Morphology and mechanical properties of polyethylene gel films prepared from decalin and p-xylene solutions.

Abstract

Films of ultrahigh molecular weight (3×106) polyethylene were prepared by gelation/crystallization from decalin and/or ρ-xylene solutions according to the method of Smith and Lemstra. The Young's moduli of the gel films prepared from decalin solution were higher than those prepared from xylene solution. This phenomenon was studied in terms of the relationship between the reduced viscosity of the solutions and the morphology of the resultant films. The morphology was estimated by wide angle X-ray diffraction, small angle X-ray scattering, and birefringence. It turned out that the Young's modulus is affected by the crystallinity and the crystallinity is also sensitive to the size or extension in space of polyethylene chains in the solution.