Preparation of the Ultra-thin and Wear-Resistant Protective Membrane and its Application to the Protection of Si3N4 Fiber

In this paper, an ultra-thin and wear-resistant protective membrane is employed to reduce wear damage to Si 3 N 4 fiber during the weaving process. Specifically, the polyurethane/polyvinylidene fluoride (PU/ PVDF) nanofiber membrane with a three-dimensional structure was first wrapped on Si 3 N 4 fiber using the electrostatic spinning method, followed by improving the interfacial bonding between the nanofibers to form a wear-resistant layer by the cross-linking method. The results show that the electrospinning technique can be used to uniformly and continuously wrap the PU/PVDF nanofiber membrane on Si 3 N 4 fiber, and the hydroxy acrylic resin (HAR) can form a cross-linking structure between the PU/PVDF nanofiber membrane to improve its mechanical properties. The protective membrane with a different cross-linking degree could be reasonably controlled to ensure that it provides excellent protection for the Si 3 N 4  fiber during friction. When the cross-linking time was 6s, the protective membrane wrapped on the Si 3 N 4 fiber had the lowest friction COF (0.022) and excellent wear-resistant capability (578 friction cycles), with a 2.1% weight gain rate, and the yarn retained more than 98.1% of its breaking strength after 500 friction cycles. This study offers a new approach for preparing protective membranes for Si 3 N 4 fiber weaving protection.