Effect of extrusion parameters and nanofillers on mechanical properties of PPSU tufting yarns

Yarn diameters ranging from 160 µm to 720 µm of unfilled PPSU and PPSU nanocomposites with 1 wt.% of either carbon nanotubes (CNT) or carbon nanofibers (CNF) were prepared using a twin screw compounder. The tensile properties of these yarns generally improve with the addition of CNT or CNF at higher values of screw speed-to-haul off ratio. This effect is correlated with the yarn draw down ratio and attributed to nanofiller orientation and crystallinity induced in thermoplastic matrix. The fibres have as much as a 23% increase in Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) for the same parameter set when loaded with CNT, while the greatest increase observed for larger particle size fillers CNF is just 3.77%. Depending on filler and processing parameters set, yarns varied in UTS from 24.84MPa to 206.23MPa for unfilled PPSU and PPSU-CNT, respectively.Yarn diameters ranging from 160 µm to 720 µm of unfilled PPSU and PPSU nanocomposites with 1 wt.% of either carbon nanotubes (CNT) or carbon nanofibers (CNF) were prepared using a twin screw compounder. The tensile properties of these yarns generally improve with the addition of CNT or CNF at higher values of screw speed-to-haul off ratio. This effect is correlated with the yarn draw down ratio and attributed to nanofiller orientation and crystallinity induced in thermoplastic matrix. The fibres have as much as a 23% increase in Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) for the same parameter set when loaded with CNT, while the greatest increase observed for larger particle size fillers CNF is just 3.77%. Depending on filler and processing parameters set, yarns varied in UTS from 24.84MPa to 206.23MPa for unfilled PPSU and PPSU-CNT, respectively.