PLA Fibers Research Articles

INVESTIGATION OF THE USAGE OF ALTERNATIVE NEW GENERATION ECO-FRIENDLY FIBER BLENDS IN SYNTHETIC BASED DENIM FABRICS

Polyester yarn is made from post-consumer waste such as bottles, fabrics, etc., in the composition of polyester ethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyester (mainly polyethylene terephthalate, PET) is the most commonly employed textile fibre with over 50% share in total production of textile fibres. Pla is a biobased and biodegradable polymer produced from renewable resources. PLA is also a thermoplastic aliphatic compostable polyester. In this study, 75% Cotton - 25% PLA, 75% Lyocell - 25% PLA and 75% Cotton - 25% PET blended yarns were produced as rigid, corespun and dualcore in the ring spinning system .The fabrics were weaved with produced yarn. In the finishing processes, some of the fabrics were treated with caustic and some of the fabrics were only washed. Fabrics containing PLA and PET were compared with each other. Fabrics containing PLA and PET fiber were evaluated in terms of strength, elasticity, abrasion and pilling performances. Although the weft tensile and tear properties of Cotton-PLA blended fabrics are lower than Lyocell-PLA and Cotton-PET blends, it has been indicated that PLA blended yarns can be used as an alternative to PET based yarns and fabrics.

Effect of water and soil microbiota on structure and properties of PLA fiber composites

Nonwoven fibers from biodegradable polymers such as polylactide and natural rubber were obtained by electrospinning. The fiber morphology was studied by optical microscopy. Thermal properties were studied by differential scanning calorimetry. It is shown that after the action of water for 180 days, the glass transition temperature is not observed on DSC thermograms. The degree of crystallinity of all samples increases by 9- 12% depending on the composition. After exposure to soil, the glass transition temperature changes little for pure PLA and a sample containing 5 wt.% of natural rubber and decreases by 2-3 оC in samples with a rubber content of 10 and 15 wt.%. The melting point of PLA fiber increases by 2 оC during degradation in the soil, and in fibrous composites it decreases by 1.5 оC. Changes in the values of the degree of crystallinity have a similar tendency. Thus, under the same temperature and time conditions, water has a stronger effect compared to soil on the structure of nonwoven fibrous materials PLA/NR.

FLAMMABILITY BEHAVIOURS OF KNITTED FABRICS CONTAINING PLA, COTTON, LYOCELL, CHITOSAN FIBERS

In recent years, studies have focused on the development of fire retardant products that are produced without the use of flame retardants with toxic effects and do not have harmful effects on humans and the environment. In this work, it has been compared the flame retardant properties of some biodegradable fibers obtained from different sources. It is important to investigate the performance of textile surfaces obtained from renewable fibers for flame retardant products and to improve their usage possibilities. The fire retardancy properties of knitted fabrics containing PLA, cotton, lyocell, and chitosan fibers were studied by analyzing the LOI values and burning behaviors. Single jersey knitted fabrics composed of 100% PLA, 100% Lyocell, 95% PLA 5% Chitosan, 95% Cotton 5% Chitosan, 95% Lyocell 5%Chitosan, 80%PLA 15%Cotton 5%Chitosan, 80%PLA 15%Lyocell 5%Chitosan were produced. The flame speed of each material was determined and differences in the flammability behaviors of the fabrics were identified. The lowest flammability occurred for the fabric 95% PLA 5% Chitosan. The highest flammability was for 100% Lyocell knitted fabric.

Revisiting the Contribution of Additives to the Long-Term Mechanical Stability and Hydrolytic Resistance of Highly Crystalline Polylactide Fibers

Additives are widely used to improve the processability, toughness, and hydrolytic resistance of poly(lactic acid) (PLA)-based materials. This study compares neat PLA fibers and fibers made from PLA blends with either poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) as a plasticizer or poly(d-lactic acid) (PDLA) as a nucleating agent. The fibers have been characterized with regard to their physical and structural properties after fabrication as well as after artificial aging at elevated temperature and humidity conditions. All samples have been fabricated using industrial melt-spinning equipment, resulting in a high crystallinity of about XC = 80% and a good initial toughness. Long-term relaxation behavior has been assessed with a self-developed lifetime prediction model, which is successfully verified for semicrystalline blended fibers. Despite slight improvement of the fiber elasticity and ductility, both types of blended fibers demonstrated a reduced hydrolytic resistance. These results suggest a design strategy for neat durable PLA fibers through processing-induced high crystallinity and orientation, which provide improved hydrolytic stability while preserving tough mechanical performance.

