Refinement of etching techniques to reveal lamellar profiles in polyethylene banded spherulites

Permanganic reagents, developed for revealing semicrystalline morphology in olefin polymers under the electron microscope, have been modified by chang ing the water content to give the best resolution of detail in different po lyethylene specimens. An optimum reagent is chosen to characterize a specia l feature of polyethylene spherulites, namely the S-profile of dominant lam ellae seen as growing towards the observer. This reagent consists of 1% wei ght of potassium permanganate in a mixture of 10 volumes concentrated sulph uric acid, 4 volumes of 85% orthophosphoric acid, and 1 volume of water. Th is study is set in the historical context of banded spherulite studies. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.