JPH02269852A - Plasticizer composition for forming cellulose acetate fiber bundle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the title composition neither deforming nor damaging flavor in case of using the composition for a tobacco smoke filter, etc., having high curing rate in rod molding of cellulose acetate fiber, comprising a specific methyl ether and epsilon-caprolactam. CONSTITUTION:The aimed composition comprising (A) a methyl ether shown by the formula (R is H or CH3; n is 1-6) and (B) epsilon-caprolactam. The composition ratio is preferably 50-90wt.% component A and 50-10wt.% component B and further a diethylene glycol, etc., may be used as the component A.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to a kudzu plasticizer composition used in producing molded articles from cellulose acetate fiber bundles.

[Conventional technology and problems]

Cellulose acetate fibers can be used to produce various fibrous molded bodies using plasticizers. Typical examples include fiber rods used as cigarette smoke filters and ink storage cores for felt-tip pens, and nonwoven fabric sheets for other purposes. When a plasticizer for cellulose acetate fibers is added to a fiber bundle, it dissolves the fiber surface at the part where the plasticizer and the fibers come into contact, and the melted part bonds the fibers to each other and solidifies, so the bonding point When there are a large number of them, a three-dimensional network structure is formed. That is, the action of the plasticizer is to maintain the shape of the fiber molded article and to impart appropriate hardness.

The properties required for a plasticizer for a cellulose acetate fiber molded article are as follows.

(1) Can be cured at room temperature.

(2) Short curing time.

(3) The fibers must be sufficiently bonded.

(4) The fiber molded body has high hardness.

(5) There shall be no fuzz or depression on the cut end surface of the fiber molded article.

(6) It must be non-adhesive.

(7) It must be harmless to the human body.

Furthermore, when used as a cigarette filter, it is also necessary that it does not affect the aroma and taste of cigarettes.

Conventional plasticizers for molding cellulose acetate fibers include polyol ester compounds, alkoxyalkyl phthalate compounds, and the like. Specifically, polyol ester compounds include, for example, glycerol triacetate, 1°3-butylene glycol diacetate, triethylene glycol diacetate, and the like. Furthermore, examples of alkoxyalkyl phthalate compounds include dimethoxyethyl phthalate and jetoxyethyl phthalate.

However, although the above-mentioned plasticizers have been used while taking into consideration their respective properties, there are still problems with the recent improvements in the manufacturing method of cellulose acetate fiber molded products, which have increased the speed and made it difficult to meet the strict manufacturing conditions for mass production. It's getting close up.

For example, in the case of manufacturing cigarette filters, conventionally 200
The winding speed used to be about +n/min, but now most of the winding is done at 400 m/win, and the negative part is wound at 600 m/a+in. This increased winding speed causes invagination, fuzzing, and lack of roundness on the cut surface of the filter plug, and furthermore, the long curing time of the plasticizers causes waiting time and Unable to respond smoothly to process transitions. In addition, when manufacturing nonwoven fabric sheets, slow curing time makes it difficult to control the sheet thickness.
There are many problems such as fluffing when cutting during molding such as edge cutting.

Regarding individual compounds, glycerol triacetate, which is currently most widely used industrially, has a long curing time and this drawback becomes a major hindrance when used for high-speed winding. Lower fatty acid esters of triethylene glycol and butylene compounds have a faster curing time than glycerol triacetate, but they inhibit the aroma and taste.

[Means for solving problems]

The inventors have discovered that polyethylene glycol methyl ethers have excellent properties as a plasticizer for cellulose acetate fibers, that is, have a fast curing speed, as a new plasticizer that solves the above-mentioned problems, and have filed a patent application for the same. (Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-12961). However, the hardness of the fiber molded product was not fully satisfactory. Therefore, as a result of continued intensive research, it was discovered that a composition prepared by dissolving ε-caprolactam alone in polyethylene glycol methyl ether has extremely superior properties as a cellulose acetate fiber plasticizer, namely, the hardness of fiber molded products. It was discovered that in addition to having a sufficiently high curing rate, the curing speed was faster than that of polyethylene glycol methyl ether alone, and the present invention was achieved.

That is, the present invention provides a plasticizer composition for forming cellulose acetate fiber bundles comprising methyl ethers represented by the general formula % (R is H or -CHs, n is 1 to 6) and ε-caprolactam. It is.

The plasticizer composition of the present invention can be cured at room temperature, the curing time is short, the hardness of the fiber molded product is high, and when used in cigarette filters, it is sufficient without impairing the aroma and taste of cigarettes. It is characterized by being satisfactory.

The polyethylene glycol methyl ethers that are one component of the plasticizer composition of the present invention are specifically mono- or dimethyl ethers of long-chain ethylene glycols ranging from ethylene glycol to hexaethylene glycol. Long-chain ethylene glycols longer than heptaethylene glycol have a poor plasticizing effect on cellulose acetate fibers and take a long curing time, so they are unsuitable as components of a plasticizer composition. Methyl ethers of diethylene glycol and triethylene glycol are particularly desirable from the viewpoint of curing speed and flavor.

