A process for the production of a polyethylene tape article comprising: a) selecting at least one polyethylene multi-filament yarn, said yarn having a c-axis orientation function of at least 0.96, an intrinsic viscosity when measured in decalin at 135°C by ASTM D1601-99 of from 7 dl/g to 40 dl/g, and said yarn having a tenacity of from 15 g/d to 100 g/d as measured by ASTM D2256-02 at a 10 inch (25.4 cm) gauge length and at an extension rate of 100 %/min; b) placing said yarn under a longitudinal tensile force and subjecting said yarn to at least one transverse compression step to flatten, consolidate and compress said yarn at a temperature of from 25°C to 137°C, thereby forming a tape article having a average cross-sectional aspect ratio of at least 10:1, each of said at least one compression step having an outset and a conclusion wherein the magnitude of said longitudinal tensile force on each said yarn or tape article at the outset of each said compression step is substantially equal to the magnitude of the longitudinal tensile force on the yarn or tape article at the conclusion of that same compression step, and is at least 0.25 kilogram-force (2.45 Newtons); c) stretching said tape article at least once at a temperature in the range of from 130°C to 160°C at a stretch rate of from 0.001 min -1 to 1 min -1; d) optionally repeating step b) one or more times at a temperature from 100°C to 160°C; e) optionally repeating step c) one or more times; f) optionally relaxing the longitudinal tensile force between any of steps b) to e); g) optionally increasing the longitudinal tensile force between any of steps b) to e); h) cooling said tape article to a temperature less than 70 °C under tension. a) selecting at least one polyethylene multi-filament yarn, said yarn having a c-axis orientation function of at least 0.96, an intrinsic viscosity when measured in decalin at 135°C by ASTM D1601-99 of from 7 dl/g to 40 dl/g, and said yarn having a tenacity of from 15 g/d to 100 g/d as measured by ASTM D2256-02 at a 10 inch (25.4 cm) gauge length and at an extension rate of 100 %/min; b) placing said yarn under a longitudinal tensile force and subjecting said yarn to at least one transverse compression step to flatten, consolidate and compress said yarn at a temperature of from 25°C to 137°C, thereby forming a tape article having a average cross-sectional aspect ratio of at least 10:1, each of said at least one compression step having an outset and a conclusion wherein the magnitude of said longitudinal tensile force on each said yarn or tape article at the outset of each said compression step is substantially equal to the magnitude of the longitudinal tensile force on the yarn or tape article at the conclusion of that same compression step, and is at least 0.25 kilogram-force (2.45 Newtons); c) stretching said tape article at least once at a temperature in the range of from 130°C to 160°C at a stretch rate of from 0.001 min -1 to 1 min -1; d) optionally repeating step b) one or more times at a temperature from 100°C to 160°C; e) optionally repeating step c) one or more times; f) optionally relaxing the longitudinal tensile force between any of steps b) to e); g) optionally increasing the longitudinal tensile force between any of steps b) to e); h) cooling said tape article to a temperature less than 70 °C under tension.