Compacted UHMWPE fiber composites: Morphology and X‐ray microdiffraction experiments

Abstract

The effect of compaction conditions on UHMWPE fibers is examined by microbeam X‐ray diffraction (WAXS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The morphological observations indicate that melting occurs during compaction both on the surface of the fiber as well as in its internal regions. In addition, the recrystallized phase is nucleated on the fiber surface, possibly epitaxially. The recrystallized phase that originates from the internal regions of the fiber retains the initial highly oriented structure. WAXS microbeam measurements do not show any significant core‐shell structure in compacted single fibers. Considering the overall characteristics of the melting process during compaction, we can conclude that the hexagonal phase that appears upon heating of the fibers under moderate pressure is responsible for good adhesion of the fibers to each other, even more significantly than surface melting, especially because of its ability to retain the high orientation of the chains in the fibers. This information is relevant for understanding the formation and microstructure of the matrix component in the self‐reinforced composites fabricated by compaction. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 1535–1541, 2007

On the Structural Peculiarities of Self-Reinforced Composite Materials Based on UHMWPE Fibers

“…and I(α, θ) is the scattering intensity as a function of the azimuthal angle α and Bragg angle θ [23].…”

Single polymer composites by partially melting recycled polyamide 6 fibers: Preparation and characterization

“…What is more noteworthy is that a special “hot compaction” process had been developed to manufacture SPC by Hine and Ward in the university of Leeds 11, 12. In addition, a similar process method for SPC was also investigated by other researchers13, 14 and named “high‐temperature high‐pressure sintering.”15, 16 On the whole, this kind of special process method had some fundamental features that only polymer fiber was used and the matrix was formed by partially melting fibers during the process. First, regular arrays of polymer fibers were constrained by lateral pressing or radial winding for preventing high‐orientation fiber molecules from relaxing with heat, as shown in Figure 1(a).…”