Direct Measurement of Fiber Temperature in the Continuous Drawing Process of PET Fiber Heated by CO2 Laser Radiation

Abstract

Abstract Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fiber was heated by carbon dioxide laser radiation during the continuous drawing process. Numerical calculation shows that the PET fiber can be heated much more rapidly and uniformly by heat radiation than by convective heat transfer through the fiber surface. During CO2 laser heated drawing, temperature in the vicinity of a neck-like deformation can be measured on-line with high precision, because the neck-like deformation is located within a range of 0.5 mm. We measured the fiber temperature profiles on the drawing process by IR thermometer that has a range resolution of 0.355 mm. The temperature at which neck-like deformation of the fiber initiates is higher than Tg when draw ratio is less than 4.5, but lower than Tg when draw ratio is more than 5.5. The maximum fiber temperature in the drawing process increases with draw ratio, up to 208°C for a draw ratio of 6.0. The rate of orientation-induced crystallization in the drawing process was estimated by comparison of measured temperature profiles with calculated temperature profiles.