Composition distributions within poly(vinylidene fluoride) spherulites as grown in blends with poly(methyl methacrylate)

Upon crystalline solidification of one component in a homogeneously molten polymer blend, composition profiles develop outside (i.e., in the rest melt) and behind (i.e., within the spherulites) the crystal growth front. The present article is devoted to the detailed verification and the interpretation of these distributions and their temporal development inside growing spherulites. To this end, the energy dispersive X‐ray emission (EDX) of suitable elements has been recorded locally resolved in a scanning electron microscope and evaluated correspondingly. The investigations were performed at the melt homogeneous blend of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) as crystallizing and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as steadily amorphous component. If the spherulites are not volume filling, the mean PMMA content 〈?_PMMA〉 inside the PVDF spherulites is for all blends about 0.2 below the starting composition. ?_PMMA increases however slightly from the center of a spherulite to its border. That increase reflects the PMMA concentration in front of the spherulite surface, which increases likewise with time, and is clearly above the initial composition. There is at the spherulite surface, consequently, a remarkable jump in composition from the spherulite internal to its amorphous surroundings. It may amount up to 0.5. With volume filling spherulites, a slight variation of the composition from the center of a spherulite to its border is observed, too. This proves that also at these conditions composition profiles develop in the spherulite's surroundings. They remain however so weak that they do not inhibit crystallization even in its later stages. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 338–346, 2006     

The competition between crystallization and demixing in polymer blends. V. Numerical modeling and quantitative evaluation of crystallization-induced composition inhomogeneities

It is well known that crystallization of one component in a polymer blend causes composition profiles around the growing spherulites. Amplitude and width of these profiles, respectively, depend on the ratio between the rates of diffusion and of spherulite growth. They can be determined by suitable experimental means. In the present article, the profiles are modeled, starting from Frank's solution of the diffusion equation in spherical coordinates under the boundary condition of moving walls that simultaneously are sources of the diffusing material. Modeled and experimentally determined profiles in PVDF/PEA and PCL/PS blends agree well. The analysis yields estimates for the diffusion coefficient D in polymeric melts as D ≅ (50 ··· 500) μm²/h. Finally, the interference of the composition profiles around several adjacent spherulites can be demonstrated. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Crystallization-induced composition inhomogeneities in PVDF/PMMA blends

Composition profiles develop around growing PVDF spherulites in a blend with PMMA. These profiles assume stationary courses after a certain crystallization time provided that the overall degree of crystallinity is not too high. The composition-dependent growth rate and the diffusion-controlled remove of the surplus PMMA from the spherulite surface are then in a stationary equilibrium. The internal structure of the spherulites will then be homogeneous, too. Upon isothermal crystallization of a PVDF/PMMA = 60/40 (wt %) blend at 160°C for at least 4 h, the spherulites internal degree of crystallinity x_c as related to the PVDF fraction obeys the inequality 55 wt % ≤ x_c ≤ 84 wt %. The overall PMMA content within the spherulites as averaged over its whole inside has been determined by IR microscopy. It amounts to about 15 wt %. In contrast, the PMMA content of the amorphous phase within the spherulites (averaged again over its whole inside) ranges between 28 and 52 wt %. This composition jumps at the spherulite surface to 52 wt %. From the slope of the composition profiles outside the spherulites that have a width of more than 50 μm, the effective chain diffusion coefficient in blends as averaged over both components can be calculated to amount to (250 ± 100) μm²h⁻¹. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 36: 2923–2930, 1998     

Morphology and interpenetrated growth of spherulites in miscible poly(ethylene succinate)/poly(ethylene oxide) blends

Morphology development and growth process of spherulites in miscible poly(ethylene succinate)/poly(ethylene oxide) blends are studied by means of polarizing optical microscopy and atom force microscopy in this paper. Thin films with different film thicknesses were used to follow the growth processes of spherulites and dendrites. It is shown that, when one component spherulite grows, the other component in the melt is always excluded from the spherulite. The excluded component may reenter into the spherulite through diffusion depending on amorphous volume fraction of spherulite and segmental mobility of molecules, which leads to the occurrence of interpenetrated growth. This mechanism was analyzed in detail in this paper.     

Rate of thermooxidation and polymer morphology

A model of the thermooxidation of semicrystalline polymers involving two processes simultaneously is described. The first process is initiated by oxygen dissolved in the interspherulitic amorphous pahse. The second is related to a slower rate of polymer chain scission m the interlamellar amorphous pahse, which is controlled by oxygen diffusion into the spherulite. The presented model describes an exampble of isotactic polypropylene and predicts the effect of polymer morphology on the process of thermooxidation. It leads to the conclusion that the initial rate of polymer chain scission depends on the amount of interspherulitic amorphous phase fraction but the slower rate, considered in steady state conditions of oxygen diffussion into the interlamellar amorphous phase, depends depends on spherulite size according to the derived equation.     

