High density polyethylene etching

Blais et al. used ATR to investigate etching of high-density polyethylene... 

Fig. 28 Scanning electron micrograph of high density polyethylene first isothermally crystallised at 128 °C and then rapidly cooled to room temperature. The sample was etched with hot p-xylene to remove the material crystallising in the cooling phase. Scale bar represents 20 pm. From Gedde and Jansson [154] with permission from Elsevier, UK...

Whereas examples in Fig. 19.6A,B pertain to immiscible polymer melts. Fig. 19.6C pertains to a miscible polymer pair [31]. Submicron layers were formed in a blend of 30% by volume EVOH and polyamide (PA). To improve phase contrast in the scanning electron image, samples were etched in a solvent so that some or portions of EVOH layers were removed. Thicknesses of layers were determined by separate transmission electron examinations to be less than 0.5 pm. The potential amount of layer refinement obtained with a smart blender is demonstrated for a blend consisting of 15% by volume LDPE and high density polyethylene (HDPE) [5]. Because interfacial tension was very low due to... 

Figure 3.8 Structure of a spherulite in HDPE (high-density polyethylene) with radial oriented and branched lamellae in a SEM micrograph of a selectively etched surface (from [2]).

---