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Optical studies of the stress‐induced crystallization of polymers
Author(s) -
Stein Richard S.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
polymer engineering and science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.503
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1548-2634
pISSN - 0032-3888
DOI - 10.1002/pen.760160306
Subject(s) - crystallinity , materials science , birefringence , crystallization , polymer , crystallization of polymers , volume fraction , stress (linguistics) , scattering , crystal (programming language) , diffraction , superstructure , light scattering , optics , composite material , crystallography , chemical engineering , thermodynamics , chemistry , linguistics , philosophy , physics , computer science , programming language , engineering
Stress‐induced crystallization may be studied by the birefringence technique and by low‐angle light scattering. From measurements of the change in birefringence and stress during the crystallization of a polymer above its T g and from a calculation of the intrinsic birefringence of a polymer crystal, the change in volume fraction crystallinity may be calculated. The technique is illustrated for several polymers and found to give values in reasonable agreement with other methods for the study of crystallinity. Crystallization is also accompanied by the development of a low‐angle light scattering pattern, the size and shape of which is indicative of the amount, size and morphology of the crystalline superstructure.