Anisotropic mechanical properties of thermoplastic elastomers in situ reinforced with thermotropic liquid-crystalline polymer fibers revealed by biaxial deformations

Abstract

The anisotropic mechanical properties of the thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) in situ reinforced with thermotropic liquid-crystalline polymer (TLCP) fibers were investigated by uniaxial, strip-biaxial, and equibiaxial tensile measurements. The in situ composite sheets were prepared from an immiscible blend of a TLCP, Rodrun LC3000, and a TPE, styrene-(ethylene butylene)-styrene (SEBS) triblock copolymer, by a melt extrusion process. The uniaxial orientation of the TLCP fibers in the TPE matrix generated during processing yielded a significant mechanical anisotropy in the composites. The biaxial tensile measurements clearly demonstrated the anisotropic mechanical properties of the composites: The modulus in the direction parallel to the machine direction (MD) was considerably higher than that in the transverse direction (TD), even at large deformations; in equibiaxial stretching, the yield strain in the MD was smaller than that in the TD; the composite containing 10 wt % of TLCP exhibited the highest mechanical anisotropy among the composites, with 0-30 wt % TLCP. The latter result was in accord with the SEM observation that the composite with 10 wt % of TLCP possessed the best fibrillar morphology and the highest degree of uniaxial orientation of the TLCP fibers. The yield strains in uni- and biaxial elongation for the composite containing 10 wt % of TLCP were almost the same as those for the neat styrene-ethylene butylene-styrene. The TLCP phase with good fibrillation did not appreciably alter the original yielding characteristics of the elastomer matrix. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.