Fluffy kapok pillow not prone to caking

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of pillows, in particular to a fluffy kapok pillow not prone to caking. The preparation method comprises the following steps: firstly, activating kapok fibers by adopting argon-oxygen mixed gas plasma, introducing active groups and forming a microporous structure; then constructing a dynamic Schiff base network on the surface of the fiber through bionic cross-linking reaction, and endowing the fiber with elastic stress dispersing capacity; the fibers are coated with a silk fibroin solution, so that the friction coefficient is reduced, and the flexibility is enhanced; finally, fiber gap distribution is regulated and controlled through airflow puffing treatment, and a uniform three-dimensional network structure is formed. Through collaborative optimization of a fiber hierarchical structure, the performance balance of high resilience, low caking and strong air permeability is realized, and a new solution is provided for application of natural kapok fibers in the field of home furnishing.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of pillows, more particularly to a fluffy and non-caking kapok pillow. BACKGROUND

[0002] As a filling material for pillows, throw pillows and cushions, kapok fiber has been considered as a substitute for traditional down due to its light weight and air permeability. However, its practical application has always been limited. The main reason is that natural kapok fiber has structural defects: the fiber cross-section is a hollow thin-walled structure, the surface is smooth and the intermolecular force is weak, which makes it difficult to restore its original shape after compression and prone to obvious hardening after long-term use. At the same time, the fiber has strong axial rigidity and poor cushioning performance, which cannot meet the dynamic demand for support force in human engineering. Although traditional modification methods can partially improve the fluffiness, they cannot systematically solve the problems of poor resilience and poor structural stability, which restricts its large-scale application in the home field. SUMMARY

[0003] In view of the shortcomings of the prior art, the present application aims to provide a fluffy and non-caking kapok pillow, which is prepared by sequentially treating kapok fiber with plasma activation, biomimetic cross-linking network construction, silk fibroin coating

[0004] and air flow puffing to solve the technical problems of poor resilience and easy hardening of existing kapok pillows.

[0005] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the present application realizes the following scheme;

[0006] A fluffy and non-caking kapok pillow, comprising a pillowcase and modified kapok fiber filled in the pillowcase; the preparation method of the modified kapok fiber comprises the following steps:

[0007] (1) Put the kapok fiber into a low-temperature plasma device, and pass in a mixed gas of argon and oxygen, treat under the condition of vacuum degree 10-30 Pa and power 50-120 W for 30-60 seconds to obtain plasma modified kapok fiber;

[0008] (2) Soak the plasma modified kapok fiber in a prepolymer solution for 60-90 minutes, add hexanediamine and continue to react for 30-60 minutes to obtain prepolymer modified kapok fiber;

[0009] (3) Soak the prepolymer modified kapok fiber in a silk fibroin solution for 10-15 hours, and dry at 30-40 DEG C to obtain silk fibroin modified kapok fiber;

[0010] (4) Treat the silk fibroin modified kapok fiber with an air flow puffing machine, spray an antistatic agent, and control the moisture content of the dried fiber to 8-12% to obtain the modified kapok fiber.

[0011] Preferably, in step (1), the flow rate of argon is 30 L / min, the flow rate of oxygen is 30 L / min; the vacuum degree is 15-25 Pa, the processing time is 40-50 seconds, and the power is 70-80 W.

[0012] Preferably, the prepolymer solution is prepared by mixing acrylic acid, levodopa, EDC reagent and NHS reagent in a mass ratio of 1.5:1:1.2:1.2 into a prepolymer, dissolving in DMAC solvent, stirring at room temperature for 30 minutes, adjusting the pH to 5.0-6.0, and then reacting in the dark for 10-15 hours, heating to 70-80℃ and adding azobisisobutyronitrile for further reaction for 8-10 hours.

[0013] Preferably, the amount of azobisisobutyronitrile added is 1-2% of the mass of the prepolymer.

[0014] Preferably, in step (2), the temperature of the prepolymer solution is 35±2℃, and the soaking time is 75-85 minutes; the amount of hexanediamine added is 5-10% of the mass of the prepolymer solution.

[0015] Preferably, in step (3), the soaking time of the silk fibroin solution is 12-15 hours, and the drying temperature is 35-40℃.

