Features of the Amorphous-Crystalline Structure of UHMWPE

摘要

To reveal the features of the structure of UHMWPE that depend on the catalytic system used for synthesis, a comparative study of the sets of laboratory and commercial powders of UHMWPE synthesized on different catalysts in the slurry process under different conditions is conducted. This study includes the use of various modern physical methods, such as transmission and scanning electron microscopy, X-ray analysis, Raman scattering spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, nuclear magnetic resonance, and ther-moluminescence. All nascent particles are shown to have a complex hierarchical structure. In all reactor powders, the elementary structural unit is crystalline lamellas, whose dimensions and mutual orientation are dependent on the type of catalytic system. In the synthesis on the supported catalysts, the character of the formed structure depends on the characteristics of the substrate. During the breakdown of the substrate in the course of the synthesis, fibrils form. The colloidal dimensions of the catalyst particles are responsible for a more uniform lamellar structure of the reactor powders. The conformational composition of the segments of molecules in the interlamellar regions of the reactor powders is characterized.