Abstract
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.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 1395 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Polymers |
Volume | 14 |
Issue number | 7 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 29 Mar 2022 |
Keywords
- AID
- BEHAVIOR
- BHET
- COMPOUND
- LACTIDE
- MECHANICAL PERFORMANCE
- MORPHOLOGY
- ORIENTATION
- PLA
- PLA melt spinning
- POLY(LACTIC ACID)
- POLYLACTIDE
- crystallization
- nucleating agents