The synergistic effect of heterogeneous nucleation and stress-induced crystallization on supramolecular structure and performances of poly(lactic acid) melt-spun fibers

As a kind of bio-based polymer, poly (lactic acid) has potential application in fibers fields. Due to the weak nucleation ability, PLA crystallizes slowly and forms large spherulites during the forming process, which deteriorates the properties of PLA fibers. In this work, melt-spun method is employed for the fabrication of PLA/T composite fibers using succinate diphenyl dihydrazide (TMC-306) as the nucleating agent, and then the hot-drawing and heat setting is performed to the as-spun fibers. Compared with pure PLA fibers, PLA/T fibers show faster crystallization rate and improved performance due to the synergistic effect of heterogeneous nucleation and stress-induced crystallization. The characterization of non-isothermal crystallization behavior indicates that the peak crystallization temperature as well as crystallinity of PLA composites is increased to 121.5 °C and 36.78 % respectively by blending 0.3 wt% TMC-306. Meanwhile, the obtained PLA/0.3T composite fibers are highly crystallized and oriented at hot-drawing ratio of 2.4 folds and heat setting temperature of 100 °C, and the conformational stability is noticeably enhanced. Further, the tensile strength and storage modulus of PLA/0.3T composite fiber are 3.46 cN/dtex and 46,953 MPa respectively, which are increased by 42 % and 41 % compared with neat PLA fibers.

Decomposition Behavior of Stereocomplex PLA Melt-Blown Fine Fiber Mats in Water and in Compost

This study introduces systematic and comparative investigations of various PLA fine fiber mats prepared by melt blowing. A series of PLLA and PDLA melt-blown fibers from various L and D enantiomers blends were produced. Their morphological, mechanical, and thermal properties were studied, and their decomposition in water and compost was investigated. It was found that the 1:1 ratio blend with stereocomplex crystals had an 80% lower average fiber diameter, 60% higher specific strength and better thermal stability than the PLLA and PDLA fiber mats. In the case of composting, the crystalline peak melting temperature, crystallinity, and thermogravimetric decomposition temperatures marginally decreased after 14 days. The high surface of the fine fiber mats played a crucial role in fast decomposition, as they entirely disintegrated in less than only 40 days. In the case of water, the homocrystalline domains were more susceptible to hydrolysis than the stereocomplex ones. All the PLA fiber mats underwent decomposition and extensive disintegration for 70 days in water. Hydrolysis reduced the amorphous and crystalline fraction of the fibers via surface and bulk erosion, while the decomposition of stereocomplex-crystalline-rich domains mainly exhibited surface erosion. Findings revealed that high porosity and the high surface area of PLA melt-blown fine fiber mats undergo fast decomposition in compost and in water.Graphical

Melt electrowriting of PLA, PCL, and composite PLA/PCL scaffolds for tissue engineering application

Fabrication of well-ordered and bio-mimetic scaffolds is one of the most important research lines in tissue engineering. Different techniques have been utilized to achieve this goal, however, each method has its own disadvantages. Recently, melt electrowriting (MEW) as a technique for fabrication of well-organized scaffolds has attracted the researchers’ attention due to simultaneous use of principles of additive manufacturing and electrohydrodynamic phenomena. In previous research studies, polycaprolactone (PCL) has been mostly used in MEW process. PCL is a biocompatible polymer with characteristics that make it easy to fabricate well-arranged structures using MEW device. However, the mechanical properties of PCL are not favorable for applications like bone tissue engineering. Furthermore, it is of vital importance to demonstrate the capability of MEW technique for processing a broad range of polymers. To address aforementioned problems, in this study, three ten-layered box-structured well-ordered scaffolds, including neat PLA, neat PCL, and PLA/PCL composite are fabricated using an MEW device. Printing of the composite PLA/PCL scaffold using the MEW device is conducted in this study for the first time. The MEW device used in this study is a commercial fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printer which with some changes in its setup and configuration becomes prepared for being used as an MEW device. Since in most of previous studies, a setup has been designed and built for MEW process, the use of the FDM device can be considered as one of the novelties of this research. The printing parameters are adjusted in a way that scaffolds with nearly equal pore sizes in the range of 140 µm to 150 µm are fabricated. However, PCL fibers are mostly narrower (diameters in the range of 5 µm to 15 µm) than PLA fibers with diameters between 15 and 25 µm. Unlike the MEW process of PCL, accurate positioning of PLA fibers is difficult which can be due to higher viscosity of PLA melt compared to PCL melt. The printed composite PLA/PCL scaffold possesses a well-ordered box structure with improved mechanical properties and cell-scaffold interactions compared to both neat PLA and PCL scaffolds. Besides, the composite scaffold exhibits a higher swelling ratio than the neat PCL scaffold which can be related to the presence of less hydrophobic PLA fibers. This scaffold demonstrates an anisotropic behavior during uniaxial tensile test in which its Young’s modulus, ultimate tensile stress, and strain to failure all depend on the direction of the applied tensile force. This anisotropy makes the composite PLA/PCL scaffold an exciting candidate for applications in heart tissue engineering. The results of in-vitro cell viability test using L929 mouse murine fibroblast and human umbilical vein endothelial (HUVEC) cells demonstrate that all of the printed scaffolds are biocompatible. In particular, the composite scaffold presents the highest cell viability value among the fabricated scaffolds. All in all, the composite PLA/PCL scaffold shows that it can be a promising substitution for neat PCL scaffold used in previous MEW studies.

