Bicomponent fiber is made of two materials, utilizing desired properties of each material. Such fibers can be created by
extrusion spinning.
One or both materials may remain in the finished product, or one material may be dissolved, leaving only one material remaining. For example,
DuPont
Dupont, DuPont, Du Pont, duPont, or du Pont may refer to:
People
* Dupont (surname) Dupont, also spelled as DuPont, duPont, Du Pont, or du Pont is a French surname meaning "of the bridge", historically indicating that the holder of the surname re ...
created the highly coiled elastic fiber called ''cantrese'' having two different nylon polymers side-by-side.
Formats
Formats of bicomponent fibers include:
;Side-by-side
Extrusions are side-by-side within a single filament
;Core-sheath
Extrusions with one material surrounding another
;Segmented
Segmented like sections of a pie
;Islands-in-the-sea
Islands-in-the-sea extrusions are also called matrix-fibril, because
fibril
Fibrils () are structural biological materials found in nearly all living organisms. Not to be confused with fibers or protein filament, filaments, fibrils tend to have diameters ranging from 10 to 100 nanometers (whereas fibers are micro to ...
s of one polymer are distributed in the
matrix
Matrix (: matrices or matrixes) or MATRIX may refer to:
Science and mathematics
* Matrix (mathematics), a rectangular array of numbers, symbols or expressions
* Matrix (logic), part of a formula in prenex normal form
* Matrix (biology), the m ...
of another polymer. The matrix is known as the "sea", and the fibrils are known as islands.
The matrix is a soluble material that is washed away by a suitable solvent at some point in the manufacturing process. What remains at the microscopic level are bundles of thin parallel fibers, resulting in a fabric that is very soft and flexible.
Applications
Islands-in-the-sea can be melt blown to produce fabric such as
Alcantara
Alcantara, Alcântara ( Portuguese), Alcántara (Spanish), Alcàntara, Alcàntera, El-Qantarah and (El) Kantara are all transliterations of the Arabic word ''al-qantara'' (القنطرة), meaning "the bridge".
Alcantara may refer to:
People
* ...
.
See also
*
PTFE fiber PTFE fiber is a chemically resistant material. It is used in woven form in certain pump packings as well as in nonwoven form in hot gas bag filters for industries with corrosive exhausts.
Production
Because PTFE is relatively insoluble and has a ...
References
External links
Carbon Fiber SolutionsNeedle Punching Nonwovens
Fibers
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