Morphological changes of BTDA/m‐PDA polyimide banded spherulites: The effect of solvent on banding

BTDA/m‐PDA polyimide banded spherulites with different band spacing were observed in the same sandwiched film. Atom force microscopy (AFM) analysis suggested that the banded structure was caused by periodic twisting of radial grown lamella bundles. Based on polarizing light microscopy (PLM) and AFM observation, it was found that spherulites grown near the center of the film exhibited bigger band spacing and consisted of wider lamellae compared with those grown near the fringe, which was suggested to be caused by different solvent amount during imidization and crystallization: the more solvent existed, the wider the lamella would grow and the bigger the band spacing would be. It was further proved by changing the film thickness and PAA solution concentration. SEM observation showed that when crystallized in the solution, the lamella became ultra thick and straight, and formed small particles. Powder X‐ray diffraction revealed that crystal structures of the banded spherulite and the small particle were identical or at least very similar. Another solvent with lower boiling point was used in sample preparation, however, under the same preparation conditions, the grown features of banded spherulites did not change. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 46: 659–667, 2008