INVESTIGATION OF WET-SPUN ACRYLIC FIBER MORPHOLOGY BY MEMBRANE TECHNOLOGY TECHNIQUES

The as-formed structure of wet-spun acrylic fiber from the sodium thio cyanate system has been probed, exploiting a number of techniques deve loped in the membrane industry. The use of flat membrane geometry in t he study of wet-spun fibers has been proven to be valid. The calculati on of average pore dimensions in the surface of acrylic membranes by a hydraulic permeability method has agreed well with microscopic examin ation. The skin layer present on both fibers and membranes has been sh own to be structurally isotropic for the extruded fiber by a novel pol arized infrared microspectroscopy technique. The consequences of this in downstream processing are discussed. (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, In c.