) converting the drawn sliver to roving; and h) ring-spinning the roving to form the spun yarn.
CROSS REFERENCE(S) TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of pending application Ser. No. 10/029,575 filed Dec. 21, 2001.
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10029575 |
Dec 2001 |
US |
Child |
10286683 |
Nov 2002 |
US |