Abstract

The microstructural development of bimodal high density polyethylene subjected to tensile deformation was investigated as a function of strain after annealing at different temperatures by means of a scanning synchrotron small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) technique. Two different deformation mechanisms were activated in sequence upon tensile deformation: intralamellar slipping of crystalline blocks dominates the deformation behavior at small deformations whereas a stress-induced crystalline block fragmentation and recrystallization process occurs at a critical strain yielding new crystallites with the molecular chains preferentially oriented along the drawing direction. The critical strain associated with the lamellar-to-fibrillar transition was found to be ca. 0.9 in bimodal sample, which is significantly larger than that observed for unimodal high-density polyethylene (0.4). This observation is primarily due to the fact that the bimodal sample possesses a greater mobility of the amorphous phase and thereby a reduced modulus of the entangled amorphous network. The conclusion of the mobility of the amorphous phase as a determining factor for the critical strain was further proven by the 1H-NMR T2 relaxation time. All these findings contribute to our understanding of the excellent slow crack growth resistance of bimodal polyethylene for pipe application.

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