Structure Development of Low-Density Polyethylenes During Film Blowing: A Real-Time Wide-Angle X-ray Diffraction Study

We studied experimentally the structure development during film blowing for three different low-density polyethylenes at four different processing conditions. For this, we combined blown film extrusion with in situ X-ray diffraction at a synchrotron radiation beam line. The measurements were performed at rheological similar conditions at the die exit, with each grade possessing different molecular properties in terms of molecular weight distribution and branching content. The development of crystallinity and molecular orientation was determined as function of the distance from the die. It is shown that this approach provides a valuable method to study structure evolution during film blowing and can be used to validate results from numerical models and help to improve and/or extend these models. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.