Study of the influence of concentration on the time for first appearance of crystallization of polyethylene from xylene

An experiment is reported in which a simple laser light-scattering technique is used to measure the time for a critical turbidity to appear during the crystallization of polyethylene in xylene. The effect is examined over the entire range of solution concentration, and it is found that the relation between this concentration and temperature is linear for all solutions, provided that the time for turbidity to develop is arranged to be the same in all cases. In the appendix it is reasoned that similar results could have been obtained if, instead, times had been measured to a given degree of crystallinity rather than of turbidity. Departures from this linearity at low concentrations are taken as indicating multimolecular nucleation for all concentrations greater than about 1%.