Uniplanar-axial orientation in hot-rolled polymers

Abstract

The orientations produced by high temperature rolling of polyoxymethylene (126 ‡C) and polytetrafluoroethylene (150 ‡C) and nylon 66 are examined by pole figures. No evidence is found to support the theory of Akahane and Mochizuki that it is the plane of the zig-zag chains that orientates into the rolling plane in nylon 66. The classical rolling texture of Bunn and Garner describes the pole figures except for the (100) pole, which is observed at 28 ‡ to the transverse direction; in the texture of Bunn and Garner it should occur at 24 ‡. In hot-rolled polyoxymethylene the texture observed corresponds to a unique orientation of the hexagonal unit cell: (10¯10) planes parallel to the rolling plane and c-axis parallel to rolling direction. The polyoxymethylene texture differs significantly from the pseudo-fibre textures observed in the cold-rolled polymer. The rolling texture of hot-rolled polytetrafluoroethylene is similar to that of hot-rolled polyoxymethylene. These results show the plastic slip system in polyoxymethylene and polytetrafluoroethylene to be (10¯10) [0001].