Extra meridional reflections of drawn polyoxymethylene

Extra meridional reflections (00l: l = 3, 5, 13, 15, 21) were observed in drawn polyoxymethylene (POM). The 003, 0015, and 0021 x‐ray diffraction intensities increase on annealing, while the 005 and 0013 intensities decrease. It is concluded that crystalline regions are of two kinds: in the first, which generates the 003, 0015, and 0021 reflections, the molecular conformation is slightly distorted from the uniform helix by intermolecular steric hindrance between the CH2 groups; and in the second, which generates 005 and 0013 reflections, the molecular conformation is distorted in another way. The second form is converted into the first by annealing. The displacements in the c direction of the CH2 groups and the oxygen atoms from the uniform helix in the first form are about 1.0% and 0.75% of the interval between a CH2 group and an oxygen atom along helix axis of the POM crystal; thus the correct conformation in the stable state is known. The nature of distortion in the second region is not clarified but several characteristics are offered.