MORPHOLOGY OF SINGLE-CRYSTALS OF POLY(HYDROXYBUTYRATE) AND COPOLYMERS OF HYDROXYBUTYRATE AND HYDROXYVALERATE

Single crystals of poly(hydroxybutyrate), and copolymers of hydroxybutyrate and hydroxyvalerate, have been grown from a variety of solvents and their morphology studied. In all cases the crystals appear elongated, with the crystallographic a axis along the long axis of the crystals. Screw dislocations (which act as branch points and can lead to large crystal aggregates) have been observed, and solvents, e.g. octanol in which more of these dislocations occur, have been identified. Decoration of the crystals with polyethylene shows that the fold plane is the (0 1 0) plane, while crystallographic and crystallinity arguments require successive adjacent folds to be along [1 1 0] directions. It is argued that folding is along [1 1 0] on the top, and [1 1 0]on the bottom surface of a crystal.