The melting of high modulus polyethylene fibre—a Raman-microscopic study

Abstract

Raman-microscopy has been used to study the melting of high modulus polyethylene fibre. The 1131:1064 cm −1 band intensity ratio as a function of heating temperature appears to be indicative of the molecular orientation of polyethylene fibre when the fibre cylindrical axis is set parallel to the polarisation direction of the incident laser. The results show that a Raman-microscope with a specially designed heating cell can be used to estimate the melting temperature of both oriented and unoriented polyethylene specimens.