Preparation of high-modulus and high-strength poly(ethylene terephthalate) fiber by zone annealing

Abstract

To prepare high-modulus and high-strength PET fiber, a new method using zone drawing and zone annealing has been studied. The apparatus used for this method is the usual tensile tester equipped with a band heater 2 mm wide and a sample holder which can apply a high tension to the fiber. The experimental procedure consists of two stages: zone drawing and zone annealing. The zone drawing was done on the original as-spun fiber in order to produce a fiber with as high an orientation and as low a crystallinity as possible. The zone-drawn fiber was subsequently zone annealed under high tension by moving the band heater from one end to the other of the fiber at a temperature above the crystallization temperature at a considerably low moving speed. In spite of the simple apparatus and procedure, Young's modulus of the fiber obtained was 19.4 × 1010 dyn/cm2, which is comparable to the maximum value of the high-tenacity PET filament commercially available. In order to elucidate the change in the superstructure with zone drawing or zone annealing, optical, x-ray, IR, DSC, and dynamic mechanical measurements were performed. It is suggested that the zone-annealed fiber consists of almost perfectly oriented crystallites and fully extended amorphous chains.