Summary
Surfaces of a low molecular weight, side-chain liquid crystalline polymer (LCP), slowcooled from the isotropic melt, have been investigated using the scanning force microscope (SFM) to study its surface morphology. The results obtained from SFM measurements show the hedritic surface morphology of the material. These hedrites, as the assumed precursor state of LCP-spherulites, show diameters between 5 and 10 micrometers. Concentric lamellae of a thickness between 50 and 100 nanometres are the characteristic substructure of the LCP-hedrites. Higher resolution SFM images show a regular fine structure of these lamellae, consisting of band structures organized in domains with a band repeat distance of about 30 nanometres. A great variety of domain boundaries have been obtained.
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The LCP was supplied via the Defence Research Agency, Malvern, England
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Jandt, K.D., McDonnell, D.G., Blackmore, J.M. et al. Surface morphology of a liquid crystalline side-chain polymer investigated by scanning force microscopy. Polymer Bulletin 32, 487–492 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00587892
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00587892