Thermal expansion of oriented poly(methyl methacrylate)

The thermal expansivities along (α∥) and perpendicular (α_⊥) to the draw direction of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) with extrusion draw ratios 1 ≤ λ ≤ 4 have been measured between 150 and 298 K. As λ was increased from 1 to 4, α∥ decreased 2–3 times, whereas α_⊥ increased only 20–35%. The orientation function f calculated from thermal expansivity using the aggregate model is found to change linearly with birefringence, indicating that each property provides a sensitive measure of molecular orientation. For PMMA, however, only thermal expansivity can give an absolute f, with results at 150 K in reasonable agreement with previous studies using other techniques. At higher temperature, i.e., above ambient, PMMA side-group motions are excited, expanding volume, and calculations based on the aggregate model may not be valid.     

Elastic modulus and thermal conductivity of ultradrawn polyethylene

The axial and transverse Young's modulus and thermal conductivity of gel and single crystal mat polyethylene with draw ratios λ = 1–350 have been measured from 160 to 360 K. The axial Young's modulus increases sharply with increasing λ, whereas the transverse modulus shows a slight decrease. The thermal conductivity exhibits a similar behavior. At λ = 350, the axial Young's modulus and thermal conductivity are, respectively, 20% and three times higher than those of steel. For this ultradrawn material both the magnitude and the temperature dependence of the axial Young's modulus are close to those of polyethylene crystal. The high values of the axial Young's modulus and thermal conductivity arise from the presence of a large percentage (∼85%) of long needle crystals. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 37: 3359–3367, 1999     

Thermal conductivity of gel-spun polyethylene fibers

The thermal conductivities of unidirectional gel-spun polyethylene fiber-reinforced composites have been measured parallel (K∥?) and perpendicular (K⊥) to the fiber axis from 15 to 300K. The axial thermal conductivity K∥? varies linearly with volume fraction v_f of fiber, while the transverse thermal conductivity K⊥ follows the Halpin-Tsai equation. Extrapolation to v_f = 1 gives the thermal conductivity of gel-spun polyethylene fiber which, at 300K, has values of 380 and 3.3 mW cm^?1K^?1 along and perpendicular to the fiber axis, respectively. The axial thermal conductivity is exceptionally high for polymers, and is more than twice the thermal conductivity of stainless steel. This high value arises from the presence of a large fraction of long (> 50 nm) extended chain crystals in the fiber. Further improvement of up to a factor of 10 is possible if the length and volume fraction of the extended chain crystals can be increased. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Thermal conductivity of poly(ether ether ketone) and its short-fiber composites

The effects of crystallinity, orientation, and short-fiber filler on the thermal diffusivity D and thermal conductivity K of poly (ether ether ketone) (PEEK) have been studied. Below the glass transition, D increases by less than 10% as the crystallinity increases from 0 to 0.3. For amorphous PEEK, there is an abrupt drop in D at the glass transition (T_g ? 420 K). The drop is less prominent for the 30% crystalline sample and occurs at 20 K higher. At a draw ratio of 2.5, the axial thermal conductivity is 2.3 times higher while the transverse thermal conductivity is 30% lower than that of the unoriented material. For an injection-molded bar of carbon fiber reinforced PEEK, the variation of D with position along the width or thickness direction is found to correlate well with the fiber orientation. By regarding the injection-molded bar as a multidirectional laminate comprising a large number of unidirectional plies, the thermal conductivities along the longitudinal and transverse direction are calculated and found to agree closely with the experimental data. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Elastic moduli of ultradrawn polyethylene

The five independent elastic moduli C₁₁, C₁₂, C₁₃, C₃₃, and C₄₄ of oriented high-density polyethylene with draw ratio λ from 1 to 27 have been determined from ?60 to 100°C by an ultrasonic method at 10 MHz. At low temperature the sharp rise in the axial extensional modulus C₃₃ with increasing λ and the slight changes in the other moduli result from chain alignment and the increase in the number of intercrystalline bridges connecting the crystalline blocks. At high temperature (say, 100°C) the transverse extensional modulus C₁₁, as well as the axial (C₄₄) and transverse (C₆₆) shear moduli, also show substantial increases, reflecting the prominent reinforcing effect of stiff crystalline bridges in this temperature region where the amorphous matrix is rubbery. If the crystalline bridges are regarded as the fiber phase, the mechanical behavior can be understood in terms of the Halpin–Tsai equation for aligned short-fiber composites.     

