Determination of crystallite particle size distribution of polymers from WAXS

A method for the calculation of crystallite size distributions from the profile of wide-angle x-ray reflections is developed. The influence of lattice distortions on the profile is taken into account. The information about the lattice distortions is obtained from the measurement of the integral widths of a number of reflections. The method is applied to samples of (ethylen-1 hexen) copolymers. The change of crystallite size distributions in lateral directions with increasing temperature (20–121°C) is measured. Recrystallization processes at temperatures near the melting point are observed. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc