The isothermal crystallization of crosslinked polyethylene under uniaxial extension

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Abstract
An experimental study of the crystallization of chemically crosslinked polyethylene at constant strain under isothermal conditions was carried out. Changes in the stress and birefringence were measured simultaneously as a function of time. Both the stress and the birefringence behavior are consistent with previous work carried out under constant rate of cooling conditions. This indicates that the cooling conditions do not affect the structural features of the crystallization process. A comparison of the stress and birefringence curves shows that there are periods off time during which both stress and birefringence increase; stress increases and birefringence decreases; stress decreases and birefringence increases; and both stress and birefringence decrease. None of the crystal morphological models proposed to date for the strain-induced crystallization of crosslinked polyethylene appear to be able to account fully for this behavior.

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