| abstract |
A core/sheath conjugate fiber comprises a sheath component B of an ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer and a core component A of a different thermoplastic polymer. In its cross section, the core component A has at least 10 projections or exists as an aligned group of at least 10 flattened cross-section core components, the distance (I) between the neighboring projections or between the neighboring flattened cross-section core components is at most 1.5 μm, the projections or the flattened cross-section core components are so positioned that their major axes are all at an angle of 90°±15° to the outer periphery of the fiber cross section, and the ratio (X) of the outer peripheral length (L 2 ) of the core component A to the outer peripheral length (L 1 ) of the conjugate fiber satisfies the following formula (1): n X/C≧2 (1) n wherein X indicates the ratio of the outer peripheral length of the core component A to the outer peripheral length of the conjugate fiber (L 2 /L 1 ); and C indicates the conjugate ratio by mass of the core component A to the overall conjugate fiber defined as 1. |