聚合物流动诱导结晶研究进展

在外力作用下,半结晶聚合物的结晶形态、结晶动力学等与静态条件下相比,均发生了较大的变化,并继而影响到成型制品的性能.自上世纪六十年代人们从溶液中发现外力诱导结晶现象以来,相继开展了大量相关的理论和实验研究,提出了一些模型,随着测试手段的改进,流动诱导结晶研究取得了较大的进展,但仍存在许多争议.本文回顾了围绕聚合物流动诱导结晶所开展的工作,重点综述了流动诱导结晶形态变化、分子量及其分布、剪切速率、温度等因素对聚合物结晶动力学的影响,并指出了今后的研究方向.     

流场作用对聚丙烯结晶成核过程和晶体生长过程动力学的影响

通过改进基于构象张量构建的流动诱导结晶理论模型,考虑了流场对结晶生长的影响,对比研究了流场作用对聚丙烯(PP)结晶过程中成核与晶体生长两阶段速率的不同影响程度.理论研究表明,虽然相比成核过程,流场诱导作用对PP晶体生长速率的加速程度有限,但要更为精确地描述流动引起的整个结晶动力学过程,特别是在剪切速率较高且熔体结晶温度较低的情况下,考虑流场对结晶生长速率的影响是十分必要的.研究结果还显示,由于分子链的松弛作用,PP在较低温度下的晶体生长速率受剪切流场的影响要大于较高温度下的影响.本文理论预测结果与实验现象和实验数据的很好吻合亦说明模型改进的合理性和可行性.     

聚合物在压力下的流动诱导结晶

流动诱导聚合物结晶研究很少在压力场下开展,其原因是压力下流动诱导聚合物结晶对实验设备要求较高。然而,实际加工中不仅存在流动场,还有压力场。为此,作者课题组利用自制的装置对压力下流动诱导聚合物结晶开展了系统研究,发现其结晶行为与常压的流动诱导结晶有较大差别。等规聚丙烯(iPP)在压力和剪切场下可形成独特取向球形晶体形态。在短时间内(30min),iPP片晶可快速增厚,形成熔点接近平衡熔点的厚片晶(近180℃),其原因是在压力和流动场协同作用下,片晶增厚活化能快速减小。同时,从研究结果也获得了添加β成核剂的iPP体系在压力和流动场下形成β晶的窗口条件。对聚乳酸(PLA)的研究也发现了相似的片晶快速增厚规律。另外,在压力和流动场下,可直接从PLA熔体中获得可增韧PLA的β晶。研究成果为实际加工中的聚合物形态结构调控提供了理论和实验依据。     

PMMA—b—PTHF／PTHF共混体系中共聚物结晶能力的增强

结晶嵌段共聚物具有一般均聚物所没有的许多特殊结晶行为。虽然,人们很早就已开始对聚氧化乙烯/聚苯乙烯诸类嵌段共聚物的结晶行为进行研究,但对这类体系相分离规律及结晶行为的认识仍很不够。这主要是因为已研究的体系非常有限,此外,大都为对体系非平衡态结构的研究。所以,尽管Whitmore和Noolandi最近提出了结晶嵌段共聚物及其共混物的平衡形态理论,但缺乏实验数据与之比较。     

链缠结对聚合物结晶行为的影响

链缠结是聚合物分子链相互作用的一种形式 ,它主要影响分子链的长程运动 .自链缠结的概念被提出以来 ,人们对聚合物粘弹性、流变行为和网络平衡力学等进行了理论研究和实验验证 .然而 ,在聚合物结晶领域 ,链缠结对结晶过程的影响一直存在着很大的争论 .Flory等 [1] 认为 ,聚合物结晶时分子链根本没有足够的时间进行构象调整 ,分子链进入晶格后 ,使大量的缠结链段被挤入非晶区 ,并由此建立了聚合物结晶“插线板”模型 .Hoffman等 [2 ]根据单根分子链从过冷熔体“卷饶”到晶体前沿所需的时间进行估算 ,结果比 Flory预言的快约 3～ 5个数量级…     

杀虫单介稳区宽度的理论计算

从晶体生长成核、动力学等几个方面出发,在Mersmann模型基础上建立了适合高粘度有机体系的介稳区宽度的理论计算模型,确立了计算程序和方法.结合“杀虫单”农药结晶过程的具体参数,计算和预测了工业结晶过程中介稳区的宽度.理论计算值与实验测定值较为接近.该方法可为工业结晶中过饱和度的选择提供参考.     

