Light scattering studies of mixtures and fractions of linear polyethylene

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Abstract
Previous work on the small‐angle light scattering of polyethylene films, to determine the supermolecular structure, has been continued. One of the main efforts has been the study of a binary mixture whose low molecular weight component forms well defined spherulites and whose high molecular weight component yields a poorly defined rod‐like morphology. The addition of the high molecular weight fraction causes a progressive deterioration of the initial spherulitic morphology; a relatively small amount of the high molecular weight species causes a major decrease in the spherulitic size. However, there are no indications of any spherulitic structures when the weight fraction of the high molecular weight species is 0.5 or greater. The isothermal crystallization of a fraction M = 6.6 × 105 was also studied. Spherulites were formed at low crystallization temperatures while at the higher crystallization temperatures the morphology became nondistinct. Preliminary studies with solvents indicate that high molecular fractions, which do not form spherulites when crystallized in the pure state, do so when crystallized from highly swollen solutions.