Plastic deformation of polyethylene II. Change of mechanical properties during drawing

Abstract

Abstract The crystallinity, elastic modulus, and tensile strength of samples of various draw ratios together with the true stress—strain curves of high‐density polyethylene were determined to establish correlations with morphological changes occurring during deformation. Changes of crystallinity at draw ratios below 5, i.e., constancy during drawing of quenched film and a decrease during drawing of annealed film, are explained by the formation of microfibrils with crystallinity independent of the thermal history of the film. The microfibrils slide past each other at higher draw ratios, generating an increasing number of interfibrillar tie molecules, which is reflected in the increasing number of interfibrillar tie molecules, which is reflected in the increase of crystallinity, elastic modulus, and tensile strength. From the true stress—strain curves, the differential work density for the deformation of the volume element was calculated as a function of the draw ratio. It contains two components which reflect two different mechanisms of deformation. The first component, decreasing with increasing draw ratio, can be associated with the destruction of the original microspherulitic structure; the second one, increasing with increasing draw ratio, can be associated with the deformation of the new fiber structure, i.e., with the sliding motion of the microfibrils formed during the first deformation step.