Innovative Abrasion Resistant Technology of Liquid CrystallinePolyester Fine Monofilament for Screen-Printing

Abstract

In screen printing, there is an increasing demand for fine-diameter high-mesh fabric. Fiber required for this type of fabric needs to have a fine diameter, high strength, and abrasion resistance. To this end, we commenced a study focusing on liquid crystal polymer (LCP) fiber, a high strength fiber. Our analysis conducted to figure out the reason for the poor abrasion resistance of the LCP fiber revealed that separation of fibrils from the fiber surface (fibrillation) advances. This result led us to conclude that it is effective to minimize fibril structures to improve the abrasion resistance of an LCP fiber. In order to achieve this, we made use of the characteristics of an LCP fiber, and successfully produced a highly-oriented low crystallinity LCP fiber by heat treating a solid phase polymerized LCP fiber at a high temperature, achieving higher strength and improved abrasion resistance.