超拉伸聚乙烯的弹性模量和导热性能

为了揭示聚合物分子链伸展、取向的本征特性，发展了两个新的测量方法和实验装置，用于研究拉伸比高达２００的超拉伸聚乙烯凝胶的弹性性能、传热性能和聚合物结构的关系．应用激光脉冲热致超声法给出材料拉伸方向和横向杨氏模量，应用激光脉冲光热辐射法给出拉伸方向，横向和厚度方向的导热系数．随拉伸比λ的增加，轴向杨氏模量急剧的增加，而横向的仅有少许减小．导热系数具有相似的特性．本文发现当λ＝２００时，这种拉伸取向聚乙烯的轴向模量可达钢的８０％，而导热系数甚至可达２倍，直至成为热的良导体，这是由于在高拉伸比时形成了相当数量的伸展分子链构成的针状晶体———晶桥．本文提出晶桥作为短纤维分散相的取向聚合物的结构模型，对于超拉伸聚乙烯的上述特性可以进行统一描述和定量化分析，和实验结果很好符合．     

Negative thermal expansion in oriented crystalline polymers

Measurements on the thermal expansivity α_∥ and α_? (along and normal to the draw direction, respectively) have been carried out for a series of oriented polymers with widely different crystallinities (0.36–0.81) and draw ratios (1–20) and over large temperature ranges covering the major amorphous transitions in each case. While α_? increases with temperature, α_∥ tends to decrease sharply above the transition temperature. For highly crystalline polymers, α_∥ decreases to values typical of polymer crystals (?1 × 10^?5 K^?1) and this can be attributed to the constraining effect of the crystalline bridges connecting the crystalline blocks. However, for polymers of lower crystallinity, α_∥ may become an order of magnitude more negative and this remarkable phenomenon is attributed to the rubber–elastic contraction of taut tie-moleucles. Since taut tie-molecules and bridges have drastically different effects on α_∥ at high temperatures, this allows a rough determination of their relative fractions.     

Thermal expansion of polyoxymethylene

The thermal expensivities of polyoxymethylene crystals in the direction parallel (α_|^c) and perpendicular (α_‖^c) to the chain axis have been measured from 160 to 400 K using wide-angle x-ray diffraction. Although polyoxymethylene has a helical chain structure, it exhibits a thermal expansion behavior similar to that of polymer crystals with planar zigzag chains, namely that α_‖^c is negative while α_|^c is positive and larger by an order of magnitude. The negative α_‖^c arises from the shortening along the chain axis caused by the torsional and bending motions of the chain, whereas the large and positive α_|^c reflects the weak interaction across the chains. Combining the crystal data with dilatometric measurements on semicrystalline samples, the thermal expansivity is found to vary linearly with crystallinity, thus allowing the expansivity of the amorphous phase to be derived by extrapolation. With the thermal expansivities of the crystalline and smorphous phases known, the draw ratio dependence can be calculated in terms of existing models and is found to agree reasonably with experimental data.     

Thermal conductivity of oriented crystalline polymers

Thermal conductivities of six oriented semicrystalline polymers which range from 0.37 to 0.63 in crystallinity and 1 to 5 in draw ratio λ (up to about 15 for two polymers) have been measured between 100 and 340 K. It was found that for increasing λ the conductivity K_∥ (along the draw direction n?) increases rapidly while K_⊥ (normal to n?) decreases slightly; K_∥ also increases with temperature, but K_⊥ shows no simple pattern in temperature dependence. These general features can be reproduced reasonably well at low draw ratio (λ < 5) by the modified Maxwell model, and the discrepancy in details may be attributed to the fact that the model does not take into account the possible anisotropy of the amorphous phase of the oriented polymers. At high draw ratio the intercrystalline bridge effect becomes important, and one must resort to the Takayanagi model, but the lack of corroborating x-ray data has rendered a detailed comparison impossible.     

Ultrasonic measurements of the elastic moduli of ultradrawn polyoxymethylene

We have employed an ultrasonic method to measure from ?40 to 60°C the five independent elastic moduli C₁₁, C₁₃, C₃₃, C₄₄, and C₆₆ of polyoxymethylene with draw ratio λ from 1 to 26 prepared by continuous drawing under microwave heating. The elastic moduli are controlled by three major factors: molecular orientation in the crystalline regions, fraction of noncrystalline taut tie molecules, and void content. The steep rise in the axial extensional modulus C₃₃ and axial Young's modulus E₀ with increasing draw ratio results from the alignment of chains in the crystalline blocks and an increase in the number of disordered taut tie molecules. Below the γ relaxation (located at 0°C at our measurement frequency of 10 MHz), these two factors also give rise to a slight decrease in the transverse extensional modulus C₁₁, Young's modulus E₉₀ and shear modulus C₆₆. At high temperature where the amorphous regions have very low modulus, the stiffening effect of taut tie molecules becomes dominant, leading to an increase in all moduli as λ increases from 1 to 10. At higher λ the void fraction increases appreciably, causing small decreases in E₉₀, C₁₁, and C₆₆ at all temperatures.     