[0016] Preferably, in step (4), the temperature of the air flow puffing machine is 80-90℃, the absolute negative pressure is not less than 0.08 MPa, and the time is 2-3 minutes.

[0017] Preferably, in step (4), the amount of antistatic agent sprayed is 0.3-0.4% of the weight of the fiber, the final drying temperature is 60±5℃, and the moisture content of the fiber after drying is 9-11%.

[0018] The application improves the performance of kapok pillow by the synergistic modification mechanism of plasma activation-bionic crosslinking-silk coating-airflow puffing. Among them, the plasma activation etches the fiber surface by argon-oxygen mixed gas discharge, forms microporous structure and introduces active groups, enhances the specific surface area of the fiber and the subsequent reaction site, and at the same time, the microporous structure improves the air permeability; the bionic crosslinking utilizes the catechol group generated by the oxidation of levodopa to form a dynamic Schiff base bond with the aldehyde group of acrylic acid, the dynamic bond can reversibly break-recombine to absorb compression stress, the catechol enhances the non-covalent binding between fibers, and gives the fiber elastic rebound ability and inhibits the agglomeration caused by permanent deformation; the silk coating covers the fiber surface by protein coating, reduces the friction coefficient and forms a flexible interface to buffer the impact force, prevents the fibers from directly contacting and agglomerating after compression, and at the same time improves the flexibility and anti-static property; the airflow puffing disperses and recombines the crosslinked fiber bundle by high-pressure airflow, forms a uniform three-dimensional network structure, and regulates the distribution of fiber gap to stabilize the supporting performance. The above four steps realize the performance balance of high resilience, low agglomeration and strong air permeability.

[0019] The application has the following beneficial effects: the application realizes the synergistic optimization of the hierarchical structure of the fiber by sequentially performing plasma activation (introducing active groups), bionic crosslinking network construction (dynamic Schiff base structure enhances stress dispersion), silk protein coating (flexible interface improves compression fatigue resistance) and airflow puffing treatment (regulating the distribution of fiber gap) on kapok fibers. The modification method makes the kapok pillow maintain natural air permeability while improving the resilience to 76% (when the compression rate is 50%), reducing the agglomeration rate to 2% (72h stacking test), and controlling the loftiness to 135kg / m 3 The following solves the contradiction between insufficient support and excessive deformation of the traditional kapok pillow caused by the excessive rigidity of the fiber, and achieves the balance of high resilience, low agglomeration and strong air permeability. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] The application will be further described below in conjunction with examples, but the scope of protection claimed by the application is not limited to the scope expressed in the examples.

[0021] Example 1

[0022] A kapok pillow with loftiness and low agglomeration, comprising a pillowcase and modified kapok fibers filled in the pillowcase; wherein the preparation method of the modified kapok fibers comprises the following steps:

[0023] (1) placing the kapok fibers in a low-temperature plasma device, introducing a mixed gas of argon (30L / min) and oxygen (30L / min), treating under the condition of vacuum degree 15-25Pa and power 60W for 45 seconds to obtain plasma modified kapok fibers;

[0024] (2) the plasma modified kapok fiber is immersed in a prepolymer solution with a temperature of 35±2℃ for 90 minutes, hexanediamine (6% of the mass of the prepolymer solution) is added to continue the reaction for 60 minutes, and a prepolymer modified kapok fiber is obtained;

[0025] (3) the prepolymer modified kapok fiber is immersed in a silk fibroin solution (10% of the mass concentration) again for 12 hours, and dried at 35-40℃ to obtain a silk fibroin modified kapok fiber;

[0026] (4) the silk fibroin modified kapok fiber is treated by an air flow puffing machine (temperature 80-90℃, pressure -0.08Mpa (i.e. the absolute pressure of negative pressure is 0.08Mpa), time 2.5 minutes), an antistatic agent (polyether ester amide, 0.3% of the mass concentration) accounting for 0.4% of the weight of the silk fibroin modified kapok fiber is sprayed, and dried at 60±5℃ to control the moisture content of the fiber after drying to be between 8-12% to obtain the modified kapok fiber.

