MORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES AND ORIENTATIONAL RELAXATION OF FILMS OBTAINED FROM A LIQUID-CRYSTALLINE POLYESTER

Oriented films of an aromatic liquid crystalline polyester obtained from the melt in the mesomorphic state were studied by wide-angle X-ray diffraction. WAXD, polarized light microscopy and infrar-red dichroism. The mat structure of the resolidified polymer was found to be in a supercooled liquid crystalline state, not in the crystalline state as in the case of cast films of lyotropic aromatic polyamides. A general picture describing the morphological features of the oriented films at different size levels is depicted. The relaxation of molecular orientation in the mesomorphic state was very slow, and rapid relaxation was only observed near the clearing point.