Mechanical and transport properties of highly drawn isotactic polypropylene

Quenched films of isotactic polypropylene were drawn at 110°C up to draw ratio λ = 18. The axial elastic modulus was measured as function of λ up to the highest achieved λ. The sorption and diffusion of CH₂Cl₂ at 25°C in the undrawn and drawn samples were studied. Exclusively transparent samples were used for the measurement of the density and transport properties. This reduces the maximum usable draw ratio to 15. The drawing process is inhomogeneous with neck propagation. In the neck the draw ratio increases by about 6. As a consequence of the increasing fraction of taut tie molecules the axial elastic modulus increases faster than the draw ratio. The transport parameters D, S, and λ indicate that the original lamellar morphology is completely transformed into the microfibrillar structure.     

Photopyroelectric spectroscopy of polyaniline films

Photopyroelectric spectroscopy (PPES), in the 400 < λ < 900 nm wavelength range, was used to study thermal properties of differently doped polyaniline (PAN) films. The photopyroelectric intensity signal V_n(λ) and its phase F_n(λ) were independently measured, as well as the intensity V_n(f) and the phase F_n(f) (f being the chopping frequency) for a given λ of the saturation part of the PPES spectrum. Equations of both the intensity and the phase of the PPES signal, taking into account the thermal and the optical characteristics of the PAN films and the pyroelectric detector, were used to fit the experimental results. From the fittings we obtained, with great accuracy, the values of thermal conductivity k and thermal diffusivity coefficient α of PAN films of different doping degrees. It was observed that, in contrast with the strong doping‐dependence of the electrical conductivity, the thermal parameters of PAN films remained practically unchanged under doping. This apparent discrepancy is explained by the granular metal model of doped PAN. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 38: 1294–1300, 2000     

Highly thermal conductive benzoxazine‐epoxy interpenetrating polymer networks containing liquid crystalline structures

A diamine‐based benzoxazine monomer (Bz) and a liquid crystalline epoxy monomer (LCE) are synthesized, respectively. Subsequently, a benzoxazine‐epoxy interpenetrating polymer network (PBEI) containing liquid crystalline structures is obtained by sequential curing of the LCE and the Bz in the presence of imidazole. The results show that the preferential curing of LCE plays a key role in the formation mechanism of liquid crystalline phase. Due to the introduction of liquid crystalline structures, the thermal conductivity of PBEI increases with increasing content of LCE. When the content of LCE is 80 wt %, the thermal conductivity reaches 0.32 W m^?1 K^?1. Additionally, the heat‐resistance of PBEI is superior to liquid crystalline epoxy resin. Among them, PBEI55 containing equal weight of Bz and LCE has better comprehensive performance. Its thermal conductivity, glass transition temperature, and the 5 % weight loss temperature are 0.28 W m^?1 K^?1, 160 °C, and 339 °C, respectively. By introducing boron nitride (BN) fillers into PBEI55, a composite of PBEI/BN with the highest thermal conductivity of 3.00 W m^?1 K^?1 is obtained. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2017 , 55 , 1813–1821     

Volume dependence of thermal conductivity and isothermal bulk modulus up to 1 GPa for poly(vinyl acetate)

The thermal conductivity λ and heat capacity per unit volume of poly(vinyl acetate) (260 kg mol⁻¹ in weight average molecular weight) have been measured in the temperature range 150–450 K at pressures up to 1 GPa using the transient hot-wire method, which yielded λ = 0.19 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ at atmospheric pressure and room temperature. The bulk modulus K has been measured in the temperature range 150–353 K up to 1 GPa. At atmospheric pressure and room temperature, K = 4.0 GPa and (∂K/∂p)_T = 8.3. The volume data were used to calculate the volume dependence of λ, $g = - \left( {\frac{{\partial \lambda /\lambda }}{{\partial V/V}}} \right)_T .$ The values for g of the liquid and glassy states were 3.0 and 2.7, respectively, and g of the latter was almost independent of volume and temperature. Theoretical models can predict the value for g of the glassy state to within 25%. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 36: 1451–1463, 1998     

