Morphology and Properties of Poly(oxymethylene) Engineering Plastics

Comparative WAXD/SAXS/SEM/DSC structural studies of a series of semi-crystalline poly(oxymethylene) (POM) engineering plastics, including the commercial products, homopolymer Delrin^® and typical poly(oxymethylene-co-oxyethylene)s, and a few lab-made POM compositions, were performed. The latter differed in their content of functional additives (present in low concentrations) and POM molecular weight characteristics. In parallel, their densities, thermal behavior/laser-interferometric creep rate spectra (DSC/CRS) at 20-180 °C, as well as long-term creep resistance (LTCR) at 20 °C were studied. It has been found that introducing the nucleating agents and oxyethylene units resulted in formation of more fine spherulitic or practically non-spherulitic structure with close- or loose-packed lamellar stacks. The presence of both “thick” (5-10 nm) and “thin” (1.5-3 nm) lamellae in the weight ratio of ∼3:1 was shown in all cases. Close values of real POM crystallinities, not exceeding 50%, were obtained by WAXD and DSC. A predominant role of “straightened out” or slightly bent tie chains in disordered layers of isotropic POMs was presumed, resulting in segmental dynamics differently constrained by crystallites (DSC/CRS data). As a result, certain morphology - density - creep resistance correlations were found.