Macromolecules, Vol.40, No.23, 8277-8284, 2007
Structure model of a poly(vinyl alcohol) film uniaxially stretched in water and the role of crystallites on the stress-strain relationship
We propose a structure model of a poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) film during uniaxial stretching in water. In addition to the relaxation of microfibrils and the extension of interfibrillar amorphous regions shown in our previous paper, it was described that the strain-induced crystallization takes place in the interfibrillar extended amorphous regions, which bear the increasing stress with strain, by conducting simultaneously the tensile stress-strain measurement with the wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) measurements for the film stretched in water. Furthermore, we examined the dissolution behavior of the PVA film in water by using in-situ WAXD and small-angle X-ray scattering. It was concluded that the dissolution of crystallites in the lamellar stacks, which are considered to be precursors of the microfibrils formed with film stretchin, softens the system, as shown with the stress-strain measurement in water above 333 K, leading to the ineffective amorphous chain extension of INA molecules.