半结晶聚合物注射成型中结晶动力学的数值模拟

对半结晶聚合物注射成型过程及其结晶过程进行偶合模拟,分析了二者的相互影响.具体是在注射成型数值模拟中考虑结晶动力学效应,分别在本构方程、能量方程及材料物性参数方程中引入反映结晶效应的参数;同时在结晶动力学计算中考虑流动诱导效应,从能量的角度提出并使用修正的动力学模型,用材料流动过程的耗散能表征流动对结晶的影响.通过对等规聚丙烯(iPP)和聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯(PET)两种半结晶聚合物注射过程模拟结果的分析比较,证实成型过程具有加速结晶的作用.同时,材料的结晶也对注射成型加工过程,尤其是保压与冷却过程的温度场分布有较大的影响.     

自增强高性能聚合物的成型工艺同力学性能间相关性研究——1.超高分子量聚乙烯的应力诱导结晶理论和其自增强作用

本文发展了一种高分子量聚合物熔融体的应力诱导结晶结构形态模型,它是由微晶聚集体(以下简称微区)-高分子链组网和缠结网的网络结构组成。基于上述模型,把二种网中的单个链组作为独立的统计单元和形变单元,计算了二种网中单个链组的末端距分布函数,进一步计算了二种网和总网的形变自由能。在此基础上,讨论了诱导结晶结晶机理和自增强聚合物网络自由能的依赖性,并着重地研究了超拉伸高聚物的起始熔点拉伸比间的关系。用超高分子量聚乙烯膜和超取向高密度聚乙烯纤维的起始熔点和拉伸比的实验数据进行处理,得到理论予期的近似直线关系,初步验证了聚合物网应力诱导结晶理论。     

剪切均匀性对流动诱导等规聚丙烯结晶的影响

固定应变和最终应变速率,采用瞬时和缓慢2种电机加速方式对样品施加剪切,研究了流场加载模式对样品流变和结晶行为的影响.实验结果显示缓慢加速能够消除剪切过程中流场的非均匀性,使样品取向度增加,提高流场对聚合物熔体的作用效果.同时,流动诱导结晶对于加速时间有依赖性.对于速率为17.7 s-1的剪切,加速时间为1 s时,熔体流动均匀且流动诱导的晶体取向最强,短加速时间(0.5 s)和长加速时间(1.5 s)样品的流动诱导结晶效果都弱于加速时间为1 s的样品.但是,对于不同剪切速率,其对应的最优加速时间不同.对于流动诱导结晶来说,加速时间应当作为一个重要参数来考虑,其背后的真实物理含义还需要进一步研究来说明.     

未添加晶种结晶过程的中后期动力学模拟

以KNO₃-H₂O为模型体系, 考察了未添加晶种的间歇结晶过程动力学, 将历经爆发成核后的结晶体系近似为添加晶种的结晶体系. 并结合光学关联方法, 推导了可描述历经爆发成核后的晶体形成和生长速率模型. 模型中含有可反映结晶固相信息的透光率变量, 从而避免了以往模型仅靠液相浓度数据求解模型参数的不便. 运用该模型拟合未添加晶种结晶过程的中后期实验数据, 得到了KNO₃晶体的二次成核和生长动力学参数, 参数结果与文献中报道的添加晶种结晶过程的参数值相近. 在此基础上, 针对添加晶种的结晶过程, 提出了晶种添加量的定量设计方法, 并得到了实验的初步验证.     

Polyethylene fiber formation in tubular flow. II. Discussion of precursor formation and nucleation time analysis

This is a continuation of the preceeding paper, Part I, and presents a discussion of the nature of the precursor structure formation process observed in the flow-induced crystallization experiments described in I. A discussion of stress-induced crystallization theory as applied to these experiments is also given and a first-order analysis of crystal nucleation rates is presented. Conclusions regarding the nature of flow-induced crystallization and our current ability to quantitatively model the overall process are also presented.     

Phase behavior of polymer blends under equilibrium and nonequilibrium conditions

This contribution embraces two topics related to phase behavior of polymer blends under equilibrium and nonequilibrium. 1. Polymer blends can undergo different phase changes as liquid-liquid phase transition and crystallization. Coupling of demixing and crystallization may occur at the kinetic stage. This is illustrated by blends of poly(ϵ-caprolactone)(PCL) and poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile)(SAN). 2. Extension of studies to blend systems under flow is necessary for the better understanding of structure formation in polymer blends outside equilibrium. Polymer molecules will be oriented and stretched when subjected to flow. This may result in flow-induced phenomena. Effects of flow on the phase behavior have been studied only for a few blends, as yet. The primary observation was flow-induced miscibility. Apparent shifts of the phase transition temperatures will be discussed qualitatively in terms of a decoupled mode theory.     

