Structure of fibers drawn from polyethylene single crystals

Transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction were used to study the molecular structure of fibers drawn from polyethylene single crystals at 77, 293, and 383°K. The results suggest that the formation of the fibers occurs by a two‐step process. The first step is the breaking off of single blocks of folded chains from the single crystals so that a “string‐of‐pearls” structure is obtained. If the temperature is sufficiently high this process is followed by the thermally activated rearrangement of the molecules in the drawn fibers so that a “bamboo” structure results.