High-pressure phase of polytetrafluoroethylene

The effect of hydrostatic pressure on the crystal structure of PTFE has been studied up to pressures of ca. 25 kbar by x-ray diffraction. The experimental method uses opposed diamond anvils of small surface area as transmitters of pressure with MoKα x-radiation propagating through these anvils. A small specimen of oriented polymer is held in place with a molybdenum gasket. Pressures are measured by change in lattice spacing of sodium chloride included with some specimens. It is found that above 4.5 kbar the PTFE changes to a high-pressure phase in which the molecules have transformed from their normal helical arrangement to that of a planar zigzag and that the planes of the molecules all lie parallel to one another. Further changes in the diffraction pattern on increase in pressure are attributed to slip and twinning in the high-pressure phase rather than to another phase change.