The role of dry and wet isothermal annealing treatment on the structure and the mechanical properties of isotactic polypropylene fibers

Dry and wet annealing of isotactic polypropylene fibers was carried out under constant length at 120 degrees C in air and in glycerine environments with annealing times ranging from 1 to 30 h. A detailed analysis of the infrared spectrum of samples annealed, especially in air, showed clear evidence of the surface oxidation as indicated by the appearance of oxygen containing functional groups. Annealing was found to lead to an improved structural organization as indicated by the crystallinity, crystallite size, and orientation measurements using X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy methods. Analysis of the X-ray diffraction measurements showed a gradual transformation of metastable smectic phase to a more stable a-monoclinic phase with increasing annealing time. Crystallinity, crystallite size, and orientation measurements performed for the samples annealed in air and in glycerine environments showed no distinct difference. Mechanical properties of the annealed samples were influenced by the annealing environment. Annealing in an air environment resulted in a continuous loss of tensile strength up to the annealing time of 12 h due to an oxidation related chain scission mechanism. On the other hand, annealing in glycerine environment resulted in a continuous and gradual increase of tensile strength without loss of physical form up to the annealing time of 30 h. It is suggested that wet annealing in glycerine environment should be used to obtain improved tensile strength values. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012Dry and wet annealing of isotactic polypropylene fibers was carried out under constant length at 120°C in air and in glycerine environments with annealing times ranging from 1 to 30 h. A detailed analysis of the infrared spectrum of samples annealed, especially in air, showed clear evidence of the surface oxidation as indicated by the appearance of oxygen containing functional groups. Annealing was found to lead to an improved structural organization as indicated by the crystallinity, crystallite size, and orientation measurements using X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy methods. Analysis of the X-ray diffraction measurements showed a gradual transformation of metastable smectic phase to a more stable ?-monoclinic phase with increasing annealing time. Crystallinity, crystallite size, and orientation measurements performed for the samples annealed in air and in glycerine environments showed no distinct difference. Mechanical properties of the annealed samples were influenced by the annealing environment. Annealing in an air environment resulted in a continuous loss of tensile strength up to the annealing time of 12 h due to an oxidation related chain scission mechanism. On the other hand, annealing in glycerine environment resulted in a continuous and gradual increase of tensile strength without loss of physical form up to the annealing time of 30 h. It is suggested that wet annealing in glycerine environment should be used to obtain improved tensile strength values