Characterization of the rheological behavior of UHMWPE gels using parallel plate rheometry

✍ Scribed by Hsien-Tang Chiu; Jyh-Horng Wang

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 171 KB
• Volume: 70
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-8995
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4628(19981031)70:5<1009::aid-app22>3.0.co;2-1

✦ Synopsis

The effects of shear flow, temperature, and gel concentration on the rheological behavior of the ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) gel in gel spinning process were investigated. The gel point was determined using parallel plate rheometry in rotation mode with controlled stress. Likewise, the flow curves at various temperatures were determined with controlled shear rate from 10 Ϫ2 to 10 s Ϫ1 . Whereas the shear storage modulus (GЈ) was obtained in oscillation mode with controlled strain from 1 to 100%. The result shows that the gel point of the UHMWPE gel increases with increasing gel concentration. The result from the strain sweep indicates that GЈ of the gel is 1.5 ϫ 10 3 Pa, and it exhibits a plateau at low strain, but it is reduced with increasing strain. At low shear rates, for temperatures above gel point, all flow curves exhibit a plateau, then go down with increasing shear rate. Studying contributions from UHMWPE gel concentration, temperature, and shear rate for rheological view, we found that spinning at 6% UHMWPE (MW : 1.4 ϫ 10 6 g/mol) gel and 140°C gives the best effect on formation of fiber structure.