Sheared morphologies, polymer surfaces

Pure and applied research related to the shear induced morphology and structural relaxation after cessation of shear in polymer/LCP blends will become more and more important for developing high performance alignment layers used in display devices and cell culture substrates with tuned surface morphology. 

Failure Morphologies. Ductile failure of notched polycarbonate specimens has long been recognized to occur with shear yielding from the notch tip (6). This occurs for the block polymers for all rates of test. Hull and Owen (5) recently reported from micrographic studies of impact fracture surfaces that the brittle failure of polycarbonate involves the formation and breakdown of a craze at the notch tip. The ductile-... 

In comparing the shear fracture surfaces of amorphous and semi-crystalline polymers, it appears that the features in both cases are quite similar (Fig. 39a -c ). This indicates that, under comparable conditions, the local stress field rather than details of the crystalline-amorphous microstructure of the polymers tested determines the operating deformation mechanism. Only secondary effects arise from the morphology of the cry stalline material. 

During polymer processing non-isothermal crystallization conditions, mechanical deformation, and shear forces may alter the morphology and orientation of polymers both at the surface and in the bulk. In addition, orientation effects of semicrystalline polymers that crystallize in contact with solids are considered. 

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