Preparation and Properties of Self-Crimping Polyamide-Based Side-by-Side Bicomponent Elastic Fibers

Abstract

Side-by-side bicomponent fibers have a spring-like three-dimensional spiral crimp structure and are widely used in elastic fabric. The difference in thermal shrinkage between different polymers can produce an unbalanced stress during the cooling process, and this unbalanced stress can be exploited to prepare naturally crimped fibers by spinning design. In this work, different types of polyamides(PAs) were selected for fabrication of the PA-based side-by-side bicomponent elastic fibers using melt spinning, and the structure development and performance of such bicomponent elastic fibers were studied. Meanwhile, thermoplastic PA elastomer(TPAE) with intrinsic elasticity was also used as one of the comparative materials. The block structure of the PA segment and the polyether segment in the TPAE molecule is the key to providing thermal shrinkage differences and forming a good interface structure. As a result, the crimp ratio of PA6/TPAE bicomponent elastic fiber is 7.23%, which is better than that of the currently commercialized T400 fiber(6.72%). The excellent crimp performance of PA6/TPAE bicomponent elastic fibers comes from the asymmetric distribution of the stress along the radial direction of the fibers during the cooling process, which is caused by the difference in thermal shrinkage between PA6 and TPAE. In addition, the crimp formability of the PA-based bicomponent elastic fibers could be improved by expanding the shrinkage stress through wet-heat treatment. The crimp ratio of PA6/TPAE bicomponent elastic fibers reaches the maximum(33.08%) after treatment at 100 ℃. At the same time, the fabric made of PA6/TPAE bicomponent elastic fibers has the excellent air and water vapor permeability, with an air permeability of 272.76 mm/s and a water vapor transmission rate of 406.71 g/(m²·h).

Keywords

bicomponent fiber / polyamide(PA) fiber / self-crimping / crimp formation ability / melt spinning

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Funding

Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China(2232022D-10)

Open Fund of State Key Laboratory of Biobased Fiber Manufacturing Technology, China(SKL202306)