MELT ELECTROSTATIC SPINNING METHOD AND EXTRA-FINE FIBER

摘要

An extra-fine fiber composed of thermoplastic resin is produced with high energy efficiency and workability. The extra-fine fiber is produced through a step for thermally melting thermoplastic resin by irradiating it with a laser beam (7), and an electrostatic spinning step for collecting elongating fibers in a collector (8) by making a voltage act on the melting portion of thermoplastic resin. A voltage may be made to act on the melting portion of thermoplastic resin by applying a voltage between an electrode portion (2) for imparting charges to the thermoplastic resin and the collector (8). Furthermore, a linear resin (1) which can be irradiated with the laser beam (7) from a plurality of radiating directions may be employed and the resin (1) inserted into a hole (3) formed in the electrode portion (2) may be supplied continuously to the thermally melting portion. As the laser beam (7), a laser beam having a beam diameter 2-50 times as large as the average diameter of the linear resin may be employed. According to the method, an extra-fine fiber having an average fiber diameter of 5 µm or less (especially, fiber diameter of 50-1000 nm) can be obtained.