Plastic deformation of polytetramethylene oxide. I. Influence of molecular weight distribution,crystallinity, and structure

Polytetramethylene oxide with a planar zig-zag structure similar to polyethylene can be obtained with narrow molecular weight distributions. The plastic deformation of samples differing in molecular weight, molecular weight distribution, crystallinity, and structure has been studied. The degree of crystallinity of the undeformed annealed samples, as studied by NMR and DSC, leads to a value of the enthalpy of melting ΔH_m = 167 J g^?1, supporting the lower of two previously reported values. The low natural draw ratios and low Young's modulus of the drawn samples, together with the effect of blending a small amount of high molecular weight material into a low molecular weight sample, highlight the role of the flexibility and of the high molecular weight tail of the distribution in the plastic deformation process. The stress required for the propagation of the neck and the tensile strength are found to be linear functions of, respectively, the natural and maximum draw ratio.