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Effects of selected process parameters on the morphology of poly(ethylene terephthalate) preforms and bottles
Author(s) -
Hanley Tracey,
Sutton David,
Karatchevtseva Inna,
Cookson David,
Burford Robert,
Knott Robert
Publication year - 2007
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.26472
Subject(s) - crystallinity , small angle x ray scattering , materials science , bottle , amorphous solid , composite material , morphology (biology) , poly ethylene , optical microscope , mold , scattering , ethylene , crystallography , optics , scanning electron microscope , biochemistry , chemistry , physics , biology , genetics , catalysis
Small‐angle X‐ray scattering (SAXS) studies and polarized optical microscopy were undertaken to explore possible morphological explanations for the poor mechanical strength in the petaloid bases of poly(ethylene terephthalate) bottles. With a standard commercial production line, one set of injection‐molded preforms was overpacked by 1.1 wt % to investigate the effect on the molecular morphology with respect to a set of control samples. Both sets of preforms showed highly crystalline and oriented areas corresponding to the injection gate region. The main body of the control preform was amorphous, and although the overpacked preform was essentially amorphous, there was some evidence for weak crystallinity. The SAXS patterns of the bottle petaloid base blown from the corresponding preforms produced similar SAXS patterns for overpacked and control bottle bases, indicating that the commercial process is robust at least to this degree of overpacking. Optical microscopy showed detailed crystalline features around the gate region and thin crystalline layers sandwiched between a quenched skin layer in direct contact with the cold mold walls and the main flow of material into the mold. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007