A real-time drawing study on solution-crystallized UHMW-polyethylene — comparison with conventional x-ray results

Abstract

Solution-crystallized ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMW-PE) can be drawn in the solid state to very high draw ratios, leading to materials with excellent mechanical properties. Very recently, the drawing process has been studied via different x-ray techniques, on the basis of which a deformation mechanism was proposed which could satisfactorily explain all observations. However, like most deformation studies performed in the past, the measuring conditions were quite different from the actual drawing conditions. Cooling drawn samples to room temperature as well as relieving the stretching force may give rise to the introduction of artefacts, leading to misinterpretation of the results. In order to exclude this possibility an x-ray study was performed on solution-crystallized UHMW-PE in real time, i.e.,during the deformation process, using the benefits of synchrotron facilities. Comparison of these results with x-ray results obtained via the conventional method shows that the latter method can be used without any problems for a qualitative study on the solid state drawing of ultradrawable UHMW-PE. One of the major advantages of the real-time method is the possibility to study the initial elastic deformation region.