Structure-property evolution during polymer crystallization

The main theme of this research is to understand the structure-property evolution during crystallization of a semicrystalline thermoplastic polymer. A combination of techniques including rheology, small angle light scattering, differential scanning calorimetry and optical microscopy are applied to follow the mechanical and optical properties along with crystallinity and the morphology.;Isothermal crystallization experiments on isotactic poly-1-butene at early stages of spherulite growth provide quantitative information about nucleation density, volume fraction of spherulites and their crystallinity, and the mechanism of connecting into a sample spanning structure. Optical microscopy near the fluid-to-solid transition suggests that the transition, as determined by time-resolved mechanical spectroscopy, is not caused by packing/jamming of spherulites but by the formation of a percolating network structure.;The effect of strain, Weissenberg number (We ) and specific mechanical work (w) on rate of crystallization (nucleation followed by growth) and on growth of anisotropy was studied for shear-induced crystallization of isotactic poly-1-butene. The samples were sheared for a finite strain at the beginning of the experiment and then crystallized without further flow (Janeschitz-Kriegl protocol). Strain requirements to attain steady state/leveling off of the rate of crystallization were found to be much larger than the strain needed to achieve steady state of flow. The large strain and We>1 criteria were also observed for morphological transition from spherulitic growth to oriented growth.;An apparatus for small angle light scattering (SALS) and light transmission measurements under shear was built and tested at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. As a new development, the polarization direction can be rotated by a liquid crystal polarization rotator (LCPR) with a short response time of 20 ms. The experiments were controlled and analyzed with a LabVIEW(TM) based code (LabVIEW(TM) 7.1) in real time. The SALS apparatus was custom built for ExxonMobil Research in Clinton NJ.