Specific features of solvent crazing of poly(ethylene terephthalate) in the glass transition temperature region

Deformation of glassy PET in the glass transition temperature region (75 degrees C) was examined by electron microscopy. To study the fine details of polymer deformation, the technique of preliminary deposition of a thin (3.8 nm) metallic (Pt) layer onto a polymer surface was applied. The application of this technique allows one to show that, in the temperature region of glass transition, the glassy polymer is capable of deformation via two different mechanisms: uniform shear deformation and transition of polymer into a "crazelike matter," and this phenomenon was first found and described in this work.