X-ray pole figures to assess orientation in PVC sheets

A series of X-ray pole figures were obtained from oriented and unoriented rigid polyvinyl chloride sheets. From these, information about crystallite orientation in uniaxially and biaxially drawn sheets stretched at 90 degrees C was obtained. Uniaxial orientation produced two crystallite orientations with the extent of orientation increasing with draw ratio; for biaxial samples the chain direction (c) was distributed uniformly in the plane of the sheet, with the planar orientation improving as draw ratio increased. (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.