Scanning electron microscopy and small-angle light-scattering studies of spherulitic films of polyethylene terephthalate

Scanning electron microscopy, polarizing optical microscopy, and small-angle light-scattering (SALS) studies were made on films of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polytetramethylene terephthalate (PTMT) cast from trifluoroacetic acid. It was shown that a range of morphologies could be induced via casting and that some of these were similar to those noted in the preceding article on segmented polyurethanes. The uniaxial deformation behavior of both the PET and PTMT material was found to be nonaffine under the conditions studied. The SALS method did not clearly indicate the nonaffine behavior that was directly observable via scanning electron microscopy and optical microscopy.