Braided protective sleeve with heat-shrinkable yarns and method of construction thereof

1. A protective braided sleeve, comprising:

a seamless, circumferentially continuous, flexible tubular wall extending lengthwise along a central longitudinal axis between opposite ends, said wall including a plurality of yarns braided with one another to provide said wall having a first thickness in a first non-heat-treated state, a first plurality of said plurality of yarns being substantially non-heat-shrinkable yarns and a second plurality of said plurality of yarns being cross-linked heat-shrinkable yarns, said wall being heat-treatable to transform said wall to a second heat-treated state, whereat said cross-linked heat-shrinkable yarns are shrunken lengthwise at a heat-treating temperature that does not cause said non-heat-shrinkable yarns to shrink substantially, thereby causing said substantially non-heat-shrinkable yarns to be axially bunched in the second heat-treated state, whereupon said wall is provided having a second thickness being between about 25-90 percent greater than said first thickness.

2. The protective braided sleeve of claim 1 , said second thickness being between about 50-90 percent greater than said first thickness.

3. The protective braided sleeve of claim 1 , said second thickness being between about 70-90 percent greater than said first thickness.

4. The protective braided sleeve of claim 1 , wherein said wall has a first resistance to abrasion while in said first non-heat-treated state and a second resistance to abrasion while in said second heat-treated state, said second resistance to abrasion being greater than said first resistance to abrasion.

5. The protective braided sleeve of claim 1 , wherein said wall has a first resistance to end fray while in said first non-heat-treated state and a second resistance to end fray while in said second heat-treated state, said second resistance to end fray being greater than said first resistance to end fray.

6. The protective braided sleeve of claim 1 , wherein said wall has a first heat resistance while in said first non-heat-treated state and a second heat resistance while in said second heat-treated state, said second heat resistance being greater than said first heat resistance.

7. The protective braided sleeve of claim 1 , wherein said wall has a first density while in said first non-heat-treated state and a second density while in said second heat-treated state, said second density being greater than said first density.

8. The protective braided sleeve of claim 1 , wherein said non-heat-shrinkable yarns and said cross-linked heat-shrinkable yarns are braided with one another in equal numbers of ends, with said non-heat-shrinkable yarns and said cross-linked heat-shrinkable yarns being braided with one another in a 1:1 braid pattern, with said non-heat-shrinkable yarns and said cross-linked heat-shrinkable yarns alternating with one another in opposite S and Z helical directions.

9. The protective braided sleeve of claim 1 , wherein said non-heat-shrinkable yarns are multifilaments and said cross-linked heat-shrinkable yarns are monofilaments.

10. A protective braided sleeve, comprising:

a seamless, circumferentially continuous, flexible tubular wall extending lengthwise along a central longitudinal axis between opposite ends, said wall including a first plurality of cross-linked heat-shrinkable yarns braided with a second plurality of yarns, with said first plurality of cross-linked heat-shrinkable yarns and said second plurality of yarns having different heat-shrink ratios from one another, said wall having a first thickness prior to exposing said wall to a heat-treatment process and a second thickness after exposing said wall to said heat-treatment process, said second thickness being between about 25-90 percent greater than said first thickness.

11. The protective braided sleeve of claim 10 , wherein said wall has a first length prior to exposing said wall to said heat-treatment process and a second length after exposing said wall to said heat-treatment process, said second length being less than said first length.

12. The protective braided sleeve of claim 11 , wherein said second length is at least 10 percent less than said first length.

13. The protective braided sleeve of claim 12 , wherein said first plurality of cross-linked heat-shrinkable yarns shrink lengthwise at least 10 percent of an as braided length upon exposing said wall to said heat-treatment process and said second plurality of yarns shrink lengthwise less than 2 percent of an as braided length upon exposing said wall to said predetermined temperature.

14. The protective braided sleeve of claim 13 , wherein said first plurality of cross-linked heat-shrinkable yarns are monofilaments and said second plurality of yarns are multifilaments.

15. A method of constructing a protective textile sleeve, comprising:

braiding a plurality of cross-linked heat-shrinkable first yarns with a plurality of second yarns to form a seamless tubular wall extending lengthwise along a central longitudinal axis, with the resulting seamless tubular wall having a first thickness; and

heat-treating the braided wall and causing the cross-linked heat-shrinkable first yarns to shrink lengthwise and causing the second yarns to become axially bunched under a force imparted by the cross-linked heat-shrinkable first yarns causing the seamless tubular wall to expand to a second thickness that is greater than the first thickness.

16. The method of claim 15 , further including increasing the first thickness between about 25-90 percent to the second thickness.

17. The method of claim 16 , further including increasing the first thickness between about 50-90 percent to the second thickness.

18. The method of claim 15 , further including increasing the first thickness between about 70-90 percent to the second thickness.

19. The method of claim 15 , further including causing the cross-linked heat-shrinkable first yarns to shrink lengthwise at least 10 percent upon heat-treating the braided wall and causing the second yarns to shrink lengthwise less than 2 percent upon heat-treating the braided wall.