STRUCTURE AND PLASTIC-DEFORMATION OF POLYETHYLENE

A review is given of the structure of semi-crystalline polymers and the mechanisms of plastic deformation in them. High-density polyethylene (HDPE) is taken as the specific example because of the large number of detailed studies performed on this material. The early findings are also compared and contrasted with very recent detailed large-strain deformation studies and computer simulations of deformation-induced texture development in HDPE.