The effect of sintering dispersed and bulk, low molecular weight (M-n = 50,000 Da), nano-emulsion polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) particles near their melting point is described. With the nascent particles consisting of ca. 75 nm diameter, hexagonal, single crystals, sintering at, e.g., 350 degrees C, results, initially, in merger of neighboring particles, followed by individual molecular motion on the substrate and the formation of folded chain, lamellar single crystals and spherulites, and on-edge ribbons. It is suggested these structures develop, with time, in the mesomorphic "melt". Sintering of the bulk resin yields extended chain, band structures, as well as folded chain lamellae; end-surface to end-surface merger, possibly by end-to-end polymerization, occurs with increasing time.
