Dynamic viscoelastic properties of unsintered polytetrafluoroethylene

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Abstract
The molecular motion of unsintered polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) was studied by dynamic viscoelastic measurements. From results for variously heat treated suspension polymerized (molding powder) PTFE, the following conclusions are drawn. Molding powder, as received, has a high degree of crystallinity according to calorimetric results and lower magnitude of the γ relaxation, but the behavior of the β relaxation suggests that the crystals are disordered more than those of the sintered PTFE. The β relaxation peak for an emulsion polymerized PTFE (fine powder) occurs at a higher temperature and is sharper than that for the molding powder, so that the crystals of the fine powder are better ordered than that for the molding powder. The behavior of the β relaxation for the radiation induced‐polymerized PTFE is affected by polymerization conditions, particularly concentration of emulsifier. It is concluded from the results for the unsintered PTFE polymerized by various methods that the nature of crystalline state is decided during the course of simultaneous polymerization and crystallization. Molding powder as received has a relatively high magnitude of relaxation between 30°C to 180°C, but with little temperature dependence in this temperature range. This relaxation is diminished by gamma‐ray irradiation. Since the molding powder has a complicated morphology, the relaxation in this temperature range is attributed to inter‐particle friction rather than a relaxation associated with motion on the molecular level.

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