The fabrication of poly(ethylene terephthalate), PET, into fibers, films, and containers usually involves molecular orientation caused by molecular strain, which may lead to stress- or strain-induced crystallization (SIC). The SIC of PET was studied by the methods of birefringence, density, thermal analysis, light scattering, and wide-angle X-ray. The development of crystallinity is discussed in relation to the rate of crystallization, the residual degree of orientation, and stress relaxation. The experimental procedure involves stretching samples at temperatures above the glass transition temperature, Tg, to a given extension ratio and at a specific strain rate of an Instron machine. At the end of stretching, the sample is annealed in the stretched state and at the stretching temperature for various periods of time, after which the sample is quickly quenched to room temperature for subsequent measurements. During stretching, the stress strain and the stress relaxation curves are recorded. The results indicate that the SIC of annealed, stretched PET can proceed in three different paths depending on the residual degree of orientation. At a low degree of residual orientation, as indicated by the birefringence value, annealing of stretched PET leads only to molecular relaxation, resulting in a decrease of birefringence. At intermediate orientation levels, annealing causes an initial decrease in birefringence followed by a gradual increase and finally a leveling off of birefringence after a fairly long period of time. At higher orientation levels, annealing causes a rapid increase in birefringence before leveling off. The interpretation of the above results is made using the measurements of light scattering, differential scanning calorimetry, and wide-angle X-ray. The rate of the SIC of PET is also discussed in terms of specific data analysis. 相似文献
Liquid crystalline polymers can be processed to form high strength/modulus materials. In processing these materials, it is apparent that molecular orientation is an important factor in determining the physical strength of the processed materials. In this study a systematic investigation was carried out to determine how a thermotropic copolyester of parahydroxybenzoic acid (PHB) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) responds to two basic types of flows: shear and extensional flow. This was accomplished by preparing sheared and extended samples under controlled conditions of temperature and flow history. Sheared disks were prepared using a disk and plate geometry of a Rheometrics Mechanical Spectrometer (RMS model 605), while extended ribbons were prepared using a slit die attached to an Instron capillary rheometer. Two copolymerer compositions of 60 mole percent and 80 mol percent PHB were investigated. The sheared disks and extended ribbons were investigated for molecular orientation and morphological textures using wide angle x-ray scattering (WAXS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, respectively. It was found that extensional flow has a greater capacity for orienting such materials than shear flow. Samples annealed at their softening points for 1 minute (240°C for the 60 mole percent PHB/PET copolymer and 300°C for the 80 mole percent PHB/PET copolymer) showed no significant loss of orientation, indicating that once orientation is produced it may remain in the melt for a long period of time. Sheared samples prepared by shearing the sample while cooling showed significantly higher degrees of orientation than those not cooled while being sheared. This may indicate that a minimum stress level exists for the production of orientation in shear flow. 相似文献
Summary: A new process has been developed to produce three‐dimensional nonwovens directly from staple fibres. In order to establish suitable windows of the process parameters to achieve high‐quality nonwoven products, the effects of thermal bonding temperature, dwell time and mould material on the morphology and structure of the fibre have been investigated using PP/PET bi‐component fibres. It was evident from both scanning electron microscope images and Raman spectra that thermal‐induced shrinkage of the PP sheath fibre occurred in the thermal bonding process, leading to deformation and cracking of the PP sheath and exposure of the PET core. X‐ray diffraction results revealed crystal imperfection and/or less ordered polymer chains, more γ‐form and thermal contraction of the crystal lattice for the PP sheath fibre, while birefringence measurements indicated that both the birefringence and the orientation factor for the PP fibre decreased after the thermal bonding process. The degrees of the thermal‐induced shrinkage increased, and the crystallinity, birefringence and orientation factor of the PP sheath fibre decreased with increasing thermal bonding temperature, dwell time and thermal conductivity of the mould material. All these can be attributed to the different levels of modification of chemical composition caused by thermal oxidative degradation and thermal‐induced relaxation of the orientation during the thermal bonding process.
Changes of morphology and crystalline features of PP/PET fibre after thermal bonding process. 相似文献
A mathematical model to describe the thermal channel spinning (TCS) process in PET high‐speed melt‐spinning has been developed. This model, which is based on the spinning process kinematics, includes the effects of acceleration, gravity, and surfacial air friction. It incorporates the constitutive equation of PET polymer, the heat transfer related to the transverse air blowing and, in particular, to a convection and radiation combining procedure in the thermal channel, while taking into account the nonisothermal crystallization kinetics related to temperature and molecular orientation as well as the elongational viscosity of PET polymer connected with temperature, intrinsic viscosity and crystallinity. The developments of crystallinity, molecular orientation and morphological features of high‐speed‐spun PET fiber in the TCS process are investigated at take‐up speeds ranging from 3 600–4 400 m/min and thermal channel temperatures ranging from 160–200°C. The simulated results of this model are compared with the measured crystallinity, diameter, and birefringence of the spun yarn. The “necking point” in the TCS spinline can be predicted by this model. 相似文献
An investigation was undertaken to establish processing–structure–property relationships in poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) blown film. For the study, a commercial grade of PET was used to fabricate the film specimens by means of a tubular film blowing process. In this process, the stretch temperature was accurately controlled by an oven. The annealing treatment of the oriented specimens involved clamping the sample in an aluminum frame and then putting the clamped sample in an oven, controlled at a temperature between the glass transition temperature (70°C) and the melting point (255°C) of PET, for a specified annealing period. The structure of the blown film samples was characterized by density, bulk birefringence, flat plate wide-angle X-ray scattering, and pole figure analysis. The processing variables, namely, takeup ratio, blowup ratio, and stretch temperature were found to significantly affect the bulk birefringence and density of the oriented PET blown film samples. It was found that both the bulk birefringence and density of the specimens increased upon annealing at an elevated temperature. Both the crystalline and amorphous orientation functions were calculated from the data of bulk birefringence, density, and the pole figure analysis. Compared to the amorphous orientation functions, the crystalline orientation functions were found to be relatively insensitive to the processing variables. It was concluded that equibiaxially oriented PET films can be produced via a tubular film blowing process by judiciously controlling the processing and annealing conditions. It has also been observed that the tensile stress-at-break of equibiaxially oriented PET film increases with decreasing stretch temperature and increasing annealing temperature. 相似文献