Regulating Texture Structure of Polyoxymethylene Fabric Enables Intrinsic In-Plane Thermal Conduction and High Abrasion Resistance

Polyoxymethylene (POM) is a widely used general engineering plastic with high crystallinity and excellent performances, while being endowed with high intrinsic thermal conductivity (TC) for POM fibers and fabrics, which was conducive to broadening their application in the thermal management field. In this work, POM fibers were first prepared by the melt spinning-hot drawing/heat setting dual process, exhibiting superior intrinsic TC attributed to a relatively high crystallinity/orientation degree. The fibers were further twisted into yarns and woven to produce POM fabrics by controlling yarn configurations and weaving structures. The relatively low yarn linear density and fabric warp density, and relatively high yarn twist factor contributed to the elevation of in-plane TC, whereas the abrasion index showed an opposite trend. Meanwhile, the satin-woven POM fabrics demonstrated higher in-plane TC, while the plain-woven fabrics offered superior abrasion resistance, outperforming most commercial polymer fabrics. In particular, the plain-woven POM fabric with a yarn linear density of 8.1 tex, yarn twist factor of 200, and a warp density of 650 yarns·10 cm–1 exhibited in-plane TC as high as 1.542 W·m–1·K–1. On this basis, a Janus-structured POM fabric-based heat transfer device integrating photothermal conversion, thermal conduction, and phase-change energy storage functions was fabricated, achieving an average sunlight absorbance as high as 94%, while incorporation of the thermally conductive POM fabric layer enabled rapid temperature rise and fall by exposure or removal of solar irradiation, significantly enhancing energy storage/release efficiency.