Application of catastrophe theory to neck initiation of metallocene-catalyzed high-density polyethylene

Abstract

This paper deals with the initiation of necking in a high-density polyethylene. The necking initiation was explained by a first-order catastrophic phase transition in analogy of van der Waals gas. Catastrophic arrangement of the lamellar cluster units results in sudden emergence of the locally close-packed layer structure. The layered plate collapses by sliding the units and leads to necking.