Effect of hot drawing on the properties of thermotropic polymer fibers

Thermotropic liquid crystal polymers have been modeled as an array of highly ordered polyhedric nematic domains immersed in a less-ordered, nearly isotropic matrix. A function has been defined that expresses the elastic moduli of drawn fibers as a function of orientation and geometry of the nematic domains. When such a material is hot drawn in extension, the domains orient and elongate to produce an orthotropic fibrous phase. Equations are proposed to relate the elastic moduli of the fibers to the draw ratio and the extrusion conditions. Upon annealing of the hot drawn fibers, shrinkage occurs. It is proposed that the shrinkage is the result of a physical transformation from the fibrous state back to the nematic domain structure present before extrusion and drawing. The Avrami equation is used to describe the nucleation and growth processes controlling the shrinkage at constant annealing temperature. The model is shown to correlate experimental data on the elastic properties and the shrinkage of hot drawn PET/PHB60 liquid crystal polymer with the processing conditions.