Spatially Resolved Cavitation within Tensile Stretched Isotactic Polybutene-1 Spherulite
RESEARCH ARTICLE|Updated:2026-08-28
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Spatially Resolved Cavitation within Tensile Stretched Isotactic Polybutene-1 Spherulite
Chinese Journal of Polymer ScienceVol. 44, Pages: 1-14(2026)
Affiliations:
a.State Key Laboratory of Polymer Science and Technology, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China
b.School of Applied Chemistry and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Zhao, C. W.; Mou, S. D.; Jiang, Z. Y.; Men, Y. F. Spatially resolved cavitation within tensile stretched isotactic polybutene-1 spherulite. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3743-1
Cong-Wen Zhao, Shao-Dong Mou, Zhi-Yong Jiang, et al. Spatially Resolved Cavitation within Tensile Stretched Isotactic Polybutene-1 Spherulite[J/OL]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 441-14.
Zhao, C. W.; Mou, S. D.; Jiang, Z. Y.; Men, Y. F. Spatially resolved cavitation within tensile stretched isotactic polybutene-1 spherulite. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3743-1DOI:
Cong-Wen Zhao, Shao-Dong Mou, Zhi-Yong Jiang, et al. Spatially Resolved Cavitation within Tensile Stretched Isotactic Polybutene-1 Spherulite[J/OL]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 441-14.DOI: 10.1007/s10118-026-3743-1.
Spatially Resolved Cavitation within Tensile Stretched Isotactic Polybutene-1 Spherulite
The precise microstructural origin of cavitation in semicrystalline polymers remains a subject of persistent controversial. Consequently
the exact spatial initiation of voids within a single spherulite remains under debate. Resolving this ambiguity has long been hindered by the spatial resolution limits of the conventional characterization techniques. To overcome this limitation
we employ an integrated approach of
in situ
synchrotron microfocus X-ray scattering and ultrasmall-angle X-ray scattering to investigate the cavitation behavior within individual isotactic polybutene-1 spherulite during uniaxial stretching. It turns out that early-stage voiding exhibits a distinct spatial sequence. Structural damage preferentially initiates at the spherulitic center
subsequently emerges in the equatorial region
and ultimately propagates to polar regi
ons. By reconstructing the three-dimensional lamellar orientation within the undeformed spherulite
we revealed that lamellae oriented parallel to the stretching direction are extensively distributed across all spherulitic regions. Based on these findings
we propose a micro-mechanical cavitation model. In this framework
parallel lamellae undergo direct mechanical fragmentation under stress
with microvoids nucleating within the interstitial gaps between adjacent crystalline blocks.
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references
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