Abstract: The photolysis of Vectran fabric exposed to Xenon-Arc Lamp was investigated. The breaking strength and the chemical structure were studied. The aging mechanism of Vectran fiber was discussed. The result shows the Xenon-Arc Lamp leads dramatic decrease of tensile strength in Vectran fabric. It can be seen that 1725cm-1 and 1110cm-1 are weaken from ATR-FTIR spectra of Vectran fiber, which attributed to C=O and C―O respectively, this indicates the main damage of Vectran fiber is chain scission of Vectran molecule. The ESEM micrographs shows that low molecule compounds are separated out from the inner side of Vectran fiber, which results in serious coarsing on the fiber’s surface. The DSC shows the photoaging seriously destroyed the crystalline structure inside Vectran fiber.

Key words: Vectran fabric, photoaging, tensile, crystalline structure