抄録
In order to examine the structure of interlamellar tie fibrils found by Keith et al. (J. Polymer Sci., A-2, 4, 267 (1966)), the mixtures of polyethylene and paraffine were crystallized at various temperatures from melt into thin films on various substrates, and the resultant textures were studied by an electron microscope before and after paraffine was extracted by xylene. When a micro cover glass was used as the substrate, sheaf-like crystals in the order of 3μ were observed, suggesting that the substrate facillitated the nucleation in the thin film. When carbon and mica sheets were used as the substrate, the ordinary two dimensional spherulites with macro fibrils grown radially and the so-called banded spherulites were observed in the thicker region of the film. In the very thin region of the film were observed ribbon like crystals, which have not been found so far. They are fibrilar but can be considered as monolayer lamellae laid on the substrate. The lack of twisting of the lamellae suggests again some effects of the substrate. Under the same conditions as those used by Keith et al., the open structure of the spherulite they found was not observed. When polethylene/C32H66 ratio was 1:2 and the mixture was crystallized under higher supercoolings, the open texture similar to the Keith's was observed. However, the interlamellar fibrils was not observable but the fibril like materials seen among the lamellae were in fact composed of small irregular shaped lamellae. In view of the pronounced effect of the substrate on the morphology of the resultant spherulites, it seems rather questionable that the interlamellar fibrils found by Keith et al. are formed in bulk crystalline polymers.