聚左旋乳酸/聚消旋乳酸共混物的结晶行为

非晶态聚消旋乳酸(PDLLA)对PLLA的结晶行为有较大的影响。本文利用差示扫描量热仪(DSC)和偏光显微镜(POM)对不同分子量PLLA、PDLLA按不同比例制得的共混物结晶进行了系统研究。结果表明随PDLLA含量的增大PLLA冷结晶温度升高,且越接近熔融温度。PDLLA分子量较小时PLLA球晶特征被明显破坏,PDLLA分子量较大时PLLA更易形保持球晶特征且易形成环带球晶形貌,这与结晶速率与非晶组分的扩散速率匹配程度有关。低分子量的PDLLA使PLLA的最大生长速率对应的温度出现在较低温度。     

In situ study of the breakout crystallization in the poly(butadiene)-block-poly(ε-caprolactone) thin film

Despite its wide occurrence in soft confined block co-polymers, breakout crystallization remains poorly understood and is difficult to control. In this work, thin films of cylinder-forming poly(butadiene)-block-poly(ε-caprolactone) (PB-b-PCL) diblock co-polymers, with PCL being the minority block, have been chosen as the study subject. We demonstrate a new route to study the breakout crystallization by obtaining the microphase separation structure within terraced lamellae first and then in situ tracking down the lamellar coalescence, resulting from the development of the crystal growth front. We find that the crystal growth front has sucked materials from the surrounding amorphous lamellae, which lead to the decrease of the lamellar zones and coalescence of the microphase separation structure. Dividing the breakout crystallization into parallel breakout and vertical breakout, we illustrate that it is the crystallization-driven molecular diffusion that make the molecules overcome the topography constraint and grow into large-scale spherulite. Moreover, the results show that the polymer microphase separation structure has a significant influence on the crystal nucleation and greatly retarded the crystal growth rate. With a well-designed microphase separation structure within terraces and an easily tunable atomic force microscopy in situ imaging technique, an intensive study of the breakout crystallization and concomitant microdomain coalescence has been offered.     

聚ε-己内酯/聚氯乙烯球晶表面的XPS研究

聚合物薄膜在微电子领域中的应用日益增加.聚ε-己内酯/聚氯乙烯（PCL/PVC）是研究得最广泛的聚合物共混薄膜之一.PCL与PVC以一定比例混合时,可以形成环带球晶；同时,体系分为结晶PCL相及PCL/PVC非晶混溶相.用XPS和成象XPS分析技术,对PCL/PVC膜的表面化学组成和元素分布情况进行了研究.观察到PCL在薄膜表面富集.此外,成象XPS表明,PVC在球晶边界处富集,且球晶边界宽度约15 μm.     

Structure and properties for binary blends of isotactic-polypropylene with ethylene-α-olefin copolymer. 1. Crystallization and morphology

Morphology and isothermal growth rates of spherulites for the binary blends consisting of an isotactic polypropylene (i-PP) and an ethylene-1-hexene rubber (EHR) were examined as a function of the crystallization temperature ranging from 388 K to 418 K. In this study, two types of EHR's were employed: “ethylene rich” EHR and “1-hexene rich” EHR. The blends of i-PP with the EHR of 51 mol % 1-hexene are miscible in the molten state, whereas the blends with the EHR of 33 mol % 1-hexene are immiscible in the molten state. It is found that the isothermal spherulite growth rate of the miscible i-PP/EHR blends decreases with increasing the EHR fraction, whereas the spherulite growth rate of the immiscible i-PP/EHR blends is independent of the blend composition and is the same as that of the i-PP. Optical microscope observation of the miscible blends crystallized isothermally shows that there are no rubber domains either in the intraspherulitic or in the interspherulitic contact regions. On the other hand, the immiscible i-PP/EHR blends show a phase-separated morphology. Furthermore, the number of tangential lamellae of the miscible i-PP/EHR blends is found to be increased by blending of the EHR, leading to the spherulite with negative birefringence. The sign of birefringence of spherulites is unaffected by the regime transition as well as by the fold surface free energy. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 35 : 953–961, 1997     

Characterisation and morphology of biodegradable chitosan / synthetic polymer blends

Chitosan has been used to form miscible, biodegradable blends with hydrophilic synthetic polymers as PVA and PEO. Characterisation of the blends by DSC, IR and microscopy analysis was made giving much attention to possible interactions of molecular polar group in the polymer chains. PVA/chitosan are found to be amorphous in the whole range of composition having one glass transition temperature. Molecular interactions in the pair of polymers are connected with amide group of chitosan and hydroxyl groups of PVA. PEO/chitosan blends stay amorphous up to 0.2 weight fraction of PEO. For a higher amount of PEO that polymer crystallises forming a spherulite crystalline structure. We correlate the overall kinetics of crystallisation and melting behaviour of solid, semicrystalline blends PEO/chitosan in the form of thin films for a set of PEO species of different blend composition with a morphological structure of the blends. Negative values of the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter due to specific interactions by hydrogen bonding through ether group of PEO and hydroxyl group of chitosan were evaluated. Amide groups do not participate in the molecular interaction between PEO and chitosan molecules. Avrami equation was applied to describe kinetics of crystallisation of pure PEO and PEO/chitosan blends of various compositions.     

