화학공학소재연구정보센터
Polymer Engineering and Science, Vol.34, No.17, 1327-1335, 1994
Processing Morphology Correlations in Poly(Benzoate-Co-Naphthoate) Liquid-Crystalline Polymers
The molecular orientation and disclination defects in injection molded bulk samples of liquid crystal polymer’s have been revealed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Using a recently optimized lamellar decoration and etch technique for use with poly(benzoate-co-naphthoate), we have studied in detail the skin-core morphology produced by realistic injection molding processing. In the skin, the director is observed to be highly aligned along the flow direction, and the defect density is very low (10 cm-2). In the core, however, the defect density is six orders of magnitude greater, and the director lies predominantly in the plane defined by the flow and neutral directions. The flow during processing is turbulent, giving rise to distinct morphological features and disclination clusters. When the material is filled at 20% volume fraction with long glass fibers, the molecular and filler orientations are nearly parallel. Dimensional precision also correlates with the morphology and improves with increasing core fraction.