PROCESSING CHARACTERISTICS, STRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT, AND PROPERTIES OF UNIAXIALLY AND BIAXIALLY STRETCHED POLY(ETHYLENE-2,6-NAPHTHALATE) (PEN) FILMS

Poly(ethylene 2,6, naphthalene dicarboxilate), PEN, is very similar to poly(ethylene terephthalate), PET, in its chemical structure and was, therefore, expected to exhibit similar processing characteristics. We, however, observed a few problems during stretching of PEN, the most important of which was necking behavior at 145°C, which is between Tg (117°C) and Tcc (195°C). This is usually observed in PET only when it is stretched close to or below Tg. At temperatures between Tg and Tcc (cold crystallization temperature) PET stretches rather uniformly. The temperature window for film stretching appears to be rather wide, but our results indicate that this is not the case. Films stretched to high stretch ratios become uniform due to propagation and final disappearance of necks as a result of stress hardening. Our attempts at stretching these films at higher temperatures indicated that necking is eliminated, but so is stress induced crystallization, which causes stress hardening (unless high stretching rates are employed). The presence of stress hardening is essential for obtaining high quality, uniform films of these polymers. In addition, at high temperatures thermally activated crystallization which starts dominating the structure development, detrimentally affects the general appearance of the films. In brief, the PEN films we investigated have a narrower processing window than was anticipated based on their thermal behavior alone. At elevated temperatures the films are sensitive to the rate of stretching even more than typical PET processed at comparable conditions. The uniformity of the films depends on the stretch ratio, stretching mode, ratio(s) and rates and temperature. WAXS studies on the films indicate that the macromolecules packed into the low temperature crystal modification. In addition, WAXS pole figure studies suggest that naphthalene planes preferentially orient parallel to the film surface during biaxial stretching. The biaxially stretched films were observed to exhibit a bimodal chain orientation as evidenced by pole figure analysis of the (010) planes. Copyright © 1990 Society of Plastics Engineers