Fiber spinning, liquid-crystalline composites

Following the technological breakthroughs which led to the discovery of (1) the liquid crystalline behavior ofpara-oriented aramids26 and (2) a novel method for spinning anisotropic liquid crystalline polymer solutions,27 Kevlar aramid fiber was produced and commercialized by the DuPont company in 1972. Other fibers based on aromatic polyamide compositions, which were produced and commercialized by other companies, were Technora (Teijin, Japan), Teijinconex (Teijin, Japan), andTwaron (Akzo, The Netherlands). Additionally, SVM is a fiber produced in the Former Soviet Union and it was announced in 1990 that a new aramid fiber had been introduced by Hoechst, in Germany. 

There are now numerous compositions of liquid crystalline polymers under consideration as fiber spinning and injection molding materials. However, the problems involved in processing these systems are similar. In particular, how can one process these polymers to yield desirable isotropic properties or at least have biaxial orientation how can one achieve the optimum properties from a given composition and how does the chemical composition and structure affect the properties In flexible chain systems one must quench in orientation in a time scale which is faster than the relaxation process of the molecules. Typically there is a distribution of relaxation times in which the longest relaxation time is a matter of a few seconds. This longest relaxation time also governs a number of other flow characteristics. 

Fiber Spinning and Mechanical Properties Aside from providing the critical concentrations at which liquid-crystalline behavior appears. Table m also lists the processing concentrations of the candidate block copolymers. Since rigid molecules would aggregate together to form anisotropic domains as their concentration exceeds Cer the processing of molecular composites must be controlled within this limit. 

Two series of PBTA/PI block copolymers were synthesized in this study and solution processed into molecular composite fibers via dry-jet wet-spinning. The unique rheological properties of liquid-crystalline PBTA homopolymers and PBTA/PI block copolymers were studied with a cone-and-plate rheometer. For block copolymers, the critical concentration decreased with an increase in PBTA content. The flow curves of isotropic and anisotropic solutions could be described via the power-law model and Carreau model, respectively. Copolymer fibers possess tensile strength and modulus located between those of PBTA fibers and PI fibers. Moreover, the tensile strength and modulus of Col fibers increase with an increase in PBTA content. Besides, increasing the draw ratios would give rise to an increase in the mechanical properties of copolymer fibers... 

In situ polymerization process has also been applied for the preparation of other CNT/polymer composites. For example, in 2002, Kumar and co-workers have described new ultrastrong poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) (PBO) composites synthesized by in situ PBO polymerization in the presence of SWNTs in poly(phosphoric add). After the polymerization, SWNT/PBO composite fibers were spun from the liquid-crystalline solution by dry-jet spinning. ... 

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