Microindentation technique as a tool for investigating the development of order in PET under uniaxial stress

The development of microhardness during annealing was used as a tool to follow the development of the liquid crystalline transient mesophase during the crystallization of uniaxially oriented polyethylene terephthalate (PET). 2D X-ray diffraction was used to characterize the different stages of the crystallization process. We were able to separate those stages by quenching into air. Microindentation hardness experiments were done in real time where samples were heated with their ends fixed on a specially developed stage and microhardness was measured simultaneously. The oriented samples examined exhibit a clear difference in behavior from isotropic samples that mainly lack the existence of such an ordered mesophase. The mesophase clearly has a reinforcement effect on the whole polymer matrix that leads to an increase in hardness value with annealing of the oriented PET films. Microindentation hardness is shown to be a versatile tool to detect the existence of the liquid crystalline transient mesophase. It is also efficient in comparing and explaining results obtained by wide angle X-ray scattering.