Abstract:
In-situ composites were produced from an immiscible blend of a thermoplastic liquid
crystalline polymer (TLCP), a copolyester of 60/40 mole ratio of p-hydroxybenzoic acid
(HBA) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and a thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer
(TPU) in the form of extruded strands and melt spun as monofilaments. The composite
monofilaments were prepared by one-step and two-step methods. Rheological behaviors,
morphology, mechanical and thermal properties of the composites were investigated.
Rheological measurements performed on a plate-and-plate rheometer at 223 °C with a
frequency sweep mode from 0.6 to 200 rads-1 revealed that TLCP had higher viscosity than
TPU. Incorporation of TLCP caused a drop in viscosity to values lower than those of the two
neat components. The flow curve of TLCP exhibited relatively strong shear-thinning behavior
while those of neat TPU and the blends were almost independent of the shear frequency. In all
composite strands, the TLCP phase mostly appeared as droplets with the diameters up to 3
μm. Composite monofilaments prepared by two-step method showed TLCP droplets with
some short TLCP fibers, while fibrillar structure of TLCP dispersed phase with high aspect
ratio (length-to-width) were observed in composite monofilaments prepared by one-step
method. Addition of TLCP into TPU could improve the tensile modulus especially in the
low-strain region (≤ 100% strain) in all composite strands and monofilaments. Measurements
of tensile properties at 50 and 80 °C also revealed that the moduli of the composite strands and
monofilaments (one-step) were higher than that of neat TPU. To maintain the elastic
properties of the composites, i.e. the set value ≤ 30%, the amount of TLCP should not exceed
20 wt% under the applied deformation ≤ 200%. The tensile properties of monofilaments
prepared by one-step method were higher than those of strands and monofilaments prepared
by two-step method when compared at the same blend composition.
The result from dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) revealed that the storage
modulus (E′) of monofilaments (prepared by one-step method), in the temperature range from
-80 to 150 °C, increased when 10 wt% TLCP was added. The improvement in storage
modulus of 10 wt% TLCP monofilament at 25 °C was about 82% over that of TPU
monofilament. The composite modulus, calculated by Halpin-Tsai equation, of 10 wt% TLCP
composite was much higher than the measured value. This difference might be due to the
imperfect interaction at the interface and the broad distribution of fiber aspect ratio values in
the real system.