Abstract
Tensile tests show that for isotactic polypropylene the graph of yield stress versus spherulite size goes through a maximum at a critical spherulite size. Scanning electron and transmission optical microscopy indicate that this represents a change-over from spherulite yield to boundary yield, caused by an increased segregation of impurities at the boundaries coupled with voidage owing to contraction of the spherulites on cooling.
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Way, J.L., Atkinson, J.R. & Nutting, J. The effect of spherulite size on the fracture morphology of polypropylene. J Mater Sci 9, 293–299 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00550954
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00550954