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

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