Using rice straw fractions to develop reinforced, active PLA-starch bilayers for meat preservation

Bilayers from thermoplastic corn starch (TPS) and PLA were obtained, incorporating or not rice straw (RS) valorised fractions: active extract (es) into PLA and cellulose fibres (cf) into TPS films. The films were obtained by thermoprocessing while the bilayers were obtained by thermocompression of the different monolayers (TPS-PLA, TPScf-PLA, TPS-PLAes and TPScf-PLAes). TPS conferred oxygen barrier capacity to the laminates, which was improved by the cf incorporation. The extract slightly reduced the PLA resistance but improved their oxygen barrier capacity. The tensile and barrier properties of the bilayers revealed changes in the performance of each layer associated with the interlayer compound migration. The TPScf-PLAes bags exhibited noticeable antioxidant capacity when used in meat packaging and reduced microbial counts throughout cold storage. Therefore, these bilayers have considerable potential to extend the shelf-life of meat samples, preserving their quality and safety for longer, while using RS fractions permits its valorisation.

Waterless dyeing of polylactic acid with disperse dyes using decamethylcyclopentasiloxane as medium

AbstractPolylactic acid (PLA) fibre as a new generation of eco‐friendly polyester fibre is expected to substitute polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fibre to be an important textile fibre raw material. However, there exist severe strength loss and light dyeing colour by the traditional water bath dyeing method, which seriously affect the promotion and application of PLA fibre in the textile fields. Therefore, it is necessary to study waterless dyeing method for PLA. Decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5) possesses excellent physical and chemical properties with the characteristics of odourless, non‐flammable, and stable to various chemicals, which has been studied to be used as a waterless dyeing medium for PET fabric. In this study, D5 was selected as the medium to study the waterless dyeing process and properties for PLA. The effects of disperse dye dosage, dyeing temperature, dyeing time and liquor ratio on the dyeing properties of PLA fabric were investigated. The results showed that the optimal dyeing process conditions were as follows: the dye dosage was 4%, dyeing temperature and time were 120°C and 40 min, respectively, and the liquor ratio was 1:10. Then PLA was dyed by three different colour disperse dyes using the optimal process which were compared with the traditional water bath. The results showed that the properties of dyed PLA fabrics with D5 could reach the dyeing effect of the traditional water bath method, while causing less influence on its mechanical property. Therefore, this research proved that D5 can be used as a dyeing medium for PLA fabric to substitute the traditional water bath dyeing.

