Characterization of virgin and recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fibers

In this study, we compared the properties of recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fibers and virgin PET fibers. All these experiments present the differences or similarities between them on surface morphology, mechanical properties, and internal fiber structure. The results show that the surface morphology of both PET fibers is similar. According to the tests on mechanical properties, it can be observed that recycled PET fibers have a higher tensile strength and greater elongation at break. The recycled fiber has a higher degree of crystallinity while with the smaller average crystallite size based on the X-ray diffraction data. In polarized attenuated total reflectance infrared technique, the virgin fibers have a better performance than the recycled ones in orientation. Fourier Transform Infrared spectrum analysis indicates that both kinds of fibers have the similar representative groups.