Morphology of melt-drawn polyethylene films investigated by transmission electron microscopy

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Abstract
Melt-drawn polyethylene fibers have been investigated by transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction. Depending on the drawing procedure, different morphologies have been observed. In the material drawn at a temperature of the melt of 155°C, a strong fiber texture was obtained. In the material drawn at lower temperatures, a second supermolecular structure was found. This second structure was attributed to the presence of small crystallites or of crystalline aggregates embedded in the oriented material. The size of the crystallites or crystalline aggregates ranges from 100 Å to a few microns. A model of these two coexisting supermolecular structures is proposed to account for the above observations.