Europaisches Patentamt (19) European Patent Office Office europeenpeen des brevets EP 0 533 931 B1 (12) EUROPEAN PATENT SPECIFICATION (45) Date of publication and mention (51) intci.6: D03D 15/12, D03D 15/00, of the grant of the patent: D01F6/60, D01F6/80, 21.01.1998 Bulletin 1998/04 D02G 3/04 (21) Application number: 91911492.6 (86) International application number: PCT/JP91/00778 (22) Date of filing: 11.06.1991 (87) International publication number: WO 91/19842 (26.12.1991 Gazette 1991/29) (54) FABRIC MADE FROM BLENDED YARN COMPRISING AROMATIC POLYAMIDE FIBER AND POLYESTER FIBER GEWEBE HERGESTELLT AUS GEMISCHTEN FADEN VON AROMATISCHER POLYAM I D FAS E R UND POLYESTERFASER TISSU COMPOSE DE FIL MELANGE COMPRENANT UNE FIBRE EN POLYAMIDE AROMATIQUE ET UNE FIBRE EN POLYESTER (84) Designated Contracting States: • NAKAYAMA, Genji, 2-12-6-107, Hirata DE GB IT Osaka 567 (JP) • TAKIMOTO, Noboru, 3-75, Yuge-cho (30) Priority: 11.06.1990 JP 149866/90 Osaka 581 (JP) • HOSOYAMA, Koichi, 4-3-2, Mayumi (43) Date of publication of application: Nara 630-01 (JP) 31.03.1993 Bulletin 1993/13 (74) Representative: Hoeger, Stellrecht & Partner (73) Proprietor: TEIJIN LIMITED Uhlandstrasse 14 c Osaka-shi Osaka 541 (JP) 70182 Stuttgart (DE) (72) Inventors: (56) References cited: • TANAKA, Makoto, 1-15-26, Nakasakurazuka EP-A- 0 330 163 DE-A- 3 307 449 Osaka 560 (JP) JP-A-63 196 741 US-D-519 355 DO CO O) CO CO lO Note: Within nine months from the publication of the mention of the grant of the European patent, any person may give notice the Patent Office of the Notice of shall be filed in o to European opposition to European patent granted. opposition a written reasoned statement. It shall not be deemed to have been filed until the opposition fee has been paid. (Art. a. 99(1) European Patent Convention). LU Printed by Jouve, 75001 PARIS (FR) EP 0 533 931 B1 Description TECHNICAL FIELD 5 The present invention relates to a fabric composed of blended yarns of aromatic polyamide fibers and polyester fibers. More particularly, the present invention relates to an aromatic polyamide fiber-polyester fiber blended yarn fabric suitable for flame-resistant attire that are worn by firemen, and other persons potentially exposed to fire including operators in electric power and chemical factories. 10 BACKGROUND ART As fibers that are resistant to combustion when exposed to flame, and have no thermal fusibility, cotton and wool fibers treated with a flame-retarder, flame-retardant Vinylon (trademark) and flame-retardant rayon are known and supplied as a flame-retardant cloth-forming material to commercial markets. Those conventional flame-retardant fibers is are disadvantageous in that said fibers sometimes do not necessarily have flame resistance or heat resistance sufficient to protect the wearer when exposed to temperatures of 200°C or more for an extended period. The fabric made from the above-mentioned flame retarder-treated fibers essentially have no heat-setting proper- ties. Therefore, a cloth made from the flame retarder-treated fiber is disadvantageous in that the trim appearance of the cloth is nullified by vanishing pleats or wrinkles forming thereon during wear, and thus the garment must be ironed 20 after every wear. Wrinkles are also formed after laundering, thereby necessitating ironing before use if a trim appear- ance is required. On the other hand, carbonized rayon fibers and polybenzimidazole fibers are known as fibers having excellent heat resistance and flame resistant, and are supplied for practical use as a material for flame resistant cloth. However, these fibers are poor in dyeability and a resultant cloth made from said fibers provides an unsatisfactory appearance, 25 texture and mechanical strength, whereas the fibers have a high heat resistance and flame resistance. Accordingly, poly(metaphenyleneisophthalamide) fibers having excellent heat and flame resistance, mechanical strength sufficiently high when formed into a working cloth, and satisfactory dyeability in every color, are now widely used as a material for flame resistant cloth. Nevertheless, the poly(metaphenyleneisophthalamide) fibers are essentially heat resistant fibers and thus have 30 poor heat-setting properties. Thus, a fabric comprising, as the main component thereof, such fibers exhibits poor form- retaining properties and dimensional stability similar to those of a fabric made from cellulose fibers. Therefore, when a cloth sewn from the fabric is worn, pleats on the cloth vanish and wrinkles are formed, which degrade the appearance of the cloth. Therefore, the cloth must be ironed after every wear or laundered. However, since the functional properties, for example, heat resistance, flame resistance and flame retardance, of the poly(metaphenyleneisophthalamide) fibers 35 are considered to be important, an elimination of the above-mentioned disadvantages, namely, low form-retaining properties and dimensional stability, of the fibers have not yet been considered. On the other hand, polyester fibers have excellent heat-setting properties, and in a cloth made from the polyester fibers, pleats retain their form and wrinkles are not formed during wear. Also, the cloth is advantageous in that wrinkles do not form on the cloth after laundering, and thus is widely utilized as a wash-and-wear cloth. 