Ultra-strong gel-spun ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fibers filled with chitin nanocrystals

Minfang An; Haojun Xu; You Lv; Tianchen Duan; Feng Tian; Liang Hong; Qun Gu; Zongbao Wang

doi:10.1039/C5RA25786G

Ultra-strong gel-spun ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fibers filled with chitin nanocrystals

Minfang An,^a Haojun Xu,^a You Lv,^a Tianchen Duan,^a Feng Tian,^b Liang Hong,^c Qun Gu^d and Zongbao Wang*^a

* Corresponding authors

^a Ningbo Key Laboratory of Specialty Polymers, Faculty of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, PR China
E-mail: wangzongbao@nbu.edu.cn

^b Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201204, China

^c Ningbo Institute of Material Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201, PR China

^d College of Material Engineering, Ningbo University of Technology, Ningbo 3151006, P. R. China

Abstract

Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE)/chitin nanocrystals (CNC) and UHMWPE/acetylated chitin nanocrystals (ACNC) fibers were prepared. The addition of CNC and ACNC significantly enhanced the ultimate tensile strength and Young's modulus of the UHMWPE fibers matrix. Compared with that of pure UHMWPE fibers, the ultimate tensile strength and Young's modulus of UHMWPE/CNC fibers are increased by about 14.5% and 17.0%, respectively, with the incorporation of 1.0 wt% CNC. Furthermore, with the addition of 1.0 wt% ACNC, the ultimate tensile strength and Young's modulus of UHMWPE/ACNC fibers are improved by 15.8% and 21.3%, respectively. To understand the mechanism of CNC and ACNC reinforcing UHMWPE fibers, the thermal, crystallinity, orientation and shish structure of pure UHMWPE fibers, UHMWPE/CNC fibers, and UHMWPE/ACNC fibers were determined by employing a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) analyses.

Article information

https://doi.org/10.1039/C5RA25786G

Article type

Paper

Submitted

03 Dec 2015

Accepted

15 Feb 2016

First published

16 Feb 2016

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RSC Adv., 2016,6, 20629-20636

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Ultra-strong gel-spun ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fibers filled with chitin nanocrystals

M. An, H. Xu, Y. Lv, T. Duan, F. Tian, L. Hong, Q. Gu and Z. Wang, RSC Adv., 2016, 6, 20629 DOI: 10.1039/C5RA25786G

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Ultra-strong gel-spun ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fibers filled with chitin nanocrystals

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