STUDIES ON THE POLY(4,4-TEREPHTHANILIDEALKYLAMIDE)S (II) Rheological properties and Fibre Performance

Among other poly(4,4'-terephthanilidealkylamide)s (PTAA's), poly (4,4'-terephthanilideadipamide) (PTAd) gave clear critical concentration curves. For PTAA's with methylene units more than 6, the critical concentration (C*) seemed to be beyond the solubility limit of H₂SO₄. Under shearing conditions, the nematic domains were easily oriented and stretched in the direction of shear , and a fibrillar structure resulted. At low frequencies, a monotollous reduction of loss tangent (tan) was observed as concentration increased. At high frequencies, however, tan was increased above C* again, and showed maximum at saturation concentration (Cs). With increasing temperature, viscosity of isotropic and anisotropic phases was normally decreased, while viscosity of biphases was increased. Plot of complex viscosity (If) against temperature based on rheological measurements exhibited a good correlation with phase diagram constructed by polarizing microscope observations. Rheological parameters suggested the optimum dope concentration of PTAd with inherent viscosity 2.02 at 30oc is in the vicinity of 19.2 wt%, which seemed to agree well with spinning experiments (around 19.4 wt%). In general, effects of spinning and annealing conditions on the mechanical properties of PTAA fibres were most pronounced in PTAd fibre spun from anisotropic spinning dope .