Relation of initial supermolecular organization in crystalline polymer systems to the organization produced by stretching

Abstract

SynopsisAn investigation of small-angle scattering produced by polarized light from stretched and annealed polymer systems containing spherulites yields information on the supermolecular transitions that occur during such treatment. A series of semicrystalline polymer systems (films, fibers) show that stretching leads to deformation of spherulites and subsequent transformation to an orientational supermolecular order. The size of the single element C; of the supermolecular order in the direction of stretching, determined from the distance between the layer lines of the scattering pattern, is related to the diameter DO of the initial spherulites by the relation CZ = KD&, where A, is the draw ratio of the macrosystem and K is a parametqr determining the deformability of the spherulites. For polyethylene a t room temperature K is unity and for polychloroprene it is 1.2. Changes of C2 after annealing and restretching of the systems also obey this ratio. 1015

Polymer morphology and mechanism of macrocrack propagation on fracture surfaces

“…Distinct boundaries between these structural cells are detectable. The result of low-angle light scattering investigations is in good agreement with this observation [ 9 ] .…”