[0027] The prepolymer solution is prepared by the following steps: acrylic acid, levodopa, EDC reagent and NHS reagent are mixed into a prepolymer according to a mass ratio of 1.5:1:1.2:1.2, dissolved in DMAC solvent (4 times the mass of the prepolymer), stirred at room temperature for 30 minutes, the pH is adjusted to 5.0-6.0, and then reacted in the dark for 10 hours, heated to 75±5℃ and added with azobisisobutyronitrile (1.5% of the mass of the prepolymer) to continue the reaction for 8 hours.

[0028] Examples 2-5

[0029] According to the parameters shown in Table 1 and adjusting the corresponding parameters of the preparation method of Example 1, the corresponding modified kapok fibers are prepared, the corresponding kapok pillows are obtained by filling the modified kapok fibers into the pillowcases. The parameters not embodied in Table 1 are the same as those of Example 1.

[0030] Table 1 Process parameter table

[0031]

[0032]

[0033] Comparative Example 1

[0034] The difference from Example 1 is that step (1) is not performed.

[0035] Comparative Example 2

[0036] The difference from Example 1 is that step (2) is not performed.

[0037] Comparative Example 3

[0038] The difference from Example 1 is that the amount of hexanediamine is halved (3%).

[0039] Comparative Example 4

[0040] The difference from Example 1 is that step (3) is not performed.

[0041] Comparative Example 5

[0042] The difference from Example 1 is that the air flow puffing pressure is insufficient (-0.06 Mpa, i.e. the absolute pressure of negative pressure is 0.06 Mpa).

[0043] Comparative Example 6

[0044] The difference from Example 1 is that no antistatic agent is sprayed.

[0045] Comparative Example 7

[0046] The difference from Example 1 is that the drying temperature in step (3) is too high (50℃).

[0047] Comparative Example 8

[0048] The difference from Example 1 is that the pre-polymer reaction time is insufficient (after adjusting the pH to 5.0-6.0, avoid light reaction for 8 hours).

[0049] Comparative Example 9

[0050] The difference from Example 1 is that the plasma treatment time is too long (90s).

[0051] Comparative Example 10

[0052] The difference from Example 1 is that the concentration of silk fibroin is too high (20%).

[0053] The kapok pillows prepared in Examples 1-7 and Comparative Examples 1-10 were tested for resilience, loftiness, and caking rate. Among them, the resilience was tested according to GB / T 38202-2019 vertical compression method (compression rate 50%), the loftiness was tested according to GB / T 24218.3-2010 unit volume mass method, and the caking rate was tested by pillow core simulation stacking test (height loss rate was measured after 72h). The results are shown in Table 2.

[0054]

[0055] Table 2 Performance Test Table

[0056] Group Resilience (%) Bulk (kg / m 3 )]]> Caking rate (%) Example 1 72 142 3 Example 2 78 138 2 Example 3 75 145 4 Example 4 73 140 3 Example 5 76 135 2 Example 6 70 142 5 Example 7 65 150 8 Comparative Example 1 58 168 18 Comparative Example 2 61 172 15 Comparative Example 3 65 158 9 Comparative Example 4 70 148 8 Comparative Example 5 72 165 6 Comparative Example 6 74 140 12 Comparative Example 7 68 135 10 Comparative Example 8 63 152 7 Comparative Example 9 60 160 14 Comparative Example 10 71 143 9

[0057] ​From Table 2, it can be seen that, compared with Example 1 (60W) and Example 5 (75W), when the power is increased from 60W to 75W, the resilience increases from 72% to 76%, but when the power is further increased to 100W (Example 6), the fiber is over-etched, and the resilience decreases to 70%; when the processing time is too long (Comparative Example 9 (90S)), the micro-porous structure of the fiber is damaged, and the resilience further decreases to 60%, indicating that the resilience is sensitive to the plasma activation parameters.

[0058] Comparative Example 2 (skipping Step 2) has a resilience of only 61% due to the lack of a dynamic Schiff base structure, and the caking rate increases to 15%; Example 3 (reducing the amount of hexanediamine) has a resilience of 75% due to insufficient cross-linking density, indicating that the cross-linking density is positively correlated with the resilience.

