Structural approach to the study of deformation mechanism of amorphous polymers

A new microscopic procedure for the visualization of structural rearrangements in amorphous polymers during their deformation to high strains is described. This approach involves the deposition of thin (several nanometers) metallic coatings onto the surface of the deformed polymer. Subsequent deformation entails the formation of a relief in the deposited coating that can be studied by direct microscopic methods. The above phenomenon of relief formation provides information concerning the deformation mechanism of the polymer support. Experimental data obtained with the use of this procedure are reported, and this evidence allows analysis of the specific features of structural rearrangements during deformation of the amorphous polymer at temperatures above and below its glass transition temperature under the conditions of plane compression and stretching, uniaxial tensile drawing and shrinkage, rolling, and environmental crazing. This direct structural approach originally justified in the works by Academician V.A. Kargin appears to be highly efficient for the study of amorphous polymer systems.