Properties of recycled poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET)/hyperbranched polyester (HBPET) composite fibers

摘要

Hyperbranched polyester (HBPET) with aliphatic-aromatic structure was synthesized and extruded with recycled poly (ethylene terephthalate) (RPET) chips obtained from used water bottles, with ratio of 0.5% and 1 wt% of HBPET. Filament fibers from pure recycled PET (RPET-0) and (RPET-0.5 and RPET-1) composite were spun using a melt spinning process and drawn by a thermal drawing process to improve their mechanical properties. The effects of addition of HBPET on the properties of produced fibers as well as draw ratio are investigated by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (XRD), universal tensile analysis, and sonic velocity. It was found that mechanical properties of the (RPET-0.5 and RPET-1) fibers were improved with respect to pure recycled PET (PET-0) fibers. Moreover, the crystallinity of composites fibers was also increased with an increasing of HBPET content. The improvement in mechanical properties may be due to the increase of orientation of fiber molecules along the fiber axis. Moreover, addition of HBPET serves as lubricant within recycled PET matrix which increased its mechanical properties.