Thermosensitive hydrogel-mediated sphere/fiber multi-dimensional composite nanotube with controlled release of NGF for improved spinal cord injury repair

Spinal cord injury is a serious disabling disease that not only causes physical defects, but also causes psychological problems for patients. In the current study, a novel multi-dimensional functional composite nanotube was prepared by simultaneouslyriveting nerve growth factor (NGF)-loaded PLGA microspheres and tissue-engineered cells (BMSCs) into the PLA fiber nanotube by a designed thermosensitive hydrogel to improve spinal cord injury (SCI) repair. The PLGA microspheres allow the protection and long-term controlled release of NGF to guarantee enough time and drug concentration to promote the growth and differentiation of cells into axons and promote axonal regeneration. Thermosensitive hydrogels are served not only to provide a tunable physiologically simulated microenvironment, but also as scaffolds to provide a suitable matrix for cells and drugs, and PLA nanotube ensures the seal of the released NGF in the nanotube to improve its drug bioavailability, as well as the supporting and guiding of the nerve growth. The physicochemical properties of the composite nanotube are investigated and the repair efficacy is evaluated according to the functional recovery, histological, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence examinations as well as the westernblot analysis. The administration of the composite nanotube in the SCI rat models obviously improves the regeneration of the neuron, axon, myelin sheath, neural stem cell and nissnei body but decreases the astrocytes formation, as well as enhances the integrity of the spinal cord tissue and the recovery of locomotor functions. This present work provides a future perspective for NGF application and a potential strategy for SCI repair.

Comparison of Colour Properties of Polypropylene and Poly-(Lactic) Acid Fibres Dyed With Photoluminescent Dye

Abstract Every manufacturer wants to protect their textile products and their brand. A possible solution is, for example, the insertion of fibres with special pigments visible under irradiation by UV light into the final product. The paper focused on the study of the structure and colourimetric properties of polypropylene (PP) and poly-(lactic) acid (PLA) fibres modified with photoluminescent dye and halloysite (HNT) modified with photoluminescent dye. The photoluminescent dye and HNT modified with photoluminescent dye affected the structure of PP and PLA fibres differently. Increasing the HNT content up to 0.15 % increased the orientation of the PP fibres. In the case of PLA fibres, the increased content of photoluminescent dye in PLA fibres increased their orientation in the observed concentration area. PLA-based knitted fabrics showed better light stability, where there was no visible degradation of the knitted fabric, only its darkening. Likewise, PLA-based knitted fabric showed luminescence in UV light even after accelerated light aging.

Processes taking place during the preparation and use of electrospun PLA fibers and their effect on controlled drug release

PLA fibers containing metronidazole as the active component were produced by electrospinning from a solvent mixture of dichloromethane (DCM) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The DMSO content of the spinning solution changed between 0 and 25 vol% in 5 vol% steps. The fibers were dried at different temperatures, and processes taking place during fiber production and drying were followed by thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry. The morphology and structure of the fibers were studied by microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The mechanical properties of fiber mats and the release of the drug were also determined as a function of processing and drying parameters. The results showed that several processes take place during the production and subsequent handling of the fibers including the evaporation of the solvent (DMSO), the crystallization of the polymer, the changing of composition, phase separation and the consequent partitioning of the drug. The crystalline structure of the fibers changes considerably during drying which determines their mechanical properties. The rate of evaporation and crystallization is in the same order of magnitude. The rate of both processes increases considerably with temperature, but does not depend strongly on the amount of DMSO in the spinning solution. Both the amount of the drug released and the rate of release cover a wide range depending on the parameters of the preparation technology. The large range of mechanical and functional properties obtained allows the control of the kinetics of drug release to some extent.

The Incorporation of Low-Molecular Weight Poly(Mannitol Sebacate)s on PLA Electrospun Fibers: Effects on the Mechanical Properties and Surface Chemistry.

We offer a report on the synthesis of low-molecular weight biobased poly(mannitol sebacate) (PMS) and its functionalization with acrylate groups (PMSAc). These synthesized polyesters were blended at a low level (10 wt%) with poly (lactic acid) PLA to prepare aligned fibers by electrospinning, coupled with a rotatory collector. The obtained fibers were extensively studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXS), employing synchrotron radiation. The incorporation of the PMSs on the PLA fibers did not significantly affect the fiber diameters, whereas the alignment was almost maintained. The crystallinity and thermal properties were also slightly modified with the addition of PMSs, and an increase in the degree of crystallinity and in the glass transition temperature of the blend compared to PLA was observed. Remarkably, the PLA/PMSs fibers were more ductile due to the elastomeric character of PMS, with higher values of elongation at break and tensile strengths, and a smaller Young modulus in comparison with the PLA fibers. These modifications of the properties were more noticeable in the case of the acrylated PMS, which also provided readily available functional groups at the surface for further chemical reactions, such as the Michael addition or crosslinking processes.

