Analysis of structural development during superdrawing of poly(ethylene terephthalate) fibers

• Main Author: Jain, Vibhor
• Published: Georgia Institute of Technology 2009
• Subjects: Superdrawing; Stress-strain modeling; Crystallization; Fiber drawing; PET; Stress-strain curves; Calorimetry; Fibers
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1853/28185

A comprehensive experimental study was conducted to determine the limitations in processing conditions for superdrawing. Experimental studies were carried out by uniaxial drawing tests at temperatures from 90 to 120°C and at strain rates ranging from 0.008/s to 0.425/s. Crystallinity and orientation of the drawn samples were evaluated using differential scanning calorimetry and birefringence measurements. This study revealed that increasing temperature from 110°C to 120°C leads to more crystallization at low strain rates (0.001/s), and less crystallization at high strain rates (0.1/s). Furthermore, it was shown for the first time that the mechanism of crystallinity development in PET undergoes a transition at draw temperature of 113°C and strain rate of 0.17/s. A new one-dimensional constitutive model was developed to predict the stress-strain behavior of PET fibers as they are drawn to very large draw ratios (up to 10) over a wide range of temperature (90-120°C) and strain rate (0.008-0.425/s). The model was based on the rubber elasticity theory and non-linear viscoelasticity.