Property and Structure of Novel Absorptive Fiber Prepared by Blending Butyl Methacrylate-Hydroxyethyl Methacrylate Copolymer with Low Density Polyethylene

Abstract

A novel absorptive fiber based on butyl methacrylate (BMA)-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) copolymer and low density polyethylene (LDPE) was prepared by the method of gelation-spinning in twin screw extruding machine, swelling behavior, thermal behavior, crystallization behavior and nonisothermal crystallization kinetics were investigated, finally, the morphology structure for the cross-section was observed by SEM. The results show that the saturated absorbency for the blend fiber gradually decreases with increasing mass fraction of LDPE in mixture ratio from 10 wt% to 30 wt%. The results analyzed by DSC and WAXD show that crystallization and melting behaviors for the blend fiber are similar to those for pure LDPE fiber, and the crystallinity for the blend fiber decreases with decreasing mass fraction of LDPE. The results observed by SEM show that the cross-section for BMA-HEMA copolymer fiber shows a mono-phase structure with many cavities, as mass fraction of LDPE increases from 10 wt% to 30 wt%, the morphology structure with one continuous phase is transformed into another structure with two continuous phases, and the number of the cavities in the cross-section decreases, finally, the cross-section for LDPE fiber again shows a mono-phase structure without any cavities.