Melt spinning of silane-water cross-linked polyethylene-octene through a reactive extrusion process

The aim of this study is to produce silane-water cross-linked polyethylene-octene (PEO) fibers through a reactive extrusion process. First, PEO is silane-grafted during an extrusion process followed by a spinning step. Then, grafted PEO monofilaments are introduced in water-based solution to perform cross-linking. The influence of process parameters on bulk PEO cross-linking degree was first investigated through a mixture design methodology which revealed that the most influent parameters are extrusion temperature and time. Using these results and the response surface methodology, silane-water cross-linked PEO monofilaments could be produced with desired gel contents after proceeding to some adjustments of processing parameters. The influence of cross-linking degree and draw ratio on macroscopic properties of PEO monofilaments was investigated. In particular, the cross-linked PEO fibers thermomechanical stability increases with cross-linking degree up to 170 °C for cross-linking degrees higher than 55%. Moreover, cross-linked PEO fibers exhibit higher elastic properties than neat PEO fibers.