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Strain‐induced crystallization in uniaxially drawn PETG plates
Author(s) -
Kattan M.,
Dargent E.,
Ledru J.,
Grenet J.
Publication year - 2001
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/app.1797
Subject(s) - copolyester , crystallinity , materials science , composite material , amorphous solid , crystallization , polymer , annealing (glass) , phase (matter) , ultimate tensile strength , exothermic reaction , chemical engineering , crystallography , polyester , organic chemistry , chemistry , engineering
The copolyester poly(ethylene glycol‐ co ‐cyclohexane‐1,4‐dimethanol terephthalate) (PETG) is used industrially as an uncrystallizable polymer, whereas PET is an inherently crystallizable polymer. Nevertheless, a crystalline phase could appear in the material. To create a strain‐induced crystalline phase in an initially amorphous PETG material, plates were placed in the heating chamber of a tensile machine at 100°C and uniaxially drawn to obtain different samples with various draw ratios. During DSC analysis of highly drawn samples, perturbations of the baseline appear above the glass‐transition temperature, consisting of weak exothermic and endothermic phenomena. Comparison of DSC and X‐ray diffraction analysis of drawn PETG and PET shows that a strain‐induced crystalline phase appears in this copolyester. A spherulitic superstructure could also appear after lengthy annealing. Analysis of this semicrystalline material allowed estimation of the degree of crystallinity, about 3% after a drawing at high draw ratio and about 11% for undrawn annealed material. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 81: 3405–3412, 2001