Mechanism of formation of the interlamella dislocation network in polyethylene single crystals

Abstract

It was found experimentally that bilayered polyethylene single crystals with an orientational misfit angle larger than the critical angle, θ*, show moire pattern and only those with an angle smaller than θ* show the interlamella dislocation network. The intermediate pattern, which could neither be classified into the typical moire pattern nor the typical interlamella dislocation network, was found in the vicinity of θ*. Criteria for discrimination between the moire pattern and the interlamella dislocation network are discussed. The crystal with a misfit angle a little larger than θ* also comes to show the feature of the dislocation network during long storage of the crystal in the mother solution at the crystallization temperature. θ* is, therefore, a function of the time of storage. A mechanism is presented such that crystal lattices near the interfacial boundary are distorted to form the dislocation network by intermolecular force between the overlying crystals when the misfit angle is smaller than θ*.