X-ray structural study of poly(ethylene terephthalate) after solid-state postpolycondensation

The structure of PET samples exposed to multistep annealing below the melting temperature T _m in high vacuum (the so-called solid-state postpolycondensation) has been studied by wide-angle X-ray diffraction. The sizes of crystallites have been calculated through the analysis of half-widths of corresponding reflections via the Rietveld, Scherrer, and Hosemann methods. As the molecular mass (M _η) of PET is increased from 4.5 × 10⁴ to 3 × 10⁵, the sizes of crystallites increase in three crystallographic directions (100, 010, and 001). An increase in the thickness of the crystal core of a lamella (the fold length in direction $\bar 1$ 05) $D_{\bar 105} $ from 40 to 58 Å (the Rietveld method) in the molecular mass range under study is accompanied by a rise in T _m by 19°C. The role of the $D_{\bar 105} $ size and intercrystallite tie links formed in the course of postpolycondensation in the rise in T _m with molecular mass is discussed. The free surface energy σ _e of the crystal end face (the surface of folds) has been calculated through the Tomson-Gibbs equation. The values of σ _e for PET samples with M × 10^?3 = 45, 100, and 300 have been estimated as 24.3, 23.5, and 15 mJ/m², respectively. These values turn out to be comparable with the lateral surface energy of crystallites available from the literature (13–19 mJ/m²). It has been inferred that the proportion of tie bridges in the intercrystallite space is appreciably higher than the proportion of folds on the face end surface of PET with not only M = 300 × 10³, but also with M = 45 × 10³ and 100 × 10³.