Pattern of monoclinic phase distribution in nascent UHMWPE particles

By using the ID13 nanofocus beamline of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (Grenoble, France), an X-ray diffraction study of a “virgin” particle of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) taken directly from the powder synthesis products and not subjected to any external mechanical action was carried out. The X-ray diffraction curves obtained by scanning a randomly selected region of the particle 100 $\times$ 20 $\mu$m in size with a 0.3 $\times$ 0.3 $\mu$m microbeam with a horizontal step of 2 $\mu$m and vertical step of 0.5 $\mu$m exhibited reflexes from the metastable monoclinic phase along with reflections from the orthorhombic phase. It can be supposed that it could be caused by the stresses that developed at specific structure formation during slurry synthesis and were preserved at cooling to room temperature and solvent evaporation. The possibility of the monoclinic phase localization in various morphological formations is discussed.