Mechanical property enhancement of semicrystalline polymers—A review

Processing plastics below their melting points has been shown to be an effective way to significantly enhance the mechanical, chemical, and physical properties of semi‐crystalline thermoplastics. A number of techniques have been developed that are capable of producing highly oriented fibers, films, and shapes. In general, these techniques can be classified as drawing, extrusion, arid rolling, with some very specific modifications having been made to each, that affects the performance of the process. Of particular interest is the rate of production, the range of thicknesses achievable, the uniformity of properties in the product, and the extent, if any, of biaxiality in the product. In recent years, the productivity of such forming processes has been increased by reducing the level of molecular entanglement among neighboring molecules. As an alternate to these orientation processes, techniques have been developed which rely on strain Induced crystallization to enhance the modulus of molded parts and extrudates from a melt. This paper constitutes a review of these techniques with emphasis on the process parameters, polymers investigated, and properties of the resulting materials.