Bowls, vases and goblets—the microcrockery of polymer and nanocomposite morphology revealed by two-photon optical tomography

Shu-Gui Yang, Zhen-Zhen Wei, Liliana Cseh, Pantea Kazemi, Xiang-bing Zeng, Hui-Jie Xie, Hina Saba and Goran Ungar ()
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Shu-Gui Yang: Xi’an Jiaotong University
Zhen-Zhen Wei: University of Sheffield
Liliana Cseh: Romanian Academy, Coriolan Dragulescu Institute of Chemistry
Pantea Kazemi: University of Sheffield
Xiang-bing Zeng: University of Sheffield
Hui-Jie Xie: Zhejiang Sci-Tech University
Hina Saba: Zhejiang Sci-Tech University
Goran Ungar: Xi’an Jiaotong University

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract On the >1 µm scale the morphology of semicrystalline plastics like polyethylene or Nylon features spherulites, “shish-kebabs”, cylinddrites and other crystalline aggregates which strongly affect mechanical and other material properties. Current imaging techniques give only a 2D picture of these objects. Here we show how they can be visualized in 3D using fluorescent labels and confocal microscopy. As a result, we see spherulites in 3D, both in neat polymers and their nanocomposites, and observe how unevenly nanoparticles and other additives are distributed in the material. Images of i-polypropylene and biodegradable poly(lactic acid) reveal previously unsuspected morphologies such as “vases” and “goblets”, nonspherical “spherulites” and, unexpectedly, “shish-kebabs” grown from quiescent melt. Also surprisingly, in nanocomposite sheets spherulite nucleation is seen to be copied from one surface to another, mediated by crystallization-induced pressure drop and local melt-flow. These first results reveal unfamiliar modes of self-assembly in familiar plastics and open fresh perspectives on polymer microstructure.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25297-w

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