Composite fibrous membrane comprising PLA and PCL fibers for biomedical application

Great effort has been devoted to investigating the biodegradable composite fibrous membranes (CFM) comprising polymer blends in single fiber via electrospinning. However, the fibrous membrane scaffolds consisting of two kinds of electrospun fibers were seldom presented for biomedical application. In this study, CFM composed of poly(lactic acid) and polycaprolactone fibers with different rations were fabricated via multi-spinnerets blended electrospinning. The morphological structures, composition, wetting behaviors and mechanical properties of as-prepared CFM were investigated. The CFM, mimicking native tissues with interconnected and porous surfaces, for biomedical application was comprehensively evaluated. The results showed that cells phenotypes did not change significantly on these CFM and did not present inflammatory responses. Cells could proliferate well on these scaffolds, suggesting their good biocompatibility. Thus, the as-prepared CFM could be designed to adapt different requirements in tissues engineering by changing fiber ratios according to polymer intrinsic properties, presenting their synergistic advanced features.

Effect of the Addition of MgO Nanoparticles on the Thermally-Activated Shape Memory Behavior of Plasticized PLA Electrospun Fibers.

In this work, the thermally-activated shape memory behavior of poly(lactic acid)-based electrospun fibers (PLA-based efibers) reinforced with different amounts of magnesium oxide (MgO) nanoparticles (NPs) was studied at different temperatures. In particular, MgO NPs were added at different concentrations, such as 0.1, 0.5, 1 and 3 wt%, with respect to the PLA matrix. The glass-transition temperature of PLA-based efibers was modulated by adding a 20 wt% of oligomer lactic acid as plasticizer. Once the plasticized PLA-based efibers were obtained and basically characterized in term of morphology as well as thermal and mechanical properties, thermo-mechanical cycles were carried out at 60 °C and 45 °C in order to study their thermally-activated shape memory response, demonstrating that their crystalline nature strongly affects their shape memory behavior. Importantly, we found that the plastificant effect in the mechanical response of the reinforced plasticized PLA efibers is balanced with the reinforcing effect of the MgO NPs, obtaining the same mechanical response of neat PLA fibers. Finally, both the strain recovery and strain fixity ratios of each of the plasticized PLA-based efibers were calculated, obtaining excellent thermally-activated shape memory response at 45 °C, demonstrating that 1 wt% MgO nanoparticles was the best concentration for the plasticized system.

Exploring the Diverse Morphology of Porous Poly(Lactic Acid) Fibers for Developing Long-Term Controlled Antibiotic Delivery Systems.

In this study, we aimed to explore the morphologies of porous poly(lactic acid) (PLA) fibers through liquid–liquid phase separation, and investigate the relationship among pore formation, physical properties, and antibacterial activities of the fibers for identifying their potential as drug delivery carriers. Antibacterial activities of gentamicin-, kanamycin-, and amikacin-loaded PLA fibers against E. coli and S. epidermidis were evaluated. The antibacterial activity of drugs against E. coli showed the following profile: gentamicin > amikacin > kanamycin; however, S. epidermidis growth was almost completely inhibited immediately after the administration of all three drugs. The efficiency of gentamicin can be attributed to the electrostatic interactions between the positively and negatively charged antibiotic and bacterial cell membrane, respectively. Furthermore, gentamicin-loaded porous PLA fibers were evaluated as drug delivery systems. The cumulative amount of gentamicin in porous PLA nanofibers was considerably higher than that in other PLA fibers for 168 h, followed by 7:3 PLA > 6:4 PLA > 5:5 PLA > non-porous PLA. The 7:3 PLA fibers were projected to be ideal drug carrier candidates for controlled antibiotic release in delivery systems owing to their interconnected internal structure and the largest surface area (55.61 m2 g−1), pore size (42.19 nm), and pore volume (12.78 cm3 g−1).

