The detection of structure in amorphous polymers by electron microscopy: Particle flow

During the last several years there has been considerable interest in the occurrence of structure in certain bulk polymers normally thought to be structurally homogeneous. Specifically, it has been proposed that polymers produced by emulsion polymerization may retain a particle structure in the bulk state. This has been demonstrated by both rheological measurements and by electron microscopy. In this work we show conclusively that at least part of the particle structure observed by electron microscopy for polystyrene is an intrinsic feature of the fracture surface and is in no way related to the history of the sample.