Effect of Heat-setting Process on the Yarn Shrinkage of Poly(lactic acid) Fibre

摘要

Oil and gas are relied for producing synthetic polymers. However,this reserve of fossil fuel takes millions of years to regenerate and is in an increasing demand but with a declining supply [1]. To substitute this petroleum-based polymers,polylactide or poly(lactic acid) (PLA) was introduced. PLA is a kind of natural material which can be processed into fibre. The new PLA fibre is likely to become a profitable product due to its environmentally friendly nature and other outstanding properties [2]. It is a bio-degradable and renewable fiber from natural resources,which helps to solve the world's growing waste-disposal problems. It can be seen as a possible alternative to change the use of natural resources to renewable resources. Similar to other synthetic fibre in textile production,PLA fibre will also undergo different either wet or dry heat treatment,it will shrink due to structural relaxation. Consequently,the fibre should be subjected to a heat setting process at high temperature which serves to introduce greatly enhanced dimensional stability to the yarn or fabric. Therefore,the aim of this paper is to study the effect of heat-setting on the dimensional stability of the PLA yarns. PLA yarns would be subjected to various heat- setting conditions.