Fiber spinning from the nematic melt. IV. Effect of P oxybenzoate crystallinity on the spinning and fiber properties of the copolyester of polyethylene terephthalate and p‐oxybenzoate

We have previously reported two studies of the rheology and fiber properties of one sample of the copolymer of polyethylene terephthalate having 60 mol% of p‐oxybenzoate (PHB) units. The DSC curve of that sample exhibited crystalline melting transitions, and the sample appeared to contain PHB blocks. Here we compare those results with observations for a second sample that, although nominally the same polymer, appears to be more random because it exhibits little PHB crystallinity. We had previously reported that the flow of the copolymer containing PHB blocks was non‐Newtonian at all temperatures, and that it exhibited a thermal history effect. We find the flow of the more random polymer is Newtonian above the melting temperature, and the melt viscosity of the more random copolymer exhibits no thermal history effect. Fibers were spun from the more random copolymer with a capillary rheometer using a capillary having a length/diameter ratio of 14.1 and a shear rate at the wall of 6.4 sec−1. Spinning temperatures were 250, 260, and 280°C, and the spin draw ratio was examined as a variable. The initial modulus increased with spin draw ratio but exhibited no dependence upon the spinning temperature. For the copolymer containing PHB blocks, the initial modulus increased as the spinning temperature was raised. These differences are due to the larger amount of PHB crystallinity in the more blocky sample. When chips of the more random sample were heated for 1 h at 235°C, the melt viscosity increased and the initial modulus of the fibers decreased. These changes are due to the crystallization of longer PHB blocks produced by melt interchange.