Enhancement of interfacial properties for high performance polyethylene fibers produced via gel spinning

Abstract

Fibers are materials with high length/diameter ratios, having adjustable fineness, mechanical properties. High performance fibers exhibit excellent mechanical properties such as high modulus, high strength, high abrasion resistance, thermal resistance, low density. One of the methods used to produce high performance fibers is gel spinning, in which the chains are partially entangled in liquid-gel form and connection with each other , rather than solution or melt unlike other methods (dry spinning, wet spinning, melt spinning). In this thesis, ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) was dissolved in paraffin oil and high performance UHMWPE fibers were obtained by gel spinning method. The gel obtained by dissolving UHMWPE in paraffin oil is formed into filaments by passing through the spinnerettes after extrusion, then passes through the quenching and extraction bath, drying and winding in the final stage. High tensile strength, low specific density, great impact resistance, and exceptional chemical resistance are just a few of the excellent qualities of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fiber. It is frequently utilized in fishing, aircraft, biomedicine, and ballistic, among other things. UHMWPE fiber has a very high degree of crystallinity (>99%) and macromolecular orientation (>95%), which leads to a high modulus and tenacity of UHMWPE fiber. Gel spinning is a difficult and advanced engineering process. UHMWPE concentration is one of the parameters that determine fiber strength which was kept as 8% wt in this study. For this research, n-hexane was used in the extraction bath to remove paraffin oil from spun UHMWPE fibers. Following the solvent extraction procedure, the fibers undergoing hot drawing with different drawn ratios. The differential scanning calorimeter is used to analyze the thermal and crystallization properties of the fibers in their drawn, undrawn, and gel-state forms. Two newly peaks are observed when DR reached to 40. These peaks shows orthorombic-hexagonal transition. An orthorhombic structure represents a prism-like crystal structure with three unequal edges and internal angles, whereas a hexagonal structure resembles a hexagon with six equal edges. The tensile test was used to reveal the effect of drawn ratios on performance and it was revealed that with the increase in drawn ratio, the mechanical strength would increase by a maximum of 322.71%. Simultaneously, this thesis also focuses on investigating the enhancement of interface properties in UHMWPE fiber/epoxy composites.There are numerous surface treatment methods used to improve the coaction between fibers and composite materials, chemical etching and corona discharge are two commonly used methods to enhance the fiber- epoxy interaction. In this thesis study, the optimum corona discharge result was revealed by experiments performed at different voltage and time parameters. Then, the obtained results from corona discharge method were compared with the results obtained when the surface was modified via chemical etching, and it was seen that hydroxyl and carboxyl groups were formed on the surface more effectively in the chemical etching method. Glutaraldehyde, which is used as a cross-linking agent in chemical etching method, can form bonds with OH functional groups due to its chemical structure. Thus, the hydroxyl groups formed on the UHMWPE fibers become able to cross-link with the hydroxyl groups in the epoxy. Tests have shown an increase in both mechanical performance and adhesion.