TIT# Nanostructure Evolution in a Poly(ether ester) Elastomer during
     Drawing and the Displacement of Hard Domains from Lamellae
AUT# Stribeck, Norbert; Funari, Sérgio S.;
SOU# J. Polym. Sci. Part B: Polym. Phys. (2003), 41(16), 1947-1954
LOC# xv082
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ABS# A poly(ether ester) (PEE) thermoplastic elastomer with a soft block
     content of 50 wt.-% is studied by synchrotron small-angle X-ray
     scattering (SAXS) during strain/relaxation cycles. We find that the
     rigid nodes of the elastic network are not the hard domains themselves,
     but ordered three-dimensional assemblies of several hard domains.
     At a critical elongation single hard domains are disrupted and dislocated
     from these assemblies in a peculiar manner. In the ultimate structure
     remaining pairs of hard domains form (semi)elastic nodes.
     The complex 2D SAXS patterns indicate stacks from tilted lamellae
     that are destroyed when the sample is strained to double its initial
     length. Utilizing the multidimensional chord distribution function
     (CDF) analysis, the complex nanostructure and its evolution in the
     draw experiment is analyzed. The fundamental hard domains are no lamellae,
     but cylinders of 5 x 8 nm arranged on a lattice in cylindrical
     coordinates $(r_{12}, r_3)$ which is given by the intersections of the
     set of equations $r_3( r_{12}) = ±1.5 r_{12} ± n 13nm $, n being a
     natural number. A semi-elastic component is made from hard domains
     forming other lamellar assemblies which are characterized by n=3/2.