Experimental study on texturability of filament yarns produced from recycled PET

Abstract

In the present work, the texturability of filament yarns produced from recycled bottle grade polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET) and new fiber grade PET (FG-PET) were investigated and compared experimentally. Yarn spun on a spin-draw spinning machine was draw-textured. Elongation at break in each fiber was set to reach 30 ± 5% in the texturing machine. The effect of the draw-texturing conditions on thermomechanical, structural, and crimp properties were examined. Draw-texturing behaviors of the fibers were analyzed using differential scanning calorimetry and measurements of intrinsic viscosity, mechanical and crimp properties, density, and X-ray diffraction. The results indicate that crystallinity of the textured yarn from R- PET and FG-PET has increased compared to the semi-drawn yarns. Further, the lateral dimensions of the R-PET crystals are relatively well developed. Crimp properties show nearly similar response for two polymer yarns for the texturing process. It was found that R-PET can be the premier feed supply for the draw-texturing process and that filaments with appropriate confidence could be obtained from the R-PET.