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Wide‐angle X‐ray scattering study of crystalline orientation in reticulate‐doped polymer composites
Author(s) -
Genetti W. B.,
Lamirand R. J.,
Grady B. P.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-4628(19981128)70:9<1785::aid-app17>3.0.co;2-8
Subject(s) - materials science , composite material , reticulate , small angle x ray scattering , scattering , doping , polymer , orientation (vector space) , optics , geometry , physics , optoelectronics , botany , mathematics , biology
Reticulate doping consists of casting a composite film from a solution containing both a polymer and a charge‐transfer complex (CTC) and allowing the conductive free radical salt to recrystallize as the solvent is removed from the polymer. In this study, a highly branched, low molecular weight polyethylene (PE) was doped with the CTC tetrathiafulvalene–tetracyanoquinodimethane (TTF–TCNQ). Wide‐angle X‐ray scattering (WAXS), conductivity, optical microscopy, stress relaxation, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements were used to show the effect of the addition of filler and uniaxial orientation on the mechanical and electrical properties of the composites. It has been shown that increasing TTF–TCNQ concentration shifts the preferential orientation of the crystalline phase of the PE from slightly perpendicular to slightly parallel to the casting surface. WAXS measurements were made on samples that were uniaxially stretched at 80°C and cooled to room temperature. These experiments showed a smaller incremental increase in crystalline orientation with increasing TTF–TCNQ. This observation was consistent with a drop in initial relaxation times calculated from room temperature stress relaxation experiments. In the unoriented composites, increasing TTF–TCNQ loading had no effect on PE crystallinity; however, the increase in crystallinity caused by uniaxial stretching was decreased by the presence of TTF–TCNQ. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 70: 1785–1794, 1998