40 In a fiber-blend fabric containing cellulose fibers, for example, cotton and rayon fibers, having no heat-setting properties, when the blending ratio of the polyester fibers to the cellulose fibers is adjusted to 65 weight% : 35 weight%, the resultant fabric exhibits relatively high form-retaining properties and dimensional stability and thus is widely and practically used. DE-A-33 07 449 discloses a flame-retardant fabric comprising aramid fibers and other chemical fibers, for example 45 flame-retardant viscose rayon fibers and/or flame-retardant polyester fibers, the viscose rayon fibers and polyester fibers containing a flame-retardant agent. US-A-486,804 discloses a flame protective cloth made from composite yarns composed of cores formed from aramid fibers and sheath portions formed from flame-retardant cellulose fibers. so DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION In consideration of the above-mentioned problems of the prior arts, the inventors of the present invention have strived to improve the form-retaining properties of a fabric comprising, as the main component thereof, aromatic polya- mide fibers. As a result, it was discovered that an aromatic polyamide fiber-polyester fiber-blended spun yarn fabric 55 having good form-retaining properties and dimensional stability can be obtained without lowering the heat resistance, flame retardance and flame resistance, by blending the aromatic polyamide fibers and the polyester fibers in a blending ratio within a specific range different from the customary blending ratio. The present invention was completed based on the conclusion as proposed above. 2 EP 0 533 931 B1 The aromatic polyamide fiber-polyester fiber-blended spun yarn fabric of the present invention comprises a fabric made of spun yarns comprising a uniform blend of: (A) 60 to 95% by weight of a first fiber component consisting of 50 to 1 00% by weight of aromatic polyamide fibers 5 and 0 to 50% by weight of cellulose fibers; and (B) 5 to 40% by weight of a second fiber component consisting of polyester fibers, and has a limiting oxygen index of 26 to 100 as determined according to Japanese Industrial Standard JIS K7201. The aromatic polyamide fibers used in the fabric of the present invention are further characterized in that they comprise 80 10 to 100% by weight of meta-type aramid fibers and 0 to 20% by weight of copolymerized para-type aramid fibers, the meta-type aramid fibers being selected from: (a) polymetaphenyleneisophthalamide fibers and, is (b) fibers comprising a mixture of polymetaphenyleneisophthalamide with at least one member selected from the group consisting of: (i) a polycondensation reaction product of an amine component comprising 35 to 1 00 molar% of xylenediamine and 0 to 65 molar% of at least one aromatic diamine with an acid component comprising at least one aromatic 20 dicarboxylic acid; (ii) a polycondensation reaction product of a diamine component comprising at least one phenylenediamine compound having a phenylene group substituted with at least one alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms and at least one unsubstituted aromatic diamine compound, with an acid component comprising at least one aro- 25 matic dicarboxylic acid, and (iii) a polycondensation reaction product of a diamine component comprising 40 to 100 molar% of at least one phenylenediamine compound having a phenylene group substituted with 1 to 4 halogen atoms and 0 to 60 molar% of at least one unsubstituted aromatic diamine compound, with an acid component comprising at least 30 one aromatic dicarboxylic acid BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a graph showing a relationship between a blending ratio, in weight, of meta-type aramid fibers to pol- 35 yesterfibers in a meta-type aramid fiber-polyester fiber-blended spun yarn fabric, and a limiting oxygen index (LOI) of the corresponding blended spun yarn fabric, and Fig. 2 is a graph showing relationships between a blending ratio, in weight, of meta-type aramid fibers to polyester fibers in a meta-type aramid fiber-polyester fiber-blended spun yarn fabric and crease resistance, resistance to crease formation by laundering and pleat-retention of the corresponding blended spun yarn fabric. 40 BEST MODE OF CARRING OUT THE INVENTION