Spinodal-assisted crystallization in polymer melts

Olmsted, P.D., Poon, W.C.K., McLeish, T.C.B., Terrill, N.J. and Ryan, A.J. (1998) Spinodal-assisted crystallization in polymer melts. Physical Review Letters, 81 (2). pp. 373-376. ISSN 0031-9007

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Abstract

Recent experiments in some polymer melts quenched below the melting temperature have reported spinodal kinetics in small-angle x-ray scattering before the emergence of a crystalline structure. To explain these observations we propose that the coupling between density and chain conformation induces a liquid-liquid binodal within the equilibrium liquid-crystalline solid coexistence region. A simple phenomenological theory is developed to illustrate this idea, and several experimentally testable consequences are discussed. Shear is shown to enhance the kinetic role of the hidden binodal.

Item Type:	Article
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© 1998 The American Physical Society. Reproduced in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy.
Academic Units:	The University of Leeds > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Physics and Astronomy (Leeds) The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Chemistry (Sheffield) The University of Leeds > University of Leeds Research Centres and Institutes > Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Polymer Science and Technology (Leeds)
Depositing User:	Repository Officer
Date Deposited:	17 Aug 2006
Last Modified:	08 Feb 2013 17:02
Published Version:	http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v81/p373
Status:	Published
Publisher:	American Physical Society
Refereed:	Yes
Identification Number:	10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.373
URI:	http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/1505

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