Unexpected shish-kebab structure in a sheared polyethylene melt.
Scanning electron micrographs of a solvent-extracted sheared polyethylene (PE) blend revealed, for the first time, an unexpected shish-kebab structure with multiple shish. The blend contained 2 wt % of crystallizing ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) and 98 wt % of noncrystallizing PE matrix. The formation of multiple shish was attributed to the coil-stretch transition occurring in sections of UHMWPE chains. Synchrotron x-ray data provided clear evidence of the hypothesis that multiple shish originate from stretched chain sections and kebabs originate from coiled chain sections, following a diffusion-controlled crystallization process.
Hsiao
Benjamin S
BS
Department of Chemistry, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794-3400, USA. bhsiao@notes.cc.sunysb.edu
Yang
Ling
L
Somani
Rajesh H
RH
Avila-Orta
Carlos A
CA
Zhu
Lei
L