ε-caprolactam, which is another component of the plasticizer composition of the present invention, is solid at room temperature and dissolves in the above-mentioned polyethylene glycol methyl ethers within the solubility range. The higher the fraction of ε-caprolactam in the composition, the higher the hardness and the faster the curing speed, so it is preferable to dissolve and use as much ε-caprolactam as possible within the solubility range. The percentage in the middle is 50~
IO weight percent is suitable.

The cellulose acetate fiber, which is the object of the plasticizer composition of the present invention, has a degree of acetylation of 52 to 59% (as the amount of bound acetic acid). Further, as a fiber bundle, for example, 1 to
3,000 to 1,000 liters of 16 denier continuous fiber.
000 pieces are collected and are in the form of a band with 10 to 45 uniform crimps per 25 mm length. In the case of manufacturing a fiber rod molded body, a fiber bundle is opened and molded using a winding machine.

In the case of manufacturing a molded body of a nonwoven fabric sheet, the fiber tow is 1 = 1
A piece cut to 50 mm is used, and after being opened with a card or the like, it is molded.

Furthermore, the plasticizer composition of the present invention has a content of 1 to 20% by weight based on the fiber weight.
Addition amounts in weight percent are preferred.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained in detail above, when the plasticizer composition of the present invention is used, the curing speed is fast when forming cellulose acetate fiber rods, so when cutting the fiber rods, there is no fluffing or depression, and the fiber rods can be smoothly connected to the next process. In addition, since the rod has high hardness, there is less deformation when smoking.
Furthermore, a product with excellent characteristics such as no loss of aroma and taste can be obtained.

When molding nonwoven fabric sheets, the short curing time makes it easy to control the thickness, there is no fluffing when cutting edges, and the high hardness makes it highly resistant to deformation.
It has the advantage of having a strong ability to recover to its original shape even if it is deformed.

〔Example〕

The effect of the plasticizer composition of the present invention will be described with reference to an example for producing a cellulose acetate fiber molded article.

The method for measuring the properties of the molded bodies shown in the examples will be described below.

(1) Method for measuring the hardness of a fiber rod molded product As a measure of the hardness of a fiber rod, the hardness produced when a load of 300 grams is placed on a horizontally placed fiber rod via a disk with a diameter of 12 mm for 10 seconds. The value obtained by reading the amount of deformation of the fiber rod in units of 0.1 m is taken as the apparent hardness of the fiber rod. As a hardening rate, hardness was measured immediately after production, 30 minutes, 2 hours, and 1 day after production.

As described above, the smaller the hardness value shown in the rod-shaped molded article, the higher the hardness, and the larger the hardness value, the lower the hardness.

(2) Rod weight (unit: 2 g/piece) Weight of one fiber rod (3) Airflow resistance (unit: trm H! O) 102
The resistance is expressed in water column (m) when air is passed through a fiber rod of m length at 17.5 m/sec.

(4) Flavor/Smoking Taste To judge the flavor/smoking taste, a part of the filter of a commercially available Highlight was removed, and cigarettes with the same ventilation resistance were made using the rod of the present invention, and 10 tasters compared the results. If 7 or more people felt that the tobacco with the rod of the present invention was good, it would be 0, if it was 4 to 6 people, it would be △, and if 3 or less people would feel good, it would be ×.
I added a sign.

Examples 1 to 5 Cellulose acetate fiber rods were produced according to a known method, for example, the method described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 38-15945.

The cellulose acetate fiber used was a crimped fiber bundle with a filament fineness of 3 denier, a total fineness of 3B, 000 denier, and a number of crimps of about 35 (per 25 cm).

The fiber bundle is widened and opened, a predetermined amount of the plasticizer listed in Table 1 is added using a wick-type plasticizer addition device, and then the bundle is bundled and sent to a paper winding device where it is rolled up at 20°C and a relative humidity of 65% to form a rod. A fiber rod with a circumference of 24.7 m and a rod length of 102 I was manufactured. The measurement results for the fiber rods are also shown in Table 1.

The hardness of the rods of Examples 1 to 5 reached a hardness of 10 or less, which is a value that poses no problem in practical use as a cigarette smoke filter, even immediately after manufacturing the fiber rod, and there was no change in hardness thereafter.

Furthermore, the aroma and taste were good, indicating that the plasticizer-combined acid product of the present invention is satisfactory.

Comparative Examples 1 to 8 Similarly to Example 1, fiber rods with a rod circumference of 24.7 mm and a rod length of 102 m were manufactured. The plasticizers used in the production and their measurement results are listed in Table 2.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) General formula ▲ Numerical formulas, chemical formulas, tables, etc. are available ▼ Plasticizer composition for forming cellulose acetate fiber bundles consisting of methyl ethers and ε-caprolactam represented by (R is H or CH_3, n = 1 to 6) . (2) The composition according to claim 1, wherein the composition ratio of methyl ethers to ε-caprolactam is 50 to 90% by weight of methyl ethers and 50 to 10% by weight of ε-caprolactam.