1. Field of the Invention
This invention is broadly concerned with a fiber treatment composition, a fiber treated by the composition and a method of treating the fiber by means of the composition and is intended particularly to be used on cloths like stockings, leather products made of vinyl chloride resin, leather products of synthetic or artificial leather, ground cloth of the leather products, and upholstery for automobiles.
2. Description of the Related Art
A fiber treatment process using a composition containing silicon resin, polyurethane resin, polyacrylic group resin, or fluorine group resin has previously been know to impart flexibility or elasticity to fibers or plain cloth and to prevent wrinkling of plain cloth. In a super-soft processing treatment, the silicon resin and the polyurethane resin are generally employed as main resins to obtain the desired texture. Giving an example, amino-denatured silicon is commonly used in the art as being excellent for softening fibers or plain cloth and giving fine soft feeling, draping feeling and stretch back characteristics. For the purpose of giving a volume, elasticity and dry feeling, the polyurethane resin is also utilized.
However, it is also noted that an amino-denatured silicon group finisher tends to hardly block hygroscopic properties of fibers and cloth. Other treatment compositions containing ethylene oxide or an emulsifying agent are utilized to obtain a desired hygroscopic property but do not achieve durability or tend to badly influence flexibility. A treatment composition containing a methyl group in order to improve durability is also well known in the art, but it is not suitable for use with plain cloth worn next to the skin as it includes formalin. From these viewpoints, a general softening agent for obtaining the desired hygroscopic property or a hard softening agent for obtaining dry feeling are often used together.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a fiber treatment composition capable of giving a fiber/cloth a comfortable, dry feeling like a natural fiber/cloth, fine hygroscopic property and durability, and to provide a fiber/cloth treated by the treatment composition and a preferable method of processing a fiber/cloth by using the treatment composition.