Preparation and study of attapulgite reinforced PVA fiber with cross‐linking of boric acid

Abstract Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers were manufactured by gel spinning with reinforcing of attapulgite (ATT) and cross‐linking of boric acid (PVA/B/ATT fibers), in order to improve the mechanical properties. Furthermore, the final fibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA), powder x‐ray diffraction (XRD) and tensile strength tester. In addition, when ATT amount was no more than 2.0 wt%, FTIR analyses suggested that the degrees of cooperation combining of ATT and boric acid with PVA macromolecules were enhanced. SEM images indicated that PVA/B/ATT fibers had smooth surfaces. DSC, TGA and XRD results illustrated that the melting temperatures and maximum thermal decomposition temperatures first increased and then dropped as the content of ATT increased. Moreover, mechanical properties results indicated that the optimal ATT amount was 2.0 wt%, and the tensile strength of PVA/B/ATT‐2 fiber reached the highest of 14.2 ± 0.3 cN/dtex. It was largely because that the cooperation combining of boric acid and ATT with PVA molecules improved the mechanical properties of PVA/B/ATT fibers.