Cork yarn, production method and uses
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current textile products incorporating cork lack flexibility, malleability, breathability, and chemical bonding with textile substrates, making them unsuitable for clothing and home textiles due to brittleness, difficulty in seaming, and inadequate care and conservation.
Innovation Solution
Development of a cork yarn with at least 2% cork particles and a polymeric binder, allowing chemical binding to textile yarns, enabling the creation of woven, non-woven, and knitted fabrics that are flexible, breathable, and easy to process, using coating processes like knife coating and thermosetting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If cork sheets are laminated with fabrics to create cork textiles, then cork content is incorporated into textile products, but the resulting material lacks flexibility and becomes brittle
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides cork into fine particles (0.001-0.85 mm) rather than using whole sheets or large granules. This segmentation allows cork to be distributed uniformly throughout the yarn structure, creating flexibility while maintaining high cork content. The fine particles can move and adjust within the yarn matrix, preventing brittleness.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention creates a composite yarn structure combining textile fibers with cork particles bound by polymeric binder. This composite approach integrates the advantages of different materials: textile fibers provide flexibility and processability, cork particles provide the desired cork content and properties, and the binder ensures chemical bonding. The resulting yarn exhibits both high cork content and good flexibility.
2Quantity of substance
If cork sheets are used in textile products, then cork is incorporated, but seaming becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the physical parameters of cork from sheet form to fine particles with specific size distribution (0.001-0.85 mm). This parameter change transforms the material from rigid and difficult to seam into a flexible form that can be easily integrated into yarns and subsequently into wearable textile products that are easy to seam and assemble.
3Quantity of substance
If cork sheets are laminated with fabrics, then cork is incorporated into textiles, but breathability is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies cork particles locally within the yarn structure rather than creating a continuous laminated layer. The fine cork particles are distributed throughout the yarn cross-section, allowing air and moisture to pass through the interstices between particles and fibers. This localized incorporation maintains breathability while achieving high cork content.
4Stability of the object's composition
If cork particles are incorporated into textile yarns with polymeric binder, then chemical bonding is achieved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention uses polymeric binder as an intermediary substance that chemically bonds cork particles to textile fibers. The binder acts as a mediator that facilitates strong adhesion between the hydrophobic cork particles and the fiber surface, creating a stable composite yarn. This intermediary approach simplifies the manufacturing process by providing a straightforward coating and bonding mechanism.
5Quantity of substance
If cork sheets are used in clothing, then cork protection is provided, but the material becomes brittle and difficult to conserve
Solution Approach 1:
The invention creates a composite structure where cork particles are chemically bonded to flexible textile fibers through polymeric binder. This composite approach combines the protective and insulating properties of cork with the flexibility, durability, and ease of care of textile materials. The resulting yarn and fabric maintain cork's protective qualities while gaining the conservation advantages of wearable textiles.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The cork yarn enhances fabric properties such as breaking strength, elongation, pilling resistance, wash fastness, and dimensional stability, while being more breathable and easier to seam, suitable for clothing and home textiles, with improved eco-friendliness and sustainability.
Implementation Method 1
a polymeric binder for binding the cork particles to the textile yarn
Implementation Method 2
using coating processes like knife coating and thermosetting
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A~2B
Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
The present disclosure refers to a cork yarn, in particular a yarn with incorporated cork, textile structures comprising said yarn, obtention method and uses thereof. The cork yarn described in the present disclosure is useful to the textile and clothing industry, and can be applied extensively in the textile industry namely in the manufacture of fabrics for clothing and home textiles, in particular technical clothing, duvets, blankets, covers, etc.