Observations of structure development during crystallisation of oriented poly(ethylene terephthalate)

Two types of SAXS and WAXS experiments have been made using synchrotron radiation to observe the transformation from smectic to crystalline phases in oriented poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET). In step-anneal experiments, PET was drawn slowly at 30 °C and then observed after annealing at 5 °C steps up to 100 °C. In the other experiments, time-resolved observations were made while drawing at 90 °C at rates up to 10 s−1. Up to 70 °C the WAXS data in the step-anneal experiments showed the smectic meridional reflection reducing in lateral width, indicating an increase in lateral long range order with annealing. Between 70 and 100 °C, there was a reduction in the intensity of the smectic reflection which correlated with an increase in the intensity of crystalline reflections. The SAXS from the step-anneal experiments showed an intense equatorial streak which has a correlation peak around 20 nm and which diminishes with annealing above 70 °C. It is concluded that this feature is a characteristic of the presence of the mesophase in oriented PET and is due to elongated domains of smectic mesophase with a length >75 nm and with an interdomain spacing of around 20 nm. Between 70 and 100 °C the SAXS data showed additional diffuse diffraction which correlated quantitatively with the crystalline phase and evolved from a cross-like appearance to a well resolved four-point pattern. The time-resolved drawing experiments were limited by the time resolution of the SAXS detector. They showed the same development of four-point diffuse SAXS patterns as was observed in the step-anneal experiments and a very weak equatorial streak. Differences in phase transformation kinetics between the two types of experiment are attributed to the different chain relaxation processes available under different conditions.