

It is believed that the extended chain orientation derived from the linear geometry of the para- linkage is primarily responsible for the exceptional mechanical strength of Kevlar® fibers 3, 8, 9, 10. S1, in which the aromatic rings are linked to the backbone chain through the para- positions, and the adjacent chains bond together via hydrogen bonds to form pleated sheets. The chemical structure of Kevlar® is presented in Fig. Using a variety of experimental techniques, researchers have uncovered distinct structural features of Kevlar® fibers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. The unrivalled mechanical behaviour of these fibers is undoubtedly a result of their microstructures. The use of poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide) (PPTA), such as DuPont’s Kevlar® fibers, in applications seeking strong and lightweight materials is well documented. Such findings are important to understand the contribution of different microstructures of Kevlar® fibers to their mechanical performance, which in turn can be utilized to design high-performance fibers that are not limited by the trade-off between toughness and stiffness. Furthermore, micro-tensile testing results showed that the ultimate tensile strength, the elongation at failure, and the tensile toughness of single fibers could be significantly enhanced by cyclic loading.
#Liquid notes 1.5.3.4 crack skin#
The skin and the core regions showed different mechanical behaviour and structural changes during nanoindentation and micro-tensile tests, indicating that the core region possessed higher stiffness, whereas the skin region could undergo more plastic deformation. Cross sectional SEM images of the broken fiber showed that the thickness of the skin ranged from 300 to 800 nm and that the core region consisted of highly packed layers of fibrils. The skin-core structure of Kevlar® 29 fiber was revealed through a focused electron beam experiment inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM) chamber. This study aims to elucidate the relationship between the mechanical properties and microstructures of poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide) (PPTA) single fibers at the micro/nano scale.
