Tensile behaviours of some high performance filaments after NaOH treatment

Quartz, aramid, and glass filaments were treated by NaOH solution with various concentrations and periods. The outward appearance of the treated filaments was shown. The investigation revealed that higher density of NaOH solution and prolonged treating time would cause accelerated degradation of the aramid filament; when different NaOH concentrations were involved, the decrease rate of the quartz fibre strength after 3 weeks’ treatment was not as distinctive as that for the aramid fibre; it seems that both NaOH concentration and the treating time used in this research played minor roles on the tensile strength decrease of the glass fibre.