Morphology and structure of micro-fibrillar crystal of nylon 10 10

The nanoscale and microscale fibrillar crystals of nylon 10 10 were obtaine d by atomizing the very dilute formic acid solution. The length-diameter ra tio of these fibrillar crystals increases as the concentration of the atomi zing solution increases. Electron diffraction (ED) analysis showed that the hydrogen-bonded sheet in these solution-grown fibrillar crystals was imper fect and had a lower order. Both electron diffraction and characteristic morphology show that melt-crys tallized fibrillar crystals always possess perfect packing order and stable structure. A rather perfect ED pattern of the triclinic form of nylon 10 1 0 along the [001] zone was obtained by tilting the specimen 41 degrees alon g the elongated direction of the crystal. Fibrillar crystals from bulk have a great tendency to aggregate with parall el packing to form crystal clusters, which look like shish kebabs in morpho logy. Spherulite is observed occasionally in the domains with very rich sam ple. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.