Archive of SID

Iranian Polymer Journal

12 (5), 2003, 421-430

Effects of On-line Melt Blending of

Polypropylene with Polyamide 6 on the Bulk
and Strength of the Resulting BCF Yarn
Hossein Tavanai1,*, Mohammad Morshed, and Seyed Majid Hosseini

Textile Engineering Department, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan-84156, I.R. Iran

Received 26 February 2003; accepted 15 July 2003

ABSTRACT

olypropylene filament yarns, when compared with polyethyleneterephthalate and

P polyamide yarns have lower stretchability after being false twist textured. To over-
come this deficiency, other researchers have tried to lower the degree of crys-
tallinity of this fibre by either tension annealing or blending it with polyethyleneterephtha-
late and polystyrene. These physical or chemical modifications have not yet achieved a
satisfactory level of enhancement of the textureability of polypropylene. Considering the
importance of BCF polypropylene yarns, in this research, the effect of blending
polypropylene with12.5 and 25 % of polyamide 6 on the bulk of the final bulked continu-
ous filament (BCF) yarn has been investigated. The results show that although both
crimp contraction and crimp modulus increase with the temperature and pressure of hot
air during texturing, but blending polypropylene with even 25% of polyamide 6 does not
enhance the textureability of BCF yarns. Also, the reduction in the crystallinity of the yarns
does not lead to any improvement in the textureability of the polypropylene BCF yarns.

Key Words:
polymer blending;
polypropylene;
polyamide 6;
continuous filament;
strength.

INTRODUCTION

Polypropylene has been gaining tion can be related to parameters such

increasing importance in the past 20 as: low price, easy production
years. The production of polypropy- process with low energy consump-
lene continuous filament yarns near- tion and excellent resistance against
ly doubled from 1.380 in 1993 to many chemicals. The application of
2.661 million tones in 2000 [1]. This polypropylene both in staple and
(*)To whom correspondence should be addressed. increase in importance and produc- continuous filament form covers a
E-mail: [email protected]

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Effects of On-line Melt Blending of Polypropylene ...

