Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol.81, No.14, 3405-3412, 2001
Strain-induced crystallization in uniaxially drawn PETG plates
The copolyester poly(ethylene glycol-co-cyclohexane-1,4-dimethanol terephthalate) (PETG) is used industrially as an uncrystallizable polymer, whereas PET is an inherently crystallizable polymer. Nevertheless, a crystalline phase could appear in the material. To create a strain-induced crystalline phase in an initially amorphous PETG material, plates were placed in the heating chamber of a tensile machine at 100 degreesC and uniaxially drawn to obtain different samples with various draw ratios. During DSC analysis of highly drawn samples, perturbations of the baseline appear above the glass-transition temperature, consisting of weak exothermic and endothermic phenomena. Comparison of DSC and X-ray diffraction analysis of drawn PETG and PET shows that a strain-induced crystalline phase appears in this copolyester. A spherulitic superstructure could also appear after lengthy annealing. Analysis of this semicrystalline material allowed estimation of the degree of crystallinity, about 3% after a drawing at high draw ratio and about 11% for undrawn annealed material.