Direct visualization of microstructure deformation processes in polyethylene

Abstract

Deformation processes of semicrystalline polymers are highly dependent on microstructure and its orientation, as for example in the different zones of spherulites. The elucidation of the deformation mechanisms is a complex problem, primarily due to the hierarchy of structural features present. Our approach to the determination of the important morphological processes occuring during deformation is to simplify both the sample morphology and the applied stress. The production of near single-crystal texture thin polyethylene (PE) film was made possible by modification of Petermann's method to prepare highly chain axis oriented and planar textured films of high density (HD) PE, in both as-drawn (AD) and annealed (AN) forms. These single crystal texture films were ideal for in situ microscopic deformation studies.HDPE (Marlex 6003 from Phillips Chemical) was melt-drawn from a glass slide at 120°C to form AD films, some of which were then annealed on glycerol at 128°C for two hours.