wide spectrum in both home and industrial textiles. For fact, the stretchability (crimp contraction) of 140f36
example, bulked continuous filament (BCF) polypropylene yarn blended with 0, 1, 3, and 5% of this
polypropylene yarns are used widely for the production liquid crystal polymer has been reported as 14 (0.7),
of floor covering such as tufted and woven carpets. In 15.5 (1.1), 14.4 (0.4) and 11.7 (0.6). Values in the
BCF process also known as hot fluid texturing, spin- bracket show the standard deviation. Blending
ning, drawing and texturing of polypropylene are car- polypropylene with up to 5% polyamide 6 in the
ried out continuously. Production of BCF yarn is a very absence of compatibilizer lowered the stretchability of
common practice today [2]. the false twist textured yarn by about 2-2.5%. Howev-
A major shortcoming of polypropylene filament er, with compatibilizer, the values of crimp contraction
yarns, when compared with polyethyleneterephthalate for the polypropylene yarn blended with 0, 2, and 5%
(PET) and polyamide (PA) yarns is its considerably polyamide 6 was 14 (0.7), 13.5 (0.6) and 15.9 (1.1).
lower stretchability after being false twist textured. Again it seems that blending polypropylene with up to
This has been studied by Mohaddes Mojtahedi [3] and 5% of polyamide 6 even in the presence of compatibi-
Sengupta et al. [4-7]. On the whole it can be said that lizer does not lead to considerable improvement in the
the high degree of crystallinity and low heat conductiv- stretchability of polypropylene yarn.
ity of polypropylene have been held responsible for the Research activities concerning polyblending of
rather poor stretchability of polypropylene yarns after polypropylene with polyamide 6 dates back to 1974,
texturing. These researchers have tried a way to over- when Ide and Hasegawa [9] reported that the dispersed
come this deficiency by lowering the degree of crys- polyamide 6 in polypropylene matrix leads to an unsta-
tallinity of this fibre by the following two routes: ble situation in extrusion and spinning faces difficulty.
- Tension annealing Ide made use of maleic anhydride as a compatibilizer
- Blending polypropylene with polyethylenetereph- for the first time to make the miscibility of polypropy-
thalate and polystyrene lene with polyamide 6 and also the spinning of this
Sengupta et al. [5] showed that tension annealing at blend possible. This substance is still being used as a
low temperature with the result of lowering the crys- compatibilizer. In this context, parameters such as
tallinity, increased the stretchability of false twist tex- molecular weight, molecular chain length and side
tured polypropylene yarns to rather a small extent. As a chains have considerable effect on the function of com-
matter of fact, crimp rigidity values (%) of 11.5, 19, 20 patibilizer [10]. It has been reported that blending
and 23 for parent yarns increased to 17.5, 21, 22 and 23 polypropylene with polyamide 6 affects properties such
for annealed yarns. He also showed that as far as the as moisture regain, melting point and viscosity [11,12,
stretchability is concerned, increasing the temperature 13].
of annealing tension has a negative effect. In another To summarize the research already carried out in
part of his investigation Sengupta [6] blended this field, it can be said that the physical or chemical
polypropylene with 5% of polystyrene, This led to a modifications made to polypropylene has not yet
decrease of the degree of crystallinity from 70% to achieved a satisfactory level of enhancement of its tex-
34%. The stretchability (crimp rigidity) of this blended tureability.
yarn increased from 5% for the 100% polypropylene Considering the importance of BCF polypropylene
yarn to 15%. This is of course far from values such as yarns, it is the aim of this research to investigate the
45-50 % for the crimp rigidity of normal polyamide effect of blending polypropylene with a higher portion
and polyester yarns. of polyamide 6 namely 12.5 and 25 % on the bulk of
Following the work of Mohaddes Mojtahedi and the final BCF yarn.
Sengupta et al. [4,5,6,7], Khosroshahi [8] blended
polypropylene with 1%, 3%, and 5% of polyamide 6 as
well as Vectra LKX 1170, a liquid crystal polymer. EXPERIMENTAL
Blending with polyamide 6 was carried out in the pres-
ence and absence of Overac CA100 as compatibilizer. Materials
In Khosroshahi s work [8], blending polypropylene In this research, polypropylene granulate from Tabriz
with liquid crystal polymer did not lead to considerable Petrochemicals was used. These granulates had a MFI
changes in the textureability of polypropylene yarn. In value of 16 and a melting point of 170 C. Polyamide 6

