Abstract
This study comprises a detailed morphological study of cold-drawn polyethylene monofilaments by Raman spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray measurements. The structure of the three-phase morphology of the linear low-density polyethylene monofilaments was investigated by combining these measurements. It was found that the most important structure variation was found in the intermediate or rigid amorphous phase, whereby the amounts of crystalline and amorphous phases were nearly constant and almost independent of the cold-draw ratio. The intermediate third phase contains gauche and transmolecules, and the amount of transmolecules was increased with the cold-draw ratio and was directly related to this cold-draw ratio. It was found that the two peaks in the Raman spectra, respectively, at 1303 and 1295 cm-1, can be correlated to the amount of gauche and transmolecules in the polyethylene monofilaments. A good and new insight into the three-phase morphology was obtained by combining the DSC and X-ray measurements with the amounts of trans- and gauche molecules from the Raman spectra analysis.
Highlights
Polyethylene has been one of the most extensively studied polymers, and the understanding of the structure-properties relationship has been one of the main topics of fundamental research over the past few decades
It was found that the two peaks in the Raman spectra, respectively, at 1303 and 1295 cm−1, can be correlated to the amount of gauche and transmolecules in the polyethylene monofilaments
Polyethylene in the solid state, as part of polyolefin family, is a semicrystalline polymer which consists of a three-phase morphology: a crystalline phase surrounded by a noncrystalline phase comprising a partially ordered layer adjacent to the crystallites and a disordered phase in the intervening spaces [1,2,3]
Summary
Polyethylene has been one of the most extensively studied polymers, and the understanding of the structure-properties relationship has been one of the main topics of fundamental research over the past few decades. Polyethylene in the solid state, as part of polyolefin family, is a semicrystalline polymer which consists of a three-phase morphology: a crystalline phase surrounded by a noncrystalline phase comprising a partially ordered layer (third phase) adjacent to the crystallites and a disordered phase (amorphous phase) in the intervening spaces [1,2,3]. Raman spectroscopy was introduced to characterize the three-phase morphological structure of semicrystalline polyethylene [4]. Such investigations demonstrated that chains involved in the third phase or in the anisotropic disordered phase were stretched, but lacked lateral order. The same conclusion was observed from other results [5], showing that the noncrystalline interlamellar phase is anisotropic and exhibits properties that are intermediate between that of a crystalline solid and of an amorphous melt
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