Interfacial Tension and Fiber Lifetime of Ionomer‐Compatibilized Blends Investigated by Embedded Fiber Retraction

Abstract

Embedded fiber retraction was used to investigate the interfacial tension and fiber lifetime of an immiscible polyester/polyamide system, with and without ionic functionality incorporated onto the polyester as compatibilizing groups. The ionic groups reduce the interfacial tension of the system from 7.55 dyne/cm to 1.49 dyne/cm when incorporated at 5.5 mole% into the polyester. In addition, fiber lifetime increased by a factor of 4–5 with the incorporation of ionic functionality. These results correlate extremely well with previously published observations of the ionomer‐compatibilized blends and confirm the influence of interfacial tension on blend morphology. The initial aspect ratio of the fiber should be between three and 12 for consistent and reproducible results.

Keywords:

• interfacial tension
• ionomer
• fiber