The crystallization behavior of poly(ethylene adipate) (PEA) on highly oriented high-density polyethylene (PE) substrate both from solution and isotropic melt was studied by means of optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, atomic force microscopy and electron diffraction. The results show that the PE influences the crystallization of PEA strongly, which results in an epitaxial growth of PEA with well ordered structure. At the boundary of the PE substrate, a transcrystalline PEA layer is observed. Fine structural observation illustrates that the PEA grows on the PE substrate in edge-on lamellae with fixed orientation. Electron diffraction demonstrates that the epitaxial organization of PEA on PE occurs with both polymer chains parallel, which leads to the (00l) PEA diffractions inclined ±23.5° to the chain direction of PE crystals. Combining the real space morphological observation and electron diffraction results, it is concluded that the epitaxial PEA edge-on lamellae are folded in the {00l} lattice planes.
The dependence of properties on the structure and morphology of semicrystalline polymers offers an effective way to tailor the properties of these materials through structure control. To this end, establishing the structure and property relationship is of great importance. For a right characterization of the crystal structure, several techniques can be used. Among these techniques, electron diffraction has its advantage for determining the crystal structure related to specific formation condition since it can combine with bright and dark fields observation of the sample. This feature article describes the application of electron diffraction in determining the crystal structure of semicrystalline polymers with elaborately selected examples. We focus on how the electron diffraction can be used to disclose the crystal structure, mutual orientation of different crystals, as well as the disorders included in the polymer crystals.
Matrix/fiber composites of β-form isotactic polypropylene(iPP) matrix and α-iPP or PA6 fibers were prepared by laminating technique under different preparation temperatures. The mechanical properties and interfacial morphologies of these composites were studied by tensile test, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. The experimental results show that the tensile yield load and tensile modulus of β-iPP/PA6 matrix/fiber systems increased significantly at the expense of elongation at break. These mechanical properties show essentially no dependence on the sample preparation temperature. On the other hand, the mechanical properties of iPP matrix/fiber single polymer composites depend strongly on the sample preparation temperature. At low sample preparation temperature, e.g., 172 ℃, the solid α-iPP fiber induces α-iPP crystallization, leading to the formation of α-iPP transcrystalline layer around the fiber. This results in a remarkable increment of the tensile yield load and tensile modulus. The elongation at break is also much better than that of the iPP/PA6 matrix/fiber system. It reflects a better interfacial adhesion of the single polymer composite compared with the iPP/PA6 composite. At higher sample preparation temperature, e.g., 174 ℃ or 176 ℃, the partial surface melting of the oriented fiber allows interdiffusion of iPP molecular chains in the molten fiber and matrix melt. The penetration of matrix chains into the molten iPP fiber results in some iPP molecular chains being included partially in the recrystallized fiber and the induced β-transcrystalline layers. This kind of configuration leads to an improvement of interfacial adhesion between the fiber and matrix, which causes a simultaneous increase of the tensile yield load, tensile modulus and elongation at break of β-iPP.
