Crystals lamellae

The volume inside the semicrystalline polymers can be divided between the crystallized and amorphous parts of the polymer. The crystalline part usually forms a complicated network in the matrix of the amorphous polymer. A visualization of a single-polymer crystallite done [111] by the Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) is shown in Fig. 9. The most common morphology observable in the semicrystalline polymer is that of a spherulitic microstructure [112], where the crystalline lamellae grows more or less radially from the central nucleus in all directions. The different crystal lamellae can nucleate separately... 

Fontaine et al. [81] concluded that the increase in crystallinity by further heating material, crystallized at 200 °C, to 215 °C involves a crystal (lamellae) thickening process which is probably due to crystal perfection at the boundary layers. Further annealing of this material at temperatures above 215 °C led to a melting temperature increase that was attributed to crystal perfection alone and not to crystal thickening. 

In semicrystalline polymers such as polyethylene, yielding involves significant disruption of the crystal structure. Slip occurs between the crystal lamellae, which slide by each other, and within the individual lamellae by a process comparable to glide in metallic crystals. The slip within the individual lamellae is the dominant process, and leads to molecular orientation, since the slip direction within the crystal is along the axis of the polymer molecule. As plastic flow continues, the slip direction rotates toward the tensile axis. Ultimately, the slip direction (molecular axis) coincides with the tensile axis, and the polymer is then oriented and resists further flow. The two slip processes continue to occur during plastic flow, but the lamellae and spherullites increasingly lose their identity and a new fibrillar structure is formed (see Figure 5.69). 

Crystallization is an inherently time-dependent process the nucleation and growth of crystalline structures, the degree of crystallinity, the phase structure and quality of crystal lamellae, and their connectedness strongly influence the mechanical properties of semi-crystalline polymers. It is for this... 

Abstract The morphology of polyethylene has been an important theme in polymer science for more than 50 years. This review provides an historical background and presents the important findings on five specialised topics the crystal thickness, the nature of the fold surface, the lateral habit of the crystals, how the spherulite develops from the crystal lamellae, and multi-component crystallisation and segregation of low molar mass and branched species. 

Relation Between Growth of Crystal Lamellae and Superstructure 51... 

The existence of crystal lamellae in melt-crystallised polyethylene was independently shown by Fischer [28] and Kobayashi [39]. They observed stacks of almost parallel crystal lamellae with amorphous material sandwiched between adjacent crystals. At the time, another structure was well known, the spherulite (from Greek meaning small sphere ). Spherulites are readily observed by polarised light microscopy and they were first recognised for polymers in the study of Bunn and Alcock [40] on branched polyethylene. They found that the polyethylene spherulites had a lower refractive index along the spherulite radius than along the tangential direction. Polyethylene also shows other superstructures, e.g. structures which lack the full spherical symmetry referred to as axialites, a term coined by Basset et al. [41]. 

Very high molar mass polyethylene (M>2,000,000 g mol-1) crystallises without the, formation of a clear superstructure, sometimes referred to as the random lamellar structure [116]. The great many chain entanglements present in high molar mass polymers obstruct crystallisation and the crystals become small and their orientation less correlated with surrounding crystal lamellae. 

Fig. 21 Transmission electron micrograph of permanganic-etched linear polyethylene (Mn= 17,000 g mol-1, Mw=54,000 g mor1) crystallised at 130 °C for 13 h showing a lenticular crystal lamella. Courtesy of D.C. Bassett. From [54] with permission from Elsevier, UK...

At intermediate temperatures, i.e. at temperatures below the temperature corresponding to Mcrit=2,500 g mol-1, both components crystallised but in separate crystal lamellae. Crystallisation of the low molar mass component in the blend was promoted by the presence of crystals consisting of the high molar mass material. This finding was consistent with the crystal continuity between dominant and subsidiary crystals reported by Bassett et al. [46]. 

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