Matrix-fibril morphology development of polypropylene/poly(butylenes terephthalate) blend fibers at different zones of melt spinning process and its relation to mechanical properties

Abstract

Different shapes of dispersed phase such as sphere, laminar and fibrillar can form in the matrix phase of polymer blends. Production of blend fibers in melt spinning process can result more effective in fibrillar phase morphology formation than in other processes. In this research, the matrix-fibril morphology development during the melt spinning of polypropylene/poly(butylenes terephthalate) was studied. The shapes of blend dispersed phase collected from different zones of the melt spinning line were evaluated by scanning electron micrographs (SEM) and rheological mechanical spectra (RMS). The results showed that fibrillar shape could not be created in the PP/PBT blend fiber samples exited from the spinneret orifice (gravity spun fibers) at low contents (5 percent) of the PBT dispersed phase. However, a complete fibrillar structure was formed in all the as-spun PP/PBT blend fiber samples (melt drawn). The rheological evaluations confirmed a network structure resulting from fibril formation for the samples with high contents (20–40 %) of the PBT dispersed phase and the formation of spherical shape with low contents (5–10 %) of the PBT dispersed phase in matrix of the blend fibers. It was observed that the flow fields of processing zones and blend ratio, in producing the blend fibers, have intensive effects on morphological variations; besides there was a strong relation between the mechanical and morphological properties.