Crystallization, morphological structure, and melting behavior of miscible polymer blends

This chapter, related to the crystallization, morphological structure and melting of polymer blends has been divided into two main parts. The first part (section 3.1) deals with the crystallization kinetics, semicrystalline morphology and melting behavior of miscible polymer blends. The crystallization, morphological strucmre and melting properties of immiscible polymer blends are described in the second part of this chapter (section 3.4). 

3 Crystallization, Morphological Structure, and Melting Behavior of Miscihle Polymer Blends 

The crystallization of miscible and immiscible polymer blends can differ remarkably from that of the neat crystallizable component(s). In the case of crystallizable miscible blends (discussed in this section), important polymer characteristics with respect to crystallization are the chemical nature and molecular mass of the components, their concentration in the blend, and the intermolecular interactions between the components. 

The thermodynamic requirement for crystallization in a miscible blend is that the blend exhibits a free energy on crystallization that is more negative than the free energy of the liquid-liquid mixture. A liquid-solid phase separation can occur when the miscible melt is cooled to a temperature between the glass-transition of the blend and the equilibrium melting point of the crystallizable component(s) (section 3.3.1). 

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