422 Iranian Polymer Journal / Volume 12 Number 5 (2003)

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granulate intended for blending with polypropylene 190, 195, 200, 205, 210 and 215 C
granulate was provided by Parsilon Company. The 215, 220, 225, 230, 235 and 235 C
melting point of polyamide 6 was 220 C. As compati- 215, 220, 225, 230, 235 and 235 C
bilizer, maleic anhydride (industrial grade) and as ini-
tiator, 2,5 dimethyl-di(tert-butyl peroxy) hexanol from The draw ratio between the first (slow) and second
Akzo Company (Holland) was used. The compatibiliz- (fast) godet was 4.5.
er and initiator were first mixed with polypropylene The texturing conditions were chosen according to
powder (MFI = 25). The percentage of compatibilizer the following matrix leading to 20 samples for each
and initiator in this mixture was 5% and 0.003%, group:
respectively. This mixture (2%) was mixed with Hot air temperature ( C) 110 120 130 140 150
polypropylene and polyamide 6. The choice of the Hot air pressure (bar = kgf/cm2) 1 2 3 4
amount of compatibilizer was based on using the mini- Values out of the above mentioned range were
mum quantity that led to acceptable spinability. either not practicable or led to no considerable change
As spin finish, a 17% emulsion of Rolfil PN/80 in the properties of the yarns. The BCF yarns with a lin-
(Cesulpinia- Italy) was used. This was added to the ear density of 1600 decitex were produced with a speed
yarn before the first godet. The spin finish pick up was of about 1050 m/min. Considering the type of the
about 0.5%. machine used, higher speeds led to unacceptable yarn
breakage. The traverse speed during winding was 212
Equipment cycles/min.
The equipment used in this research was as follows:
- Twin screw extruder (46 mm diameter, L/D = 44, Methods
Frester, Japan) for preparing the compatibilizer mix- Bulk and stretchability of the yarns were measured
ture. This extruder consisted of 9 heating zones with a according to DIN 53840. Five specimens were chosen
temperature profile of 189, 190, 191, 189, 185, 181, for each experiment and the average of crimp contrac-
178, 175 and 170 C. tion as well as crimp modulus values was calculated.
- Pilot spin-draw-texture (BCF) line with two spin- Strength of yarns was measured by Zwick ten-
nerets each having 120 trilobal orifices. The extruder someter according to ASTM: D2256-80. 20 specimen
had 6 heating zones. were chosen for this test.
- Electronic hank winder (Hans Bearer AG, Degree of crystallinity of the BCF yarns for the
Switzerland) for preparing the hanks needed for crimp purpose of comparison was measured by the FTIR
property measurements. spectrum obtained from BOMEM MB100. The speci-
- Laboratory Oven (Teb Azemoon-Iran) for crimp men were prepared by mixing 100 parts of the yarn in
development powder form with 1 part KBr in the form of a thin film.
- Zwick tensometer (Model 1446) based on CRE
method for measuring the tenacity of the samples.
- Manual crimp property instrument for the meas- RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
urement of crimp properties.
- MOMEM (MB100) FTIR Spectroscope (Braun Tables 1-3 show the average values and the related
and Hartmann) for measuring the crystallinity of the coefficient of variation for crimp contraction, crimp
samples. modulus and tenacity of BCF textured 100%
polypropylene, 87.5% polypropylene, 12.5%
Sample Production polyamide 6 and 75% polypropylene, 25% polyamide
Three groups of BCF yarns were produced as follows: 6 yarns.
- 100% Polypropylene Figures 1-3 and 4 - 6 show three dimensionally, the
- 87.5% Polypropylene and 12.5% polyamide 6 variation of crimp contraction and crimp modulus ver-
- 75% Polypropylene and 25% polyamide 6 sus the temperature and pressure of hot air during BCF
The temperature profile of the 6 heating zones of texturing of the yarns, respectively. As it can be seen
the extruder for the production of three above men- and as the analysis of variance carried out on the data
tioned groups of yarns was, respectively, as follows: shows, both crimp contraction and crimp modulus

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Effects of On-line Melt Blending of Polypropylene ...

Figure 1. Variation of crimp contraction versus temperature Figure 3. Variation of crimp contraction versus temperature
and pressure of hot air during BCF texturing of 100% and pressure of hot air during BCF texturing of 75%
polypropylene yarn. polypropylene and 25% polyamide 6 blend yarn.

increases with the temperature and pressure of hot air. needs a separate research.
The maximum crimp contraction obtained for the Figures 7-9 show the three dimensional variation of
blends containing 100%, 87.5% and 75% polypropy- the tenacity of the BCF yarns. From these pictures, it
lene is 6.8%, 5.3% and 5.3%, respectively. The three can be concluded that similar to crimp contraction and
dimensional picture is very similar for the three cases. crimp modulus, blending the polypropylene with
The corresponding maximum crimp modulus values polyamide 6 does not lead to any improvement for the
are 5.3%, 4.4% and 4.3%. Again the three dimensional tenacity of the resulting BCF yarns. As it can be seen,
pictures for the crimp modulus are very similar. From there is even a general decrease of about 2-3 cN/tex for
these results, it can be concluded that blending the 87.5% polypropylene and 12.5% polyamide 6 blend
polypropylene with even 25% of polyamide 6 will not when compared with 100% polypropylene. The tenaci-
enhance the textureability of BCF yarns. These results ty decreases further for 2-3 cN/tex , as the portion of
agree with the observations made by Khosroshahi et al. polyamide 6 is increased to 25%. Khosroshahi [8] has
[8]. It seems unlikely that blending polypropylene with also observed similar results.
relatively big portions of polyamide 6 such as 12.5% Figures 7-9 show also the effect of the temperature
and 25% will enhance the textureability of the false and pressure of hot air used as hot fluid in BCF textur-
twist textured polypropylene yarns. However, this ing. As it can be seen, in most cases increasing temper-

Figure 2. Variation of crimp contraction versus temperature Figure 4. Variation of crimp modulus versus temperature and
and pressure of hot air during BCF texturing of 87.5% pressure of hot air during BCF texturing of 100% polypropy-
polypropylene and 12.5% polyamide 6 blend yarn. lene yarn.

