COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF ETCHING TECHNIQUES FOR ELECTRON-MICROSCOPY USING MELT PROCESSED POLYETHYLENE

The purpoose of this letter is two-fold: (1) to present further morphological evidence for polyethylene and (ii) to compare two different methods of specimen preparation for the investigation of the interior crystal morphology of bulk polymers by electron microscopy. Preparation for electron microscopy involved first shaving 1-cm lengths of the fiber and then etching in permanganic or chlorosulphonic acid. The permanganic etching technique is more suitable for obtaining quantitative information on the sizes involved, coupled with sectioning, is capable of giving additional diffraction information from this kind of specimen.