Row-Nucleated and “Shish Kebab” Structures in Crystalline Polymers

Abstract

Traditionally, polymer crystallization studies have been conducted on quiescent systems, but most polymers in commercial use are crystallized while under the influence of external dynamic stress fields. Only during the last decade has attention been given to the structure and morphology of polymers crystallized in systems that resemble those used for producing fibrous products.Although phenomenological studies of stress crystallization are now being conducted, scant attention is given to the basic theoretical raison d'etre. It is fairly well understood how stress increases the nucleation rate, but it is not well understood as to why a fibrous product results.