Abstract:
Immiscible blends of a thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer (TLCP), a copolyester of 60/40 mole ratio of p-hydroxy benzoic acid (HBA) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and a thermoplastic elastomer, styrene-(ethylene butylenes)-styrene (SEBS), at various compositions were prepared as extruded strands using a twin-screw extruder and melt spun as monofilaments using a mini-extruder. Rheological behavior, morphology, and mechanical properties of the blends were investigated. Rheological measurements were performed on a capillary rheometer in the shear rate rage 5-2,000 s-1, and on a plate-and-plate rheometer in the frequency range 0.6-200 rad.s-1. It was found that all neat components and blends exhibited shear thinning behavior. Both shear and complex viscosities of all blends were found to decrease with increasing TLCP content, but the decrease in shear viscosity was more pronounced. In the composite strands, the best fibrillar morphology was observed in the blend containing 30 wt% TLCP, and some lamella structure appeared at 40 wt% TLCP and beyond. With an increasing level of TLCP concentration, the tensile stress of the strands was enhanced, whereas the tensile strength was almost unchanged. The elongation at break of the strands first slightly decreased with addition of low TLCP content, them sharply dropped at 40 wt% TLCP. The tension set under applied strain of 300% slightly increased with increasing TLCP content up to 20 wt%, over which the set value was unacceptable for thermoplastic elastomer. A remarkable improvement in the dynamic mechanical properties of the extruded strands was observed in the blends with an increasing amount of TLCP.
The mechanical properties and morphology of the monofilaments were investigated and compared with those of the extruded strands. The stresses at 100% and 300% strains of the composite monofilaments were about twice that of the extruded strands. The tensile strengths of both extruded strands and monofilaments were comparable but the elongation at break of monofilaments were considerably less. The tension sets of the composite monofilaments were slightly higher than those of the extruded strands. All composite monofilaments with TLCP content ≤15 wt% exhibited good elastic recovery under the applied strain up to 200%. The dynamic mechanical storage modulus at 25oC of 10 wt% TLCP composite monofilament was about five times higher than that of the neat SEBS monofilament, and about four times higher than that of the composite extruded strand. The dramatic enhancement in mechanical properties of the monofilaments was due to the formation of finer and longer TLCP fibrils than those formed in the extruded strands.
The biaxial tensile measurements of the neat SEBS and TLCP/SEBS in situ composite sheets clearly demonstrated the anisotropy in mechanical properties due to the orientation of TLCP fibrils in the elastomer matrix. Under equi-biaxial stretching, the initial modulus ratio in the two principal stretching directions for the neat SEBS and the composite with 10 wt% TLCP were 2.7, and 5, respectively. The composite with 10 wt% TLCP exhibited the highest anisotropy in mechanical properties because it possessed the best fibrillation and the highest degree of uniaxial orientation of TLCP fibrils