424 Iranian Polymer Journal / Volume 12 Number 5 (2003)

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Table 1. Crimp contraction, crimp modulus and tenacity of BCF textured yarn (100% polypropylene).

Crimp contraction Crimp modulus Tenacity Temperature Pressure

(%) (%) (cN /Tex) (ºC) (bar)
X X X
(CV) (CV) (CV)
3.2 2.7 18.6 110 1
(6.6) (10.4) (4.3)
3.4 2.8 17.1 110 2
(6.7) (10.6) (4.2)
3.7 3.2 16.1 110 3
(6.2) (6.9) (4.3)
3.5 2.9 16.4 110 4
(8.6) (10.3) (5.0)
3.5 2.9 17.0 120 1
(4.6) (5.7) (4.8)
4.2 3.7 16.8 120 2
(8.1) (6.5) (5.9)
4.5 3.8 17.1 120 3
(9.7) (11.1) (5.7)
4.3 3.6 16.7 120 4
(6.3) (6.3) (5.5)
3.7 3.3 17.5 130 1
(8.4) (9.7) (5.2)
3.8 3.3 16.8 130 2
(5.8) (6.6) (5.4)
4.5 3.7 16.3 130 3
(12.8) (13.9) (5.2)
4.6 4.0 16.0 130 4
(6.6) (7.6) (6.5)
4.6 3.7 16.8 140 1
(7.0) (7.6) (7.7)
5.3 3.9 15.7 140 2
(3.9) (4.2) (5.0)
5.1 3.9 15.4 140 3
(7.0) (7.3) (3.7)
4.3 3.6 16.8 140 4
(6.6) (7.6) (3.6)
4.8 3.4 16.2 150 1
(6.7) (9.1) (3.7)
6.1 4.4 15.7 150 2
(5.8) (7.8) (4.5)
6.9 5.0 15.6 150 3
(3.6) (4.5) (5.2)
6.6 5.0 15.6 150 4
(6.1) (11.8) (4.1)
5.9 4.2 16.6 160 1
(2.8) (1.4) (4.6)
6.6 4.8 16.5 160 2
(2.5) (4.6) (3.7)
6.6 4.8 16.3 160 3
(1.6) (3.3) (4.0)
6.2 4.4 16.1 160 4
(2.4) (3.5) (4.7)

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Effects of On-line Melt Blending of Polypropylene ...

Table 2. Crimp contraction, crimp modulus and tenacity of BCF textured yarn (87.5% polypropylene and 12.5% polyamide 6).

Crimp contraction Crimp modulus Tenacity Temperature Pressure

(%) (%) (cN /Tex) (ºC) (bar)
X X X
(CV) (CV) (CV)
3.2 2.8 15.1 110 1
(7.7) (8.8) (4.4)
4.1 3.5 14.8 110 2
(5.9) (4.0) (4.2)
3.5 3.1 15.1 110 3
(2.3) (3.2) (4.5)
3.9 3.5 16.0 110 4
(2.9) (2.4) (4.6)
3.1 2.7 16.2 120 1
(4.6) (5.4) (3.8)
3.8 3.3 15.2 120 2
(5.0) (7.8) (4.1)
4.4 4.0 15.3 120 3
(1.5) (1.7) (4.3)
3.7 3.3 15.0 120 4
(5.9) (6.7) (3.9)
3.9 3.5 16.2 130 1
(9.9) (10.9) (3.9)
4.4 3.8 17.2 130 2
(6.0) (10.2) (4.3)
4.7 4.1 15.0 130 3
(1.3) (1.7) (4.9)
4.8 4.1 15.7 130 4
(4.4) (4.9) (4.2)
4.3 3.8 14.5 140 1
(6.7) (9.0) (4.0)
4.8 4.1 14.3 140 2
(2.7) (3.9) (4.8)
5.0 4.3 15.4 140 3
(4.7) (3.8) (5.0)
5.1 4.3 15.7 140 4
(5.5) (6.4) (5.5)
4.8 4.0 15.7 150 1
(6.7) (7.4) (6.2)
5.3 4.4 14.7 150 2
(4.1) (5.1) (4.4)
5.4 4.7 14.5 150 3
(7.3) (8.1) (4.8)
5.2 4.4 14.2 150 4
(2.7) (3.2) (4.1)
4.9 4.3 14.2 160 1
(7.6) (8.7) (5.5)
5.1 4.5 13.7 160 2
(1.5) (1.7) (4.1)
5.3 4.7 13.4 160 3
(2.1) (2.2) (4.4)
5.0 4.4 13.5 160 4
(1.6) (2.1) (4.2)

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Table 3. Crimp contraction, crimp modulus and tenacity of BCF textured yarn (75% polypropylene and 25% polyamide6).

