Orientation in amorphous polymers I. Preparation and testing of oriented samples

Orientation effects in amorphous polystyrene are studied using a uniaxial stretching experiment. The rheological properties of the polymer are determined from an analysis of creep data obtained from the tensile apparatus, and oriented polymer samples are prepared at different extension ratios and rates of stretching. From birefringence and tensile strength measurements on oriented samples of polystyrene, it is shown that the tensile strength is not a unique function of the birefringence. It is proposed that the tensile strength may depend not only on the average orientation, as reflected by the birefringence, but on which portion of the relaxation spectrum is preferentially oriented.