Crystallization,morphology, structure and miscibility of poly(ethylene oxide) based blends

Results of an investigation on the morphology, structure, isothermal crystallization, thermal behaviour and miscibility of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) based binary blends are reported. In particular poly(vinyl acetate)(PVAc), poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) at different tacticity and poly(ethyl methacrylate) (PEMA) were added to PEO. It was found that with the only exception of isotactic poly(methyl methacrylate) (IPMMA), the addition of the above cited components causes a depression in both the spherulite growth rate and the overall kinetic rate constant. The experimental G and Kn were analyzed by means of the latest kinetic theory in order to determine the influence of composition on the process of surface secondary nucleation. The optical microscopy of thin films of the sample revealed that the blends crystallized with volume filling crystals at least up to 50/50 blend composition. The small angle X-ray scattering curves were analyzed using a recently developed methodology. The structural properties of the blends were attributed to the presence of the non crystallizable material in the interlamellar or interfibrillar regions of PEO. From the glass transition temperature it has been deduced that an homogeneous amorphous phase is present for all the blends except for the PEO/IPMMA amorphous system. For the system PEO/atactic poly(methyl methacrylate) (APMMA) the miscibility was also predicted by theoretical approaches.     

Oxygen uptake by isotactic polypropylene of different morphological structure

Oxygen uptake by isotactic polypropylene was studied at temperatures below melting point, on samples of various degrees of crystallinity and spherulite size. Diffusion coefficients and activation energy of diffusion were calculated. It is suggested that the dependence of the rate of oxygen uptake on the morphological structure of polymer samples can result from different values of the interspherulitic amorphous phase fraction, which is more easily accessible to oxygen than the interlamellar fraction.     

SPHERULITIC STRUCTURE AND MORPHOLOGY OF POLY(ETHYLENE SUCCINATE)/POLY(ETHYLENE OXIDE) (PES/PEO) BLENDS WITH ONE-STEP CRYSTALLIZATION

The spherulitic structure and morphology development of poly(ethylene succinate)/poly(ethylene oxide) (PES/PEO) blends with one-step crystallization behavior were observed by means of polarizing optical microscope.It was found that the pure PES spherulite in which the adequate quantity of PEO melt existed in the interlamellar regions,and the blending spherulite formed by both PES and PEO lamellae could form simultaneously.When the two types of spherulites contacted with each other the front of the blendi...     

聚烯烃共混物注射制品的形态控制与多层次结构

从注射制品形态控制和结构表征的角度探讨高分子材料加工-形态-性能之间的关系.研究中采用动态保压成型方法来制备注射样品,在注射成型过程中引入剪切应力场的作用,制得的样品表现出明显的多层次结构,从外向里分别为皮层、剪切层、芯层,表现出不同的相形态、结晶形貌以及取向行为.研究发现,剪切应力对聚烯烃的形态发展和结构变化具有重要影响.在剪切应力的作用下,聚烯烃共混物中分散相会发生变形、取向,从而导致共混物的相转变点发生移动;结晶形态从球晶转变为shish-kebab结构;聚烯烃共混物在高剪切应力下相容,低剪切下发生相分离;HDPE/PP共混物的注射制品中出现附生结晶等现象.     

Isothermal-crystallization kinetics and spherulite growth of aliphatic polyketone/polyamide-6 blends

In this research,the morphologies,isothermal-crystallization kinetics,and spherulite growth of aliphatic polyketone/polyamide-6 blends were studied.A single glass-transition temperature (Tg) was determined,and the composition dependence of Tg for these blends was well described by the Kwei equation.The strong intermolecular interaction between the two polymer components was confirmed by melting-point depression.The isothermal-crystallization kinetics were analyzed on the basis of the Avrami approach.A linear increase in the radii of the spherulites with time was observed for all compositions.All the spherulites continued to grow at nearly identical growth rates.With increasing polyamide-6 content,the size of the spherulites in the polyketone/polyamide-6 blends gradually decreased,and the number of spherulites in the blends increased.     

