Morphology and structure changes of aromatic copolysulfonamide fibers heat-drawn at various temperatures

Pre-drawn aromatic copolysulfonamide (co-PSA) fibers were prepared by wet spinning and then heat drawing at temperatures varying from 350 to 390 degrees C, which are below the decomposition temperature. The fibers were then characterized using tensile testing, dynamic mechanical analysis, wide-angle X-ray diffraction and small-angle X-ray scattering. The relationship between structure and properties of the co-PSA fibers drawn at different temperatures was investigated. The heat-drawn co-PSA fibers displayed similar glass transition temperature of about 355 degrees C, which was higher than that of pre-drawn co-PSA fibers of 345 degrees C. The crystal orientation was high as a crystalline structure formed during heat drawing and the crystallinity increased with the heat-drawing temperature. However, the tenacity of the co-PSA fibers did not increase linearly with the draw temperature. When the drawing temperature was higher than the glass transition temperature, a decrease in tenacity was observed, which could be attributed to an increase of crystallite size of the (100) plane and a decrease of the long period of the lamellar structure. (c) 2014 Society of Chemical Industry