Anti-microbial fiber and fibrous products

Abstract

An anti-microbial and / or anti-fungal synthetic fiber and laminate products made partially or wholly therefrom. The fiber comprises various thermoplastic polymers and additives in a mono-component form or a bi-component form in either a core-sheath or side-by-side configurations. The anti-microbial synthetic fibers comprise inorganic anti-microbial additives, distributed in certain areas to reduce the amount of the anti-microbial agents being used, and therefore the cost of such fibers. The fibers comprise high tenacity polymers (e.g. PET) in one portion and hydrolysis resistance polymers (e.g. PCT) in another portion with the additives. The fibers can further be blended with non-anti-microbial fibers such as cotton, wool, polyester, acrylic, nylon etc. to provide anti-microbial finished fabrics. In one embodiment, binder fibers are used which are mixed with other fibers.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] The present application is a divisional application of Ser. No. 09 / 565,138 filed May 5, 2000 which claims the priority of the following provisional applications: Ser. No. 60 / 136,261, filed May 27, 1999; Ser. No. 60 / 173,207, filed Dec. 27, 1999; Ser. No. 60 / 172,285, filed Dec. 17, 1999; Ser. No. 60 / 172,533, filed Dec. 17, 1999; Ser. No. 60 / 180,536, filed Feb. 7, 2000; Ser. No. 60 / 181,251, filed Feb. 9, 2000; and Ser. No. 60 / 180,240, filed Feb. 4, 2000.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates generally to products having anti-microbial (and / or anti-fungal) properties which remain with the product after repeated launderings / uses. More specifically it provides laminate materials that are made of a wholly thermoplastic stiff reinforcing multiple laminate moldable into compound shapes and bondable via a thermoplastic hot melt adhesive to a carrier surface to be reinforced and suitable for footwear. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTI...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0045] It is an object of the present invention to provide anti-microbial agents that are efficacious and greatly resistant to washing off or wearing off of the product to which they are applied.

Problems solved by technology

However, many do not have such properties, or the properties do not remain for the life of the product, or they have adverse environmental consequences.

Use of zeolite preventing bacterial infections and rashes in mammals may compromise cell wall processes including basic transport processes.

The solution dyed polyester has a disadvantage in that the product can no longer be labeled 100% cotton.

The stock dyed cotton has the disadvantage in that it is not color fast, especially to bleach, and that it needs to be passed through a dye bath.

The disadvantage of these organic agents when used as anti-microbial agents is that bacteria can develop a resistance to their action.

Thus, one is faced with the emergence of bacterial strains that are no longer affected by these anti-microbial agents which negates the function of these materials, and is harmful to humans since they are resistant to antibiotics.

Sheet materials for various uses are vulnerable to the seeding of bacteria and fungi from various sources, thus providing hospitable sites for their uninhibited growth.

However, most prior art approaches of providing sheet materials with anti-microbial or anti-fungal agents have limited effect.

However, these materials have two inherent commercial disadvantages.

First, while the anti-microbial agents incorporated into them do show some resistance to repeated washings, these agents do leach out of the materials, primarily because they are not physically incorporated into them.

In fact, in many cases, the anti-microbial agents are only loosely bound into the material and are relatively easily washed away or naturally abraded away over time.

On the other hand if the agents are buried too deeply in the material or homogeneously distributed they will not contact microbes at all and the economics of usage will be adversely affected.

Second, the anti-microbial agents used in these applications are generally organic substances.

The disadvantage of these agents when used as anti-microbial agents is that bacteria can develop a resistance to their action.

But the surfactant is incompatible at melt-extrusion temperatures.

However, the process described has not been very usable with anti-microbial agents.

For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,167 which describes the '914 patent discussed above and states that previous attempts to apply the teachings thereof to the preparation of non-woven webs having anti-microbial activity were not successful.

While these anti-microbial agents are designed to prevent the development of resistant bacterial strains, the use of metal-containing materials presents the added difficulty of being able to successfully disperse the anti-microbial agents throughout the material.

Since these metal-containing compounds exists as fairly large size particles (10 microns and greater), the ability to evenly mix or distribute them is limited.

In addition, because of this size problem, these substances must necessarily be applied to the surfaces of materials instead of being incorporated into them.

The latter causes the additional disadvantage of making the applied anti-microbial agents relatively labile to washings or abrasion.

Institutional furnishings are subject to excessive wear and tear.

The limited prior art approaches of coating fibers and / or fabrics with anti-microbial or anti-fungal materials have had only limited success.

Therefore, it is difficult to make such materials which will stand up to repeated washings and to wear, particularly when they have been prepared with additives for special properties such as anti-microbial agents.

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