Study of bundle formation during crystallization in polymer blends

The development of texture which exists in polymer spherulites grown from single phase melts containing an appreciable amount of noncrystallizable material was investigated. This texture generally consists of lamellar bundles separated by amorphous regions, both of which are typically 0.1–1 μm thick. A space–time finite element model previously developed by us was used to simulate the growth of a group of polymer lamellae. The model determines the impurity concentration field in the melt surrounding the growing lamellae and tracks the growth of each lamella. Important variables are the initial melt concentration of noncrystallizable material, the mass diffusion coefficient of noncrystallizable species, lamellar thickness, long period, and the rate of molecular attachment at the growth front. Under certain conditions, bundles did indeed develop during the simulations. These results were used to predict bundle thicknesses. The predictions of bundle texture were compared to actual textures observed in blends of syndiotactic and atactic polystyrene. It was found both experimentally and numerically that bundle thickness was a strong function of crystallization temperature and a relatively weak function of both the initial composition of noncrystallizable species and the degree of crystallinity of the lamellar stack. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 36: 873–888, 1998     

Blends of polycarbonate and acrylic polymers: Crystallization of polycarbonate

The microstructure of amorphous polymer blends has been extensively studied in the past, but now there is a growing interest for polymer blends where one or more of the components can crystallize. In this study we investigate such blends, namely miscible polycarbonate (PC)/acrylic blends. Using small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements, combined with atomic force microscopy (AFM), electron microscopy (SEM), and optical microscopy, we demonstrate that the amorphous acrylic component mostly segregates inside the spherulites between the lamellar bundles (interfibrillar segregation). Varying the PC molecular weight or the mobility of the amorphous component (by changing its molecular weight and T_g) does not change the mode of segregation. So far qualitative predictions of the mode of segregation in semicrystalline polymer blends have been proposed using the δ parameter (the ratio between the diffusion coefficient D of the amorphous component in the blend and the linear crystallization rate G), introduced by Keith and Padden. Our results suggest that other parameters have to be considered to fully understand the segregation process. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J. Polym. Sci. B Polym. Phys. 36: 2197–2210, 1998     

Morphology and crystallization behavior of poly(l‐lactide)/poly(butylene oxalate) blends

The isothermal crystallization of poly(l ‐lactide) (PLLA) in blends with poly(butylene oxalate) (PBOX) is investigated by time‐resolved small‐angle X‐ray scattering, differential scanning calorimetry, and optical microscopy. We focus on the temperatures at which only PLLA crystallizes while PBOX is amorphous. It is obtained that the addition of PBOX causes a reduction of the melting temperature of PLLA. The lamellar thickness of PLLA crystals decreases whereas the amorphous layer thickness increases with blend composition, suggesting the occurrence of the interlamellar incorporation upon the addition of PBOX. The crystal growth rate and morphology of PLLA/PBOX blends are analyzed by polarized optical microscopy. The spherulite growth rate of PLLA is found to increase with the addition of PBOX. Analysis of the isothermal crystallization in terms of the Lauritzen and Hoffman equation give the reduction of the fold surface free energy upon the addition of PBOX in PLLA, indicating that the mobility of the PLLA chains is significantly improved due to the presence of PBOX. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015 , 53, 192–202     

Phase separation studies on poly(vinylidene fluoride) and poly(methyl methacrylate) quenched blends

A combined study by SAXS and DSC on quenched blends of PVDF and PMMA is presented. Attention is focused on the first stage of the phase separation process during annealing that is shown to be mainly determined by the diffusion of the PVDF molecules from the amorphous blend phase towards the crystals growth front. The experimental monomer diffusion constants at T > T_g are compared with those expected theoretically using the approximation of the fast model process and the WLF equation for the relaxation frequency of the monomer. The nature and composition of the crystal interphase are discussed in terms of the SAXS invariant for the whole system and the calorimetric data derived from the T_g transitions observed.     

Morphology of ultrathin polymer films based on poly(ethylene oxide) blends

The structure of ultrathin (15–200 nm) films of two types prepared from polymer blends based on PEO (the crystallizable component), namely, PEO-poly(arylene sulfone oxide) (the amorphous component) and PEO-PB (the amorphous component), has been studied by atomic force microscopy. The content of PEO in both blends is 76 wt %. Ultrathin blend films have been applied on a Si substrate via substrate dipping into dilute solutions of polymer blends in chloroform at room temperature. The rate of the substrate lift has been varied from 0.1 to 1 mm/min. The amorphous-amorphous separation takes place during formation of ultrathin films of the above blends in the course of the substrate lift at the stage of gelation. The crystallization of PEO and dewetting in the resulting two-phase blend gels depend on the rate of the substrate lift and the rigidity of macromolecules of the amorphous component. Moreover, the predominant interaction of the substrate with one of the components plays a significant role in structure formation of ultrathin films of both polymer blends.