Abstract
Structural factors controlling tensile deformation of crystalline polyolefins such as polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) as well as various polyolefin blends were investigated. It was found that the miscibility of the amorphous region of PP with rubbery polyolefin materials strongly affects the mechanical behavior. Furthermore, we introduced a new structural unit, i.e. the lamellar cluster, which is several stacked lamellae bound by some tie molecules to describe the yielding behavior of spherulitic polymers. It was shown that the tie molecules between the adjacent lamellar clusters plays a central role in tensile yielding process.
