Melting centrifugally spun ultrafine poly butylene adipate-co-terephthalate (PBAT) fiber and hydrophilic modification

This paper demonstrates that melt centrifugal spinning could be used to effectively fabricate degradable poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) fibers with uniform fiber diameter. The hydrophobic PBAT fibers were modified into hydrophilic fibers using the hyperbranched polyesters (HBP) with three-dimensional molecular chain structures and a large number of functional groups at the chain ends. The structures and properties of the obtained fibers were characterized with SEM, XRD, DSC, contact angle, and tensile strength analyses. Results indicate that fibers with uniform diameters can be conveniently fabricated by designing a spinneret. The obtained fibers showed no apparent change in crystallization compared to PBAT pellets, while the thermal stability and mechanical properties of PBAT/HBP fibers were dependent on the HBP ratio in fibers. More importantly, the obtained fibers gradually changed from hydrophobic to super-hydrophilic with increasing HBP content in fibers up to 30%. The modified hydrophilic PBAT/HBP presents a greatly significant potential for application in biomedical fields.