Fig. 1: Comparison of small strain behaviour between single and multi-domain crystals, grown via self-seeding or continuous cooling respectively, during uni-axial deformation in x (black), y (red) and z (blue) directions.

Panels (a–c) show stress-strain curves of single PE crystals with either, 0, 10 and 20 branches, for two different deformation rates 10⁴s⁻¹ (fast) and 10³s⁻¹ (slow) as distinguished by the regular and pastel colours. Snapshots show the orientation of the crystal w.r.t the simulation box and the green arrow indicates the global nematic director of the (beige) crystalline stems. Panels (d–f) show similarly stress-strain curves during uni-axial deformation for their multi-domain counterparts grown via continuous-cooling. Note all curves overlap strongly in panels (d–f) demonstrating all directions are near mechanically equivalent. Dashed lines in all panels are a linear fit of the Young’s modulus at small strains.