Molecular Orientation and Mechanical Properties of Poly(Vinyl Alcohol) Fibers

Abstract A number of poly(vinyl alcohol) fibers with different draw ratios was characterized by measuring the birefringence, crystalline orientational order, crystallinity, tensile strength, and modulus. The birefringence, tensile strength and modulus increased with increasing draw ratio whereas the crystallinity and crystalline order parameters remained constant within narrow limits. The increase in birefringence has to be attributed solely to an increase in chain orientation in the amorphous phase of the semicrystalline fiber. The tensile strength and modulus are therefore directly related to the chain orientation in the amorphous phase. With the aid of a simple two-phase model it was found that the modulus of the amorphous phase in its disordered conformation was 4.8 GPa. The intrinsic birefringence of the amorphous phase was found to be 79 × 10−3, i.e. much higher than the value obtained for the crystalline phase (52 × 10−3). When this value was used in calculations, it was found that the order parameter of the amorphous phase increased from around 0.1 for a draw ratio of 1 to approximately 0.6 for a draw ratio of 5, whereas the order parameter of the crystalline phase was close to 1 for all draw ratios.