Effect of Vibration on Drawing and Annealing of High- Speed Spun Poly(trimethylene terephthalate) Fiber

Abstract

AbstractThe physical properties of poly(trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT) fibres were improved by means of vibration in the hot-drawing and annealing, which may be caused by the developed molecular packing. For high-speed spun PTT fibers, it was not until at the take-up speed of 3~4 km/min that the orientation induced crystallization started to emerge due to extensional stress occurred in spin line; confirmed from the results of WAXD and DSC. The PTT fibers obtained at the take-up speeds of 2~3 km/min and then drawn and annealed with vibration possessed low density and weight-crystallinity, but their birefringence was especially high. Moreover, the estimation of both refractive index parallel and normal directions to fiber axis using the interference microscopy showed that the refractive index parallel to the fiber axis was very high, which enhanced the mechanical properties of PTT fiber. Accordingly, the well-oriented chains along the fiber axis allow the PTT fiber to have better physical property such as elastic recovery although the PTT fiber has low density and crystallinity compared to PET and PBT. In effect, the PTT fiber possesses lower birefringence of over 10 times than those of PET and PBT due to its chain conformational characteristics. Therefore, we do suggest that the structural assessment against the subsequent mechanical properties according to various processes in the PTT fiber is preferred to be estimated through the respective refractive indices of parallel and normal to the fiber axis rather than conventional methods such as birefringence, crystallinity, and crystalline orientation.