<title>Plastic deformation of the amorphous component in semicrystalline polymers</title>

Abstract

The molecular orientation of the amorphous components of semicrystalline high density polyethylene induced by plane strain compression was studied by wide angle X-Ray scattering measurements utilizing pole figure technique and separation of scattering provided by crystalline and amorphous component. It was found that the oriented amorphous component produced by large strain plastic deformation consist of the domains of extended chain segments closely packed in a 2D pseudohexagonal aggregation, separated by less ordered regions. The deformation leads to the formation of the texture of the amorphous component common for the whole sample. In this texture the direction of chains coincides with the direction of flow and one of (100) pseudo-planes of the pseudohexagonal structure in every domain is perpendicular to loading direction. It was suggested that the most important deformation mechanisms in the ordered amorphous component were the glide of the chain segments along their axes and slip of the pseudo-planes of ordered chains in the direction perpendicular to chain axis, both resembling the crystallographic slip processes. Such specific deformation of the amorphous layers resulted most probably from the strong constraint imposed by the slip deformation in the crystalline component to which amorphous component is intimately connected.