Relationships Between Structural Parameters and Tenacity of Polypropylene Monofilaments

Abstract

Quantitative relationships have been established between the tensile strength of polypropylene fibers and their molecular weight, molecular-weight distribution, crystal linity, and orientation. An equation describing the combined effects of the structural parameters on the strength of the fibers has been derived. The correlation shows that, with polypropylene fibers of 94% to 98% isotacticity, the strength of the fibers is primarily a function of the orientation and that the contribution of the other parameters is small in comparison.