Interactions between Solvents and Polymers in the Solid State

Abstract

Abstract One of the goals of modern polymer research is to achieve an understanding in rigorous and quantitative terms of the molecular chain configuration and of the spatial arrangement of the polymer molecules in the solid state. This problem is of particular interest for oriented semicrystalline polymers such as textile fibers which have both crystalline and amorphous domains or phases. This duality in structure has found expression in many models including the micellar concept, the fringed micellar concept, and fringed fibrillar concept, and more recently the crystalline imperfection model. While there is no universal agreement about an exact description of the fine structure of semicrystalline polymers, it is generally accepted that some of the chains or chain segments are preferentially oriented and aggregated by close packing with neighboring molecules into cohesive structural units which are usually referred to as crystallites. Polymer chain folding is frequently involved in the development of crystalline domains. At the same time, some of the chains are in a somewhat more random configuration with little or no regular packing of these chains with neighboring molecules.