[0059] Example 4 (8% silk fibroin concentration) has a bulkiness of 140 kg / m 3 but a caking rate of 3%; Comparative Example 10 (20% silk fibroin concentration) has a bulkiness of 143 kg / m 3 but a caking rate of 9%, verifying that the silk fibroin coating has a double-edged sword effect, and the contradiction between flexibility and air permeability needs to be balanced.

[0060] Example 5 (pressure -0.08 MPa) has a bulkiness of 135 kg / m 3 which is optimal, while Comparative Example 5 (pressure -0.06 MPa) has a bulkiness of 165 kg / m 3 and a caking rate of 6%, proving that high-pressure gas flow is the key to fiber dispersion and recombination.

[0061] Comparative Example 6 (without spraying antistatic agent) has a caking rate of 12%, which is significantly higher than the 3% of Example 1, confirming the role of surface charge regulation in inhibiting fiber aggregation.

[0062] In summary, Example 5 has the best comprehensive performance, while Comparative Examples 1-10 have parameter deviations, which will all lead to performance degradation, highlighting the importance of the four-step synergistic modification.

[0063] The above only describes the preferred embodiments of the present application, and the protection scope of the present application is not limited to the above examples. Any technical solutions within the scope of the present application should be considered within the protection scope of the present application. It should be noted that, for ordinary technical personnel in the technical field, some improvements and refinements without departing from the principles of the present application should also be considered within the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A fluffy, non-clumping kapok pillow, characterized in that, The product includes a pillowcase and modified kapok fibers filling the inside of the pillowcase; the method for preparing the modified kapok fibers includes the following steps: (1) Place the kapok fiber in a low-temperature plasma device, introduce a mixture of argon and oxygen, and treat it for 30-60 seconds under a vacuum of 10-30 Pa and a power of 50-120 W to obtain plasma-modified kapok fiber. (2) Immerse the plasma-modified kapok fiber in the prepolymer solution for 60-90 minutes, add hexamethylenediamine and continue the reaction for 30-60 minutes to obtain the prepolymer-modified kapok fiber. (3) The prepolymer modified kapok fiber is immersed in the silk fibroin solution for 10-15 hours and dried at 30-40℃ to obtain silk fibroin modified kapok fiber. (4) The silk fibroin modified kapok fiber is processed by an airflow puffing machine, sprayed with an antistatic agent, and the moisture content of the fiber is controlled to be 8-12% after drying to obtain the modified kapok fiber.

2. The kapok pillow according to claim 1, characterized in that, Step (1): Argon flow rate is 30L / min, oxygen flow rate is 30L / min; vacuum degree is 15-25Pa, processing time is 40-50 seconds, power is 70-80W.

3. The kapok pillow according to claim 1, characterized in that, The prepolymer solution is prepared by the following steps: acrylic acid, levodopa, EDC reagent and NHS reagent are mixed in a mass ratio of 1.5:1:1.2:1.2 to form a prepolymer, dissolved in DMAC solvent, stirred at room temperature for 30 minutes, the pH is adjusted to 5.0-6.0 and reacted in the dark for 10-15 hours, the temperature is raised to 70-80℃ and azobisisobutyronitrile is added and the reaction is continued for 8-10 hours to obtain the prepolymer solution.

4. The kapok pillow according to claim 3, characterized in that, The amount of azobisisobutyronitrile added is 1-2% of the mass of the prepolymer.

5. The kapok pillow according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step (2), the temperature of the prepolymer solution is 35±2℃, and the soaking time is 75-85 minutes; the amount of hexamethylenediamine added is 5-10% of the mass of the prepolymer solution.

6. The kapok pillow according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step (3), the silk fibroin solution is soaked for 12-15 hours and the drying temperature is 35-40℃.

7. The kapok pillow according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step (4), the temperature of the airflow puffing machine is 80-90℃, the absolute negative pressure is not less than 0.08MPa, and the time is 2-3 minutes.

8. The kapok pillow according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step (4), the amount of antistatic agent sprayed is 0.3-0.4% of the fiber weight, the final drying temperature is 60±5℃, and the moisture content of the fiber after drying is 9-11%.

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