Mechanism for the phase transition of poly(butylene terephthalate)

Abstract

AbstractThe α and β forms of poly(butylene terephthalate) transform reversibly by elongation and relaxation. The conformation change occurs in the tetramethylene glycol part, from GGTGG conformation to TSTS̄T conformation. In this study, by using a doubly oriented sample, we measured the positions, intensities, and half‐widths of the (100) and (010) reflections of the α and β forms of poly(butylene terephthalate) with a position‐sensitive proportional counter system. During the transformation, the molecules translate only slightly. These slight molecular translations, or distortions, accumulate, and the crystallite of the α form breaks into the small crystallites of the β form as the α–β transformation proceeds, and the crystallite of the α form grows with the relaxation of the distortion accumulated in the crystal and amorphous regions and on the crystallite surface as the β–α transformation proceeds. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 40: 765–771, 2002