Crimp contraction Crimp modulus Tenacity Temperature Pressure

(%) (%) (cN /Tex) (ºC) (bar)
X X X
(CV) (CV) (CV)
2.9 2.4 12.9 110 1
(2.7) (6.0) (6.3)
3.4 2.9 13.1 110 2
(7.0) (5.5) (5.5)
3.0 2.6 12.8 110 3
(2.5) (3.2) (5.3)
3.3 2.8 13.3 110 4
(5.4) (6.5) (5.2)
2.8 2.4 12.5 120 1
(4.5) (6.1) (4.2)
3.4 2.8 13.6 120 2
(3.0) (3.7) (5.5)
3.9 3.2 12.6 120 3
(6.1) (8.5) (3.1)
4.1 3.1 12.9 120 4
(1.4) (4.1) (4.2)
3.5 2.7 13.2 130 1
(2.4) (3.1) (4.6)
4.4 3.4 12.9 130 2
(2.3) (3.6) (7.5)
4.4 3.4 12.8 130 3
(1.9) (2.8) (4.7)
4.7 3.7 13.0 130 4
(3.6) (4.5) (6.1)
5.0 3.8 12.5 140 1
(2.4) (4.2) (5.5)
4.9 3.8 13.2 140 2
(4.0) (6.5) (3.7)
5.4 4.3 13.0 140 3
(3) (3.1) (3.2)
5.4 4.2 12.0 140 4
(2.3) (3.0) (3.1)
4.7 3.7 12.9 150 1
(5.6) (7.3) (3.1)
5.0 4.1 12.5 150 2
(3.7) (4.2) (3.6)
4.9 3.8 12.0 150 3
(4.4) (3.4) (3.8)
5.0 3.8 12.0 150 4
(3.8) (4.3) (3.6)
4.4 3.5 12.0 160 1
(2.3) (2.5) (3.2)
5.0 3.9 12.5 160 2
(2.6) (4.5) (3.0)
5.5 4.2 11.8 160 3
(7.8) (8.2) (3.5)
5.3 4.3 12.3 160 4
(5.6) (6.7) (3.7)

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Effects of On-line Melt Blending of Polypropylene ...

Figure 5. Variation of crimp modulus versus temperature and Figure 8. Variation of tenacity versus temperature and pres-
pressure of hot air during BCF texturing of 87.5% polypropy- sure of hot air during BCF texturing of 87.5% polypropylene
lene and 12.5% polyamide 6 blend yarn. and 12.5% polyamide 6 blend yarn.

Figure 6. Variation of crimp modulus versus temperature and Figure 9. Variation of tenacity versus temperature and pres-
pressure of hot air during BCF texturing of 75% polypropy- sure of hot air during BCF texturing of 75% polypropylene
lene and 25% polyamide 6 blend yarn. and 25% polyamide 6 blend yarn.

.03

.02

.01

1200 1000 800 600

Wavenumber(cm-1)
Figure 7. Variation of tenacity versus temperature and pres-
sure of hot air during BCF texturing of 100% polypropylene Figure 10. FTIR Spectrum of BCF textured 100% polypropy-
yarn. lene yarn (air pressure = 3 bar, air temp. = 150 ºC).

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crystallinity. These results cast some uncertainty over

