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Diesel-induced transparency of plastically deformed high-density polyethylene

  • Polymers & biopolymers
  • Published:
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Abstract

High-density polyethylene becomes optically transparent during tensile drawing when previously saturated with diesel fuel. This unusual phenomenon is investigated as it might allow conclusions with respect to the material behavior. Microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, density measurements are applied together with two scanning X-ray scattering techniques: wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) and X-ray refraction, able to extract the spatially resolved crystal orientation and internal surface, respectively. The sorbed diesel softens the material and significantly alters the yielding characteristics. Although the crystallinity among stretched regions is similar, a virgin reference sample exhibits strain whitening during stretching, while the diesel-saturated sample becomes transparent. The WAXS results reveal a pronounced fiber texture in the tensile direction in the stretched region and an isotropic orientation in the unstretched region. This texture implies the formation of fibrils in the stretched region, while spherulites remain intact in the unstretched parts of the specimens. X-ray refraction reveals a preferred orientation of internal surfaces along the tensile direction in the stretched region of virgin samples, while the sample stretched in the diesel-saturated state shows no internal surfaces at all. Besides from stretching saturated samples, optical transparency is also obtained from sorbing samples in diesel after stretching.

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Acknowledgements

The authors kindly acknowledge Oliver Schwarze and Fabian Roth for the preparation of the tensile test specimens. We thank Thomas Rybak for the assistance with DSC measurements and Lothar Buchta for the assistance with optical pictures. This study was supported by BAM within the project “Microbial Induced Corrosion” in the focus area “Material”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM), Unter den Eichen 87, 12205, Berlin, Germany

    Maren Erdmann, Andreas Kupsch, Bernd R. Müller, Manfred P. Hentschel, Ute Niebergall, Martin Böhning & Giovanni Bruno

  2. Polymer Engineering and Physics, Technical University Berlin, 10587, Berlin, Germany

    Manfred P. Hentschel

  3. Institute for Physics and Astronomy, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-26, 14476, Potsdam, Germany

    Giovanni Bruno

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  1. Maren Erdmann
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  2. Andreas Kupsch
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Correspondence to Andreas Kupsch.

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Erdmann, M., Kupsch, A., Müller, B.R. et al. Diesel-induced transparency of plastically deformed high-density polyethylene. J Mater Sci 54, 11739–11755 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-019-03700-8

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