Effects of drawing process on crimp formation-ability of side-by-side bicomponent filament yarns produced from recycled, fiber-grade and bottle-grade PET

In this study, side-by-side bicomponent filaments from recycled poly(ethylene) terephthalate (R-PET) from post-consumer bottles, fiber-grade PET (FG-PET) and bottle-grade PET (BG-PET) successfully were extruded. The bicomponent fibers in the forms of FG/R, BG/R and FG/BG were produced in a spinning machine and drawn by a thermal drawing process to improve their mechanical properties using draw ratios between '2.5 and 2.8'. The effects of conditions on the fiber structure, physical properties and crimp formation of resultant fibers were evaluated. The birefringence, shrinkage and mechanical properties, such as tensile strength and tensile modulus, increased and elongation at break decreased for the drawn fibers, and this was attributed to the fiber orientation. Distinct crimp formation was observed from drawn bicomponent fibers after thermal treatment. There were significant birefringence and shrinkage difference between two components in drawn bicomponent fibers caused to severe crimp formation.