.03 the claims by Sengupta that generally lowering the
degree of crystallinity can improve the textureability of
.02 polypropylene yarn. In fact, it calls for a more thorough
investigation in this field which should throw some
.01 light on this matter. Considering the fact that blending
0 polypropylene with polyester or polystyrene has posi-
tive effects on the textureability of polypropylene
yarns, a research is needed to study morphology param-
1200 1000 800 600
Wavenumber (cm-1)
eters such as crystallite size, crystallite orientation,
degree of perfection of the crystallites and the state of
Figure 11. FTIR Spectrum of BCF textured 87.5% polypropy- the amorphous regions. This may lead to a better under-
lene, 12.5% polyamide 6 blend yarn (air pressure = 3 bar, air standing of the parameters affecting the textureability
temp. = 150ºC) of polypropylene and act as a help to improve this prop-
erty.
ature and pressure decreases the tenacity of the BCF As far as the tenacity results are concerned, the
yarns. This is especially true for a simultaneous decrease in the tenacity due to the introduction of
increase of temperature and pressure. polyamide 6 can be related to the decrease in the crys-
Figures 10-12 show the FTIR spectrum of the BCF tallinity shown by the FTIR analysis. Moreover, one
yarns with highest crimp contraction from each group should not forget that the possibility of the formation
(air pressure = 3 bar, air temp. = 150 C) obtained by of defects such as voids as a result of blending
BOMEM (MB100), FTIR Spectrometer. The percent- polyamide 6 with polypropylene could also contribute
age crystallinity of 100%, 87.5% and 75% polypropy- to the drop in the tenacity. Separation of these two fac-
lene BCF yarns calculated from the FTIR spectrum tors needs further detailed investigations.
were 92.06, 89.23 and 85.33, respectively. As it can be
seen, the reduction in the crystallinity of the yarns in
the order of magnitude observed here does not only CONCLUSION
lead to any improvement in the textureability of the
mentioned polypropylene yarns, but also leaves some The results showed that both crimp contraction and
negative effect. Mohaddes Mojtahedi did not also crimp modulus of the 100% polypropylene as well as
observe any improvement in the stretchability of 100% the blends containing 12.5% and 25% polyamide 6
polypropylene false twist textured yarns with lower increases with the temperature and pressure of hot air
during BCF texturing process. However, blending
polypropylene with even 25% of polyamide 6 does not
enhance the textureability of BCF yarns, although the
results obtained by the FTIR analysis showed that
.02
blending polypropylene with polyamide 6 does reduces
the crystallinity of BCF yarns. This finding contradicts
.01
the belief that the shortcomings in the textureability of
polypropylene is due to its high degree of crystallinity
0
and it could be overcome by lowering the degree of
crystallinity. A more detailed study of morphology
1200 1000 800 600
parameters is proposed.
Wavenumber (cm-1)
The temperature and pressure of hot air used as hot
Figure 12. FTIR Spectrum of BCF textured 75% polypropy- fluid in BCF texturing leads to a decrease in tenacity in
lene and 25% polyamjde 6 blend yarn (air pressure = 3 bar, most cases, especially when temperature and pressure
air temp. =150 ºC) are increased simultaneously. It is also concluded that

Iranian Polymer Journal / Volume 12 Number 5 (2003) 429

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 Tavanai H. et al.
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Effects of On-line Melt Blending of Polypropylene ...

blending polyamide 6 with polypropylene leads to a 9. Ide F. and Hasegawa A., Studies on polymer blends of
decrease for polypropylene and polyamide 6 blend nylon 6 and polypropylene or nylon 6 and polystyrene,
when compared with 100% polypropylene. The using the reaction of polymer, J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 13,
decrease in the crystallinity as well as possible forma- 963-974, (1974).
tion of structural defects as a result of blending is held 10. Lewin M. and Preston J., Hand-Book of Fibre Science
responsible for the decrease in tenacity. and Technology, High Technology Fibres, Chap.1, 1-50,
Chapman and Hall (1986).
11. Takahashi T., Konda A., and Shimitzu Y., Viscosity of
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT polypropylene /polyamide 6 blends, Sen-Igakaishi, 52,
573-581 (1996).
12. Takahashi T. and Konda A., Effect of viscosity ratios on
The authors wish to thank Mr Hossein Ghazvini,
structure polypropylene/ polyamide 6 melt blends, ibid,
Managing Director of Pars Polypropylene Company
52, 507-515 (1996).
(Isfahan-Iran) for his technical assistance. Furthermore,
13. Sachine N. and Surekha D., Relationship between mor-
they are also grateful to Miss F. Ali Hosseini and Mr A.
phology and mechanical properties of binary and compat-
Ataian for their FTIR assistance.
ibilized ternary blends of polypropylene and nylon 6, J.
Appl. Polym. Sci., 61, 97-107 (1996).

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430 Iranian Polymer Journal / Volume 12 Number 5 (2003)

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