Effect of drawing on structure and properties of a liquid crystalline polymer and polycarbonate in - situ composite

Abstract

Fibers (strands) with various draw ratios were spun from the liquid crystalline state of a pure aromatic liquid crystalline copoly(ester amide) and the melts of its blend with polycarbonate. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were employed to investigate the structure and properties of the resulting fibers. Mechanical properties of the fibers were also evaluated. It was found that both the crystallite size and heat of fusion of the liquid crystalline polymer (LCP) increase steadily with draw ratio. However, the crystal-nematic transition temperature of the LCP is virtually unaffected by drawing. Moreover, heat of fusion of LCP is much smaller than that of isotropic condensation polymers despite the presence of very sharp diffraction peaks in WAXS measurements. These results are ascribed to the (semi)rigid rod nature of the LCP chains and the persistence of an ordered structure in the LCP melt, i.e., entropy effect. It was further observed that tensile modulus and tensile strength along fiber axis rise with draw ratio for the composite fibers. The elastic modulus of the composite fibers were found to be as high as 19 GPa and tensile strength reached 146 MPa with draw ratios below 40 and an LCP content of 30 wt%. Compared with the thermoplastic matrix, the elastic modulus and tensile strength of the in - situ composite have increased by 7.3 times and 1.4 times, respectively, with the addition of only 30 wt% LCP. This improvement in mechanical properties is attributed to fibrillation of the LCP phase in the blend and the increasing orientation of the LCP chains along the fiber axis during drawing.