A structural study on solid-state drawing of solution-crystallized ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene

The influence of solid-state drawing of soln.-crystd. ultrahigh-mol.-wt. polyethylene on the structure was studied. Results obtained by different wide-angle and small-angle X-ray diffraction techniques (WAXS and SAXS, resp.) supported a deformation mechanism. An extended mechanism was proposed, which not only explained the orientational effects obsd. via WAXS and SAXS fairly easily, but could also account for the constancy of the long period, the steady decrease of the meridional SAXS intensity, the increase in crystallinity and the increase in the longitudinal crystallite size as the draw ratio increased (starting from a draw ratio of 10). The obsd. changes in lateral apparent crystal sizes as well as the stress-strain behavior during the drawing process could be understood easily in terms of this model.