Spinnability evaluation of new polymer materials

Purpose

Melt spinning is the most commonly used industrial fibre spinning method. It’s great advantage is that the method requires only heat, no solvents, to transform polymers into a melt which can be extruded and drawn into thin fibres.

Globally, there is at present a rapid development of thermoplastics from biobased and recycled feedstocks, and consequently melt spinning will be increasingly useful to produce environmentally sustainable textile fibres.

The fibre spinning expertise RISE can support material producers by performing evaluation of the spinnability of new polymer materials. This evaluation requires only small amounts of polymer (approx. 100 grams) and is suitable also for R&D materials.

If the material is found to have good spinnability, larger scale trials and pilot fibre production can be carried out in our equipments for lab-scale and/or semi-industrial fibre spinning.

Method

Several material properties are relevant for spinnability, and our evaluation includes characterisation of:

• Degradation temperature, using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)
• Melting point and degree of crystallinity, measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)
• Composition analysis, for example by FTIR
• Flow properties (shear viscosity and extensional viscosity) as a function of shear rate and temperature, as measured in a capillary rheometer (Netzsch RH10)
• Melt strength as a function of take-up rate, measured in a capillary rheometer
• Small scale extrusion of monofilaments, in capillary rheometer
• Mechanical characterisation of fibres, by tensile testing

Deliveries

Small amounts of fibres on a bobbin.
Report in Swedish or English.