Regulation Mechanism of Hard‐Elastic Behavior of Polypropylene Fibers by Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes

ABSTRACT In order to investigate the effect of multiwalled carbon nanotubes on the properties of hard elastic polypropylene fibers, MWCNTs/PP composite fibers with varying content of MWCNTs were prepared using a melt blending spinning method. The experimental results indicated that the prepared MWCNTs/PP fibers exhibited typical characteristics of hard elastic materials. In the prepared composite fibers, when the MWCNTs content was 1%, the elastic recovery rate of the fibers was improved compared to that of pure PP fibers, reaching up to 90.48%. The highest elastic modulus, 43.121 MPa, was observed at a 0.1% MWCNTs content, representing a 78.84% improvement compared to pure PP fibers. Moreover, the addition of MWCNTs enhanced the crystallinity of the fibers and increased the thickness of the lamellar crystals, thereby improving the thermal stability of the composite fibers.