Abstract
The zirconiunl dioxide(ZrO2) has characterized as a far infrared radiator and can apply as the thermal storage material by mixing with various polymers. In the present work, PP chips were blended with ZrO2 particles by the banbury mixer and spun PP/ZrO2 composite fibers by using the melt spinning machine with different spinning conditions. Effect of the draw ratio and amount of ZrO2 on the morphological structure and mechanical properties of the produced PP/ZrO2 composite fibers has been investigated. The results obtained are as follows: (1) the good dispensability of ZrO2 particles in the PP fiber has been observed and the phase separation between PP and ZrO2 has an increasing trend with increasing draw ratio on PP/ZrO2 composite fibers. (2) the breaking stress has increased to a significant extent with increasing the draw ratio, but decreased with increasing the amount of ZrO2, (3) in the X-ray diffraction pattern, the peak intensities of PP/ZrO2 composite fibers have increased with increasing the draw ratio, and (4) the crystallinity of PP/ZrO2 composite fibers has slightly changed with increasing the amount of ZrO2 and considerably increased with increasing the draw ratio.