A molecular model for flow induced crystallization of polymers

We present in this paper a thermodynamic model for flow induced crystallization of a thermoplastic. The thermomechanical framework (generalized standard materials) allows us to couple in a very natural way the kinetics of crystallization with the mechanical history experienced by the thermoplastic^[1]. In describing the viscoelastic properties of the polymer with a molecular theory, we obtain a model for flow-induced crystallization that couples the chain conformation to the kinetics of crystallization. This model intends to be valid both for shearing and elongation. We present the equations for two cases: Maxwell and Pom-Pom constitutive equations. We finally illustrate our model with injection molding simulations achieved with a dedicated Finite Element code.     

Overshoots in stress and free energy change during the flow-induced crystallization of polymeric melt in shear flow

<正>The effect of pre-shear flow on the subsequent crystallization process of polymeric melt was investigated and a flow-induced crystallization(FIC) model based on the conformation tensor incorporating the pre-shear effect was proposed. The model is capable of predicting the overshoot phenomena of the stress and the flow-induced free energy change of the polymeric system at high pre-shear rates.Under the condition of flow,the increase in the activated nuclei number was contributed by the flow-induced free energy change,which showed an overwhelming effect on the nuclei formation during the pre-shear process at high shear rates.The half crystallization time(f_(1/2)) of polypropylene(PP) as functions of pre-shear rate and pre-shear time at different crystallization temperatures was predicted and compared with the experiment data.Both numerical and experimental results showed that t_(1/2) of PP decreased dramatically when the flow started but leveled off at long times.It was found that two transformation stages in t_(1/2) existed within a wide range of shear rates.For the first stage where the melting polymer experienced a relatively weak shear flow,the acceleration of crystallization kinetics was mainly contributed by the steady value of free energy change while in the second stage for high shear rates,strong overshoot in flow-induced free energy change occurred and the crystallization kinetics was thus significantly enhanced.The overshoots in stress and flow-induced free energy change reflected an important role of flow on the primary nucleation especially when the flow was strong enough.     

A continuum model for the dynamics of flow-induced crystallization

A model for flow-induced crystallization is developed which is based on ideas from the theory of strain-induced crystallization, coupled with an irreversible thermodynamic formalism based on the continuum Hamiltonian Poisson Brackets. The latter allows accounting for the changing energetics during simultaneous flow deformation and extended-chain crystallization. Input parameters to the model include the molecular relaxation time, a crystallization parameter, and the molecular weight. Calculations of the crystallization rate, chain elongation, stress, and birefringence are presented for a variety of flow kinematics and flow histories, including transient processes following cessation of flow. Induction times based on a reasonable choice for the induction crystallinity follow experimentally observed trends reported in the literature. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Extensional flow-induced crystallization of a polyethylene melt

Measurements of flow-induced orientation and crystallization have been made on a high-density polyethylene melt (HDPE) undergoing a planar extensional flow in a four-roll mill. The HDPE was suspended as a cylindrical droplet at the flow stagnation point in a linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) carrier phase. Deformation and crystallization of the HDPE droplet phase were monitored using video imaging in conjunction with measurement of the birefringence and dichroism to quantify the in-situ transformation kinetics. Planar deformation rates along the symmetry axis of the molten HDPE phase were on the order of 0.03 s^?1. Measurements of the initial transformation rate following flow cessation at 131.5°C and 133.2°C show a dependence on initial amorphous phase orientation and the total Hencky strain achieved during flow. The flow-induced crystallization rate is enhanced over the quiescent transformation rate by orders of magnitude, however, the dependence on temperature is less dramatic than expected for a nucleation-controlled growth mechanism. Analysis demonstrates that the melting point elevation model cannot account either qualitatively or quantitatively for the phenomena observed, suggesting that alternative explanations for the strong orientation dependence of the transformation rate are needed.     

A Unified Thermodynamic Model of Flow-induced Crystallization of Polymer

We propose a unified thermodynamic model of flow-induced crystallization of polymer (uFIC),which incorporates not only the conformational entropy reduction but also the contributions of flow-induced chain orientation,the interaction of ordered segments,and the free energy of crystal nucleus and crystal morphology.Specifically,it clarifies the determining parameters of the critical crystal nucleus size,and is able to account for the acceleration of nucleation,the emergence of precursor,different crystal morphologies and structures induced by flow.Based on the nucleation barrier under flow,we analyze at which condition precursor may occur and how flow affects the competition among different crystal forms such as orthorhombic and hexagonal phases of polyethylene.According to the uFIC model,the different crystal morphologies and structures in the flow-temperature space have been clarified,which give a good agreement with experiments of FIC.