The Influence of Spinning Process on the Properties and Structure of PBS Fibers

As a bio-based polymer, polybutylene succinate (PBS) has extensive applications in plastic products and film manufacturing. However, its low melt strength results in poor spinnability, and during the forming process, it tends to form large-sized spherulites and exhibit filament adhesion phenomena. These limitations have hindered its development in the field of fiber spinning. To enhance fiber strength, this work systematically investigated the effects of spinning temperature and spinning speed on the properties and structure of PBS pre-oriented yarns (PBS-POY). The results indicated that appropriately lowering the spinning temperature and increasing the spinning speed could improve the mechanical properties of the fibers. When the spinning temperature was 195 °C and the spinning speed reached 2500 m/min, the tensile strength of pre-oriented yarns achieved 2.09 cN/dtex. Furthermore, the evolution of properties and structures of pre-oriented yarns under maximum drawing conditions across different spinning speed systems was examined. By synchronously analyzing the correlations among mechanical properties, thermal behavior and condensed state structures, the structural performance regulation mechanism under the synergistic effect of spinning-drawing processes was revealed. The results demonstrated that fibers produced at higher spinning speeds contained more numerous and smaller spherulites. After maximum drawing, these smaller spherulites split into lamellae with higher uniformity, resulting in final fibers with smaller crystal sizes, higher crystallinity and improved orientation. As the spinning speed increased, the average crystal size of the final fibers decreased; the long period of the final fibers extended from 8.55 nm to 9.99 nm, and the mechanical strength improved to 2.72 cN/dtex.