BENDING OF INTERNALLY REINFORCED RAYON FIBERS

An investigation is reported in which internally reinforced fibers were produced with a skin of rayon and cores of previously oriented nylon, polypropylene, and polyester fibers. The tensile mechanical properties and the moisture-regain characteristics are shown to be decoupled from each other, with the core controlling the tensile properties and the skin dominating the moisture regain. In this study, the dominance of the core on mechanical properties is demonstrated to include additionally bending rigidity, hysteresis, and work recovery. A Kawabata Pure Bending Tester was used with an adapted method for measuring the bending characteristics of individual fibers. The measured fiber-bending properties obtained by using the Kawabata unit are also shown to be consistent with other bending-measurement techniques and with tensile properties.