Abstract
Heat significantly influences the supermolecular structure of nylon, which results in changes in the fibers' chemical and physical properties and the morphological re sponse of the yam systems during further processing. The near infrared analysis (NIR) technique has been used extensively to measure the heat-set temperature of nylon yams. Previous investigations have studied the effect of changes in heat history on the NIR spectrum of nylon carpet yams from a spectroscopic approach, in which the wavelength assignments and the rationale for specific wavelengths used on the heat set temperature NIR calibration equations were presented. In this paper, a crystallo graphic approach is used to examine the effect that changes in the heat history of Suessen heat-set nylon 66 carpet yams have on the NIR spectrum and the heat-set temperature NIR calibration equations, and various crystalline, thermal, and laser light scattering parameters of the Suessen heat-set nylon 66 yarns are measured. The NIR spectrum is responding to changes in the crystalline perfection of the nylon 66 polymer with changing temperature, specifically to changes in the C—H stretches in the Van der Waals plane. Agreement between the results of the various measurement techniques (crystalline, thermal, light-scattering, NIR) is excellent. A definite change in morphological response occurs at ∼190°C, which coincides with the Brill transition of nylon 66. The slight deviation from linearity in the NIR response below the heat set temperature of 190°C is due to the Brill transition.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