Physical and mechanical properties of ultra-oriented high-density polyethylene fibers

Ultra-oriented high-density polyethylene fibers (HDPE) have been prepared by solid-state extrusion over 60–140°C range using capillary draw ratios up to 52 and extrusion pressures of 0.12 to 0.49 GPa. The properties of the fibers have been assessed by birefringence, thermal expansivity, differential scanning calorimetry, x-ray analysis, and mechanical testing. A maximum birefringence of 0.0637 ± 0.0015 was obtained, greater than the calculated value of 0.059 for the intrinsic birefringence of the orthorhombic crystal phase. The maximum modulus obtained was 70 GPa. The melting point, density, crystallinity, and negative thermal expansion coefficient parallel to the fiber axis all increase rapidly with draw ratio and at draw ratios of 20–30 attain limiting values comparable with those of a polyethylene single crystal. The properties of the fibers have been analyzed using the simple rule of mixtures, assuming a two-phase model of crystalline and noncrystalline microstructure. The orientation of the noncrystalline phase with draw ratio was determined by birefringence and x-ray measurements. Solid-state extrusion of HDPE near the ambient melting point produced a c-axis orientation of 0.996 and a noncrystalline orientation function of 0.36. Extrusion 50°C below the ambient melting point produced a decrease in crystallinity, c-axis orientation, melting point, and birefringence, but the noncrystalline orientation increased at low draw ratios and was responsible for the increased thermal shrinkage of the fibers.     

Isobaric thermal expansivities of polyethylenes with various crystallinities over the pressure range from 0.1 to 300 MPa and over the temperature range from 303 to 393 K

A pressure-controlled scanning calorimeter (PCSC) has been applied for measuring the isobaric volume thermal expansivities (α_p) of crystalline polymers as a function of pressure up to 300 MPa at various temperatures. The measurements have been performed for several well-defined polyethylenes with various degrees of crystallinity at 302.6, 333.0, 362.6, and 393.0 K. The results are reported as values of coefficients in a correlation equation, which facilitates the use of reported data over large ranges of temperature and pressure. The general pressure-temperature behavior of α_p for all polyethylenes under study is such that α_p increases with temperature and decreases with pressure. The increase with temperature is smaller at high pressures and the isotherms of α_p have a tendency to converge at high pressures; α_p decreases linearly with the crystallinity of the polyethylene over the whole range of pressure and temperature under investigation. From the linear approximation of experimental data for polyethylenes with various crystallinities the estimated α_p for both crystal and amorphous phases of polyethylenes have been determined as a function of pressure up to 300 MPa at 302.6, 333.0, and 362.5 K. The obtained results have been compared with available literature crystallographic data and with the values derived from the Pastine theoretical equation of state for both crystalline and amorphous phases. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Component analysis of proton NMR spectra of linear polyethylene in the α-transition temperature range and phase distribution

Broad-line ¹H NMR spectra of linear polyethylene at temperatures in the α-transition range can be analyzed in terms of contributions from the crystalline and noncrystalline components provided molecular motion in the crystalline region is adequately considered. The spectrum of solid n-C₃₂H₆₆ or n-C₄₄H₉₀ prior to melting is used to take account of the contribution of the crystalline region of the polymer to molecular motions. The temperature dependence of the component distribution in the polymer is briefly discussed for a wide range of temperatures, together with previously reported results at low temperatures. The noncrystalline component is in a rigid glassy state at very low temperatures but with rising temperature it transforms to a mobile glassy state with restricted molecular motion, and transforms partially to the rubbery state at high temperature. The crystalline component remains rigid at low temperature, but some molecular motion is associated with it at higher temperatures in the α-transition range.     

Sorption and diffusion of toluene in isotropic and oriented linear polyethylene

Sorption and diffusion of toluene vapor in linear polyethylene with mass-fraction crystallinity between 0.48 and 0.82 and draw ratios λ up to 10 have been studied at 30°C. The sorbed concentration in the amorphous phase C_a is little affected by crystallinity, indicating that the free-volume fraction is roughly the same for all isotropic samples. However, the diffusion path becomes more tortuous with increasing crystalline content, thereby leading to a sixfold drop in the zero-concentration diffusion coefficient D₀. Drawing has more drastic effects, reducing C_a and D₀ by factors of 4 and 60, respectively, as λ increases to 10. These large changes result from the transformation of the initially spherulitic material into a fibrous structure, which is composed of aligned microfibrils with taut tie molecules lying on the outer boundaries. The effects of crystallinity and orientation on the concentration dependence of the diffusion coefficient are also discussed.