Orientation of materials onto thin highly-ordered PTFE films (Invited Paper)

It is well known that oriented systems may possess physical properties that exceed those of the isotropic species by orders of magnitude. Examples of improved performance through orientation include enhanced mechanical properties, thermal and electrical conductivity, piezo- electric properties, and optical transparency. In this paper we present a simple and versatile method using thin highly ordered films of poly(tetrafluoroethylene) PTFE to orient a wide variety of crystalline and liquid crystalline species and its application to some systems. The morphology of the polymeric substrate layer is also briefly discussed.