Nanoparticles play a fundamental role on nanocomposite properties, as they significantly increase the contact area and allow a homogeneous distribution in comparison to microparticles. Silver nanoparticles (AgNP) have been extensively used in biomedical and engineering applications due to their interesting properties, such as antibacterial activity. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a semi-crystalline polymer and has excellent chemical resistance and thermal stability. Because of its remarkable properties, PET has been used in several industrial applications, such as packaging, electrical, automotive, construction and textile. The aim of this study was to prepare potential antimicrobial PET-AgNP nanocomposite filaments for textile applications. Therefore, AgNP were incorporated in the PET matrix at different concentrations (0.05; 0.10; 0.15; 0.20; 0.25; 0.30; 0.35 and 0.40%) by extruding the PET resin with specific amounts of a 10% (w/w) AgNP/PET master batch. Then, rheological characterization was carried out and filaments were produced for mechanical, optical and thermal analyses. The incorporation of up to 0.20% (w/w) of AgNP in the polymeric matrix has not significantly altered overall properties of PET nanocomposites. Moreover, the nanocomposite incorporated with 0.05% of AgNP demonstrated suitable intrinsic viscosity for fiber processing and PET-like mechanical, thermal and optical properties.
