THE EFFECT OF THE NATURE OF SURFACE-ACTIV E LIQUID ENVIRONMENT ON THESTRUCTURE OF SOLVENT-CRAZES IN POLY(ETHYLENE-TEREPHTHALATE) FILMS

The effect of the nature of surface-active liquid environment on the p arameters of fibrillar-porous structure of solvent-crazed samples prod uced by tensile drawing of PET films (thickness was 50 mu m) was studi ed using the method of pressure-driven liquid permeability. The effect ive dimensions of craze fibrils and pores between them were shown to i ncrease with decreasing the surface potency of the surface-active liqu id environment. This specific porous structure in solvent crazes was f ound to be rather unstable, and substitution of surface-active liquid environment in the craze volume was accompanied by dramatic structural rearrangements according to the changes in the surface energy at the polymer-liquid environment interface.