Fibrous/lamellar microstructure in polyethylene

Abstract

Abstract A shish‐kebab microstructure consisting of both fibrillar and lamellar crystals has been observed with transmission electron microscopy in polyethylene crystallized from the melt. The parallel fibrillar crystals are aligned at right angles to closely spaced lamellar crystals. The lamellar crystals were grown epitaxially on a few fibrillar crystals obtained by shearing a solution which preceded the creation of the thin melt film. The fibrillar/lamellar microstructure revealed by dissolving a paraffin diluent illustrates two aspects of oriented structures not reported previously: (a) a high density of intercrystalline links parallel to the original nucleating fiber connecting the lamellar crystals, and (b) a connectivity between lamellar crystals growing on different nucleating fibers. The samples are observed to have a continuous two‐dimensional crystalline superstructure.