| Abstract: | The effect of pressure on the crystallization of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) was studied. The Instron capillary rheometer was adapted as a high-pressure/high-temperature dilatometer to carry on experiments up to 40,000 psi. Isothermal measurements of PET melt density were made with a precision of ±0.5%. Analysis of the kinetics of crystallization of PET melt at high pressures reaffirmed the existence of low Avrami exponents and their noninteger values. To rationalize the crystallization mechanism with the observed low exponents it is proposed that an appropriate increase in pressure would effectively reduce the free volume of a crystallizable substance to a point at which an alteration of the crystallization mechanism or nucleation mode could occur. It is further shown that PET clearly exhibits two different and sharply defined stages of crystallization behavior at pressures above 10,000 psi. Based on the Avrami equation, the fraction of uncrystallized polymer for the initial stage is defined as an empirically determined function of time and pressure. There is good agreement between the predicted and experimental values over the pressure range investigated. |
