A preliminary study for fiber spinning of mixed solutions of polyrotaxane and cellulose in a dimethylacetamide/lithium chloride (DMAc/LiCl) solvent system

Polyrotaxane fiber and polyrotaxane/cellulose blend fibers were prepared by wet-spinning of the polyrotaxane or polyrotaxane/cellulose blend solution dissolved in the new solvent system, i.e. dimethylacetamide/lithium chloride (DMAc/LiCl), into methanol and a subsequent annealing. In the resultant polyrotaxane/cellulose fiber, some undissolved rodlike cellulose microcrystals were oriented along with the fiber axis, resulting in formation of nanocomposite-like structure. From tensile measurements, it was found that the Young's modulus and tensile strength of the fibers with polyrotaxane/cellulose ratio of 1:1 and 2:1 were higher than those of the pure cellulose fiber. Although the mechanical properties of the fiber with polyrotaxane/cellulose ratio of 4:1 and the pure polyrotaxane fiber were lower than those of the pure cellulose fiber, these fibers showed significantly large strain at break (up to 90% strain), presumably due to the sliding of the cyclodextrin rings of the polyrotaxane in the fibers.