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Process–structure–property relationship of melt spun poly(lactic acid) fibers produced in the spunbond process
Author(s) -
Shim Eunkyoung,
Pourdeyhimi Behnam,
Shiffler Don
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.44225
Subject(s) - ultimate tensile strength , materials science , spinning , crystallinity , composite material , fiber , birefringence , modulus , synthetic fiber , melt spinning , optics , physics
We report on the process–structure–property relationships for Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) filaments produced through the spunbond process. The influence of spinning speed, polymer throughput, and draw ratio on crystallinity and birefringence of fibers were evaluated. We established that increasing spinning speed increases crystallinity and birefringence of fibers. We also investigate the role of fiber structures on fiber tensile properties—breaking tensile strength, strain at break, initial modulus, and natural draw ratio. An increase in spinning speed leads to a higher breaking tensile strength, higher initial modulus and lower strain at break. We have shown an almost linear relationship between breaking tensile strength of PLA fibers and birefringence. This indicates that improved tensile properties at high spinning speeds can be attributed to enhanced molecular orientation. The dependency of fiber breaking tensile strength and strain at break on spun orientation were explained with natural draw ratio, as a measure of spun orientation. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133 , 44225.