Characterisation of enzyme catalysed hydrolysation stage of poly(lactic acid) fibre surface by nanoscale thermal analysis: New mechanistic insight

Enzyme catalysed hydrolysis of bio-based poly(lactic acid) (PLA) represents an environmentally-friendly route for a controlled modification of polymer fibres. In this work, the topochemical hydrolysis reaction of cutinase from Humicola insolens (HiC) on PLA fibre was mechanistically investigated using the advanced surface sensitive nanoscale thermal analysis (nano-TA) technique. The enzymatic hydrolysis preferentially occurs at the amorphous regions of the fibre outer layer, thus leading to randomised hydrolysis, monomer release and ablation of the fibre surface during the initial phase of the hydrolysis. Due to the higher hydrolysis rate at amorphous regions, the crystallinity of the fibre outer layer increases. As a result, an enrichment in overall fibre crystallinity is observed by increased melting enthalpy. The accessibility of the enzyme to the fibre core is restricted, thus the change in crystallinity is prevalent on the fibre outer region. The observed increase of the surface softening temperature from the glass transition temperature close to the melting on-set of crystalline PLA as detected by nano-TA supports the hypothesis, that selective hydrolysis preferably takes place at the amorphous region at the fibre outer layer, thus leading to modified PLA fibres with an unchanged fibre core and a very thin and highly crystalline surface layer.

An insight into enhancing the physical properties of poly(lactic acid) (D600) fibers

The most applicable polymer in different applications is poly(lactic acid) (PLA) due its merits. This polymer attracts great interest as an environmentally friendly bioplastic polymer. The main goal of this work is to enhance the different physical properties of PLA. The melt-spun process was used to produce a continuous multifilament yarns of PLA textile fibers. The mechanical properties (tensile properties) of PLA(D600) filaments were studied. The tensile modulus and the maximum tensile strength were 3 and 0.4 GPa, respectively. The effect of the cold-drawing process on some physical properties, such as the melting temperature, glass transition temperature, crystallinity, birefringence, and orientation factor, were measured. The crystallinity values changed as the draw ratio increased, confirming the reorientations and chain packing. From the obtained results of the different physical properties, it was concluded that the drawing process has a great effect on performance of PLA fibers.

Electrospun fibers of poly (lactic acid) containing bioactive glass and magnesium oxide nanoparticles for bone tissue regeneration

Electrospun fibers of poly (lactic acid) (PLA) containing 10 and 20 wt% of bioactive glass (n-BG) and magnesium oxide (n-MgO) nanoparticles of ca. 27 and 23 nm respectively, were prepared toward to application in bone tissue engineering. The addition of both nanoparticles into the PLA will produce a synergic effect increasing its bioactivity and antimicrobial behavior. Neat PLA scaffold and the composites with MgO showed an average fiber diameter of 1.7 ± 0.6 μm, PLA/n-BG and PLA/n-BG/n-MgO fibers presented a significant diameter increase reaching values of ca. 3.1 ± 0.8 μm. Young's modulus of the electrospun scaffolds was affected by the direct presence of the particle and scaffold morphologies. All the composites having n-BG presented bioactivity through the precipitation of hydroxyapatite structures on the surface. Although n-MgO did not add bioactivity to the PLA fibers, they were able to render antimicrobial characteristics reducing the S. aureus viability around 30%, although an effect on E. coli strain was not observed. PLA/n-BG nanocomposites did not display any significant antimicrobial behavior. The different composites increased the alkaline phosphatase (ALP) expression as compared with pure PLA barely affecting the cell viability, meaning a good osteoblastic phenotype expression capacity, with PLA/n-BG presenting the highest osteoblastic expression.

Nucleating Agents to Enhance Poly(l-Lactide) Fiber Crystallization during Industrial-Scale Melt Spinning.

The nucleating agent N,N′-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)-terephthalamide (BHET) has promising effects on poly(l-lactide) (PLA) under quiescent conditions and for injection molding applications, but its suitability for industrial-scale fiber melt spinning is unclear. We therefore determined the effects of 1% and 2% (w/w) BHET on the crystallinity, tenacity, and elongation at break of PLA fibers compared to pure PLA and PLA plus talc as a reference nucleating agent. Fibers were spun at take-up velocities of 800, 1400 and 2000 m/min and at drawing at ratios of 1.1–4.0, reaching a final winding speed of 3600 m/min. The fibers were analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry, wide-angle X-ray diffraction, gel permeation chromatography and tensile testing. Statistical analysis of variance was used to determine the combined effects of the spin-line parameters on the material properties. We found that the fiber draw ratio and take-up velocity were the most important factors affecting tenacity and elongation, but the addition of BHET reduced the mechanical performance of the fibers. The self-organizing properties of BHET were not expressed due to the rapid quenching of the fibers, leading to the formation of α′-crystals. Understanding the behavior of BHET in the PLA matrix provides information on the performance of nucleation agents during high-speed processing that will allow processing improvements in the future.