Inverse temperature dependence of strain hardening in ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene: role of lamellar coupling and entanglement density

Irradiation of ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) with a dose of 150 kGy by an electron beam can effectively increase the entanglement density in the amorphous phase and has little influence on the properties of the crystalline phase, which provides examples to comparatively investigate the role of lamellar coupling and entanglement density in determining the strain-hardening effect in semicrystalline polymers. The strain-hardening modulus, deduced from the Haward plots of true stress-strain curves, is inversely temperature-dependent and has a sharp transition around 65 degrees C that corresponds to the mechanical alphaI-process of the crystalline phase for both nonirradiated and irradiated samples, irrespective of the entanglement density in the amorphous phase. Lamellar coupling takes more effect in determining the strain-hardening behavior before the mechanical alphaI-process is activated. With further increasing temperature, lamellar coupling becomes weaker and the role of the entangled amorphous phase is gradually presented. However, the same temperature dependence of the strain-hardening modulus in both nonirradiated and irradiated samples indicates that the strain-hardening behavior in semicrystalline polymer is mostly determined by lamellar coupling rather than by entanglement density.