Role of Stretching-induced Crystallization on Mesoscale Morphology Transition of UHMWPE during Hot Stretching

Kai Huang; Jia-Jia Mo; Wen-Jing Shi; Shi-Tong Wang; Hong-Hui Shi; Chun-Guang Shao; Chun-Tai Liu; Bao-Bao Chang

doi:10.1007/s10118-024-3242-1

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Role of Stretching-induced Crystallization on Mesoscale Morphology Transition of UHMWPE during Hot Stretching

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2024-12-31

- Role of Stretching-induced Crystallization on Mesoscale Morphology Transition of UHMWPE during Hot Stretching
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science Vol. 43, Issue 1, Pages: 188-198(2025)
- Affiliations：
  
  National Engineering Research Center for Advanced Polymer Processing Technology, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450002, China
- Author bio：
  
  bbchang@zzu.edu.cn
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-024-3242-1
  CLC：
- Received：14 August 2024，
  
  Revised：2024-09-19，
  
  Accepted：25 September 2024，
  
  Online First：14 November 2024，
  
  Published：01 January 2025
- Accepted：
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Huang, K.; Mo, J. J.; Shi, W. J.; Wang, S. T.; Shi, H. H.; Shao, C. G.; Liu, C. T.; Chang, B. B. Role of stretching-induced crystallization on mesoscale morphology transition of UHMWPE during hot stretching. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2025, 43, 188–198

Kai Huang, Jia-Jia Mo, Wen-Jing Shi, et al. Role of Stretching-induced Crystallization on Mesoscale Morphology Transition of UHMWPE during Hot Stretching[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2025, 43(1): 188-198.
Huang, K.; Mo, J. J.; Shi, W. J.; Wang, S. T.; Shi, H. H.; Shao, C. G.; Liu, C. T.; Chang, B. B. Role of stretching-induced crystallization on mesoscale morphology transition of UHMWPE during hot stretching. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2025, 43, 188–198 DOI： 10.1007/s10118-024-3242-1.

Kai Huang, Jia-Jia Mo, Wen-Jing Shi, et al. Role of Stretching-induced Crystallization on Mesoscale Morphology Transition of UHMWPE during Hot Stretching[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2025, 43(1): 188-198. DOI： 10.1007/s10118-024-3242-1.

摘要

A morphology transition mode is revealed in UHMWPE stretched at 120 °C: moving from the slightly deformed region to the necked region

the morphology changes from small spherulites to a mixture of transcrystalline and enlarged spherulites

and finally to pure transcrystalline.

Abstract

In this work

a morphology transition mode is revealed in ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) when stretching at 120 °C: moving from the slightly deformed region to the necked region

the morphology transfers from small spherulites to a mixture of transcrystalline and enlarged spherulites

and finally to pure transcrystalline; meanwhile

the lamellae making up the transcrystalline or spherulite were fragmented into smaller ones; spatial scan by wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) revealed that the crystallinity is increased from 25.3% to 30.1% and the crystal orientation was enhanced greatly

but the lamellae orientation was quite weak. The rise of enlarged spherulites or a mixture of transcrystalline and spherulites can also be found in UHMWPE stretched at 140 and 148 °C

whereas absent in UHMWPE stretched at 30 °C.

In situ

WAXS/SAXS measurements suggest that during stretching at 30 °C

the crystallinity is reduced drastically

and a few voids are formed as the size increases from 50 nm to 210 nm; during stretching at 120 °C

the crystallinity is reduced only slightly

and the kinking of lamellae occurs at large Hencky strain; during stretching at 140 and 148 °C

an increase in crystallinity with stretching strain can be found

and the lamellae are also kinked. Taking the microstructure and morphology transition into consideration

a mesoscale morphology transition mode is proposed

in the stretching-induced crystallization the fragmented lamellae can be rearranged into new supra-structures such as spherulite or transcrystalline during hot stretching.

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references

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