“Row lamellar” structures have previously been observed when highly crystalline polymers are melt-extruded and recrystallized under high stress. With annealing to perfect the stacked lamellar superstructure and subsequent stretching in the machine (extrusion) direction, slit-like micropores form between the stacked lamellae. This process has been adopted to produce polymeric membranes on a commercial scale with controlled microporous structures. In order to produce the desired pore morphology, row lamellar structures must be established in the membrane precursors, i.e., as-extruded and annealed polymer films or hollow fibers. Due to the lack of pronounced surface topography, the lamellar structures have typically been investigated by replica-TEM, an indirect and time consuming procedure. Recently, with the availability of high resolution imaging techniques such as scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), the microporous structures on the membrane surface as well as lamellar structures in the precursors can be directly examined.The materials investigated are Celgard® polyethylene (PE) flat sheet membranes and their film precursors, both as-extruded and annealed, made at different extrusion rates (E.R.).
