Poly(ester amide) from 6‐amino‐1‐hexanol and terephthalic acid: preparation and properties

Abstract Poly(ester amide)s (PEAs) have received extensive attention due to their unique chemical structure and excellent properties. In this paper, a novel PEA (P6T6T) was prepared through melt polycondensation of terephthalic acid (PTA) and 6T6‐diamide‐diol (6T6), which was from the amidation of 6‐amino‐1‐hexanol and PTA. The structures were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance, fourier transform infrared, and wide‐angle X‐Ray diffraction, and the thermal properties were evaluated by differential scanning calorimetry and thermal gravimetric analysis for P6T6T. It was found that the melting point of P6T6T was 217°C, which was about 37°C lower than that of PET (254°C), while the initial decomposition temperature was maintained at about 381°C. P6T6T had a fast crystallization rate (the half time of crystallization ( t 1/2 ) range from 35 to 60 s) and great crystallization properties. The saturated water absorption of the P6T6T was measured to be 2.53 wt%, which was three times that of PET (0.83 wt%). Furthermore, the water contact angle of P6T6T was determined to be 57.3°C, much lower than that of PET (94.7°C). All these results suggest that the incorporation of amide was an efficient method to improve the water absorption of polyester fibers.