Study on the epoxy resin reinforced UHMWPE fiber

The preparation, crystallization behavior and fiber properties of UHMWPE/epoxy resin composite fiber were studied by means of DSC, XRD, SEM and tensile tester in this paper. It was found that the morphology showed a different behavior from the pure PE fiber and fiber melting temperature was increased by 4 degrees C, tensile strength increased by 5%, fiber modulus increased by 12% and fiber creep decreased by 45%. It's believed that the epoxy can serve as a physical cross-linking agent to limit the move or migration of PE molecules and consequently to improve fiber creep property. However, when the content of epoxy resin is higher than 5 wt %, all of the behavior and properties will be deteriorated.