STUDIES ON THE MORPHOLOGY AND STRUCTURE OF AROMATIC POLYESTER FILMS

Oriented films of an aromatic polyester containing a triad ester mesogenic group and a decamethylene flexible spacer are studied by polarized light microscopy, small-angle light scattering, and polarized infrared spectroscopy to determine the nature of the alignment of the polymer chains, induced by shearing, which is responsible for the banded or striped morphology observed. The stripes are apparently composed of fibrils arranged in a zigzag manner containing polymer chains packed in a highly ordered, parallel alignment at an angle of plus or minus 26 degree to the shearing direction.