BLENDS OF PET WITH RIGID THERMOTROPIC LCP HAVING FLEXIBLE SIDE-GROUPS- COMPARISON OF THEIR TENSILE PROPERTIES WITH SEMIRIGID MAIN-CHAIN TLCP BLENDS

Two new thermotropic liquid crystalline polymers (LCPs) were synthesiz ed. One is a dimesogenic LCP having a flexible hexamethylene spacer in the main chain, the other is a rigid-type main-chain LCP having alkox y side groups on the terephthaloyl moiety of the polymer. Blends of LC P with poly(butylene) terephthalate were melt-spun at different LCP co ntents and different draw ratios to produce a monofilament. Maximum en hancement in the ultimate tensile strength was observed for the blends containing 5% LCP at any draw ratio, and decreased with further incre ase in LCP content. The initial modulus monotonically increased with i ncreasing LCP content. The tensile properties of the rigid-type LCP bl ends were higher than those of the flexible main-chain LCP blends. (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.