Some developments in poly(ethylene terephthalate) fibre production and structure-property relationships

Abstract

<span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:" calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:="" "times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-hansi-theme-font:="" minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;="" color:black;mso-ansi-language:en-us;mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:="" ar-sa"="">Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fibre occupies the top place amongst the man-made fibres in the world today. During the past few years, very significant developments have taken place in the technology of its production. The resulting. products like partially-oriented yarns and spin-draw yarns are already well established, while the yarns spun at very high speeds and the micro-denier fibres are showing promise as fibres of the future. These developments have been accompanied by a parallel upsurge in the research and development efforts on PET and its products due to which a more clear understanding of its structure and the underlying fundamentals of structure-property relationships are becoming available. As a result; products to meet specific functional requirements can be designed with increasing confidence. The various developments that have taken place in these areas in the past few years cover a very wide canvas and, therefore, only a few selected developments related to some physical aspects of PET fibre production and structure-property relationships will be considered in this article, the emphasis being on fundamental principles as far as possible.</span>