ANTIBACTERIAL POLYVINYL ALCOHOL FIBER, ITS PRODUCTION AND CONSTRUCTION

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain an antibacterial polyvinyl alcohol fiber capable of keeping high antibacterial potency over a long period and having excellent fiber performance and appearance by wet-spinning a polyvinyl alcohol spinning dope containing a silver halide. SOLUTION: Silver chloride is produced by mixing a silver nitrate solution having a silver ion concentration of 0.01-10 wt.% with a halogen solution such as sodium chloride having a halogen ion concentration corresponding to 0.8-1.5 times the silver ion concentration of the former solution. The obtained silver chloride is dispersed in a polyvinyl alcohol solution and the dispersion is added to a polyvinyl alcohol solution to prepare a spinning dope having a silver content of 0.001-5 wt.%. The objective antibacterial polyvinyl alcohol fiber is produced by the wet-spinning of the spinning dope followed by drying and thermal drawing.