Glassy system dynamics polymer melts

There is currently considerable interest in the solid state physics of thermotropic liquid crystalline (LC) polymers and much emphasis is placed on studies regarding the solid-solid transitions and the chain dynamics of these systems. Recently, evidence for the occurrence of supercooled mesomorphic structures in the glassy state of polymers quenched from the anisotropic melt has been presented. ... 

Mixtures of clay platelets and polymer chains compose a colloidal system. Thus in the melt state, the propensity for the clay to be stably dispersed at the level of individual disks (an exfoliated clay dispersion) is dictated by clay, polymer, stabilizer, and compatibilizer potential interactions and the entropic effects of orientational disorder and confinement. An isometric dimension of clay platelets also has implications for stability because liquid crystalline phases may form. In addition, the very high melt viscosity of polypropylene and the colloidal size of clay imply slow particulate dynamics, thus equilibrium structures may be attained only very gradually. Agglomerated and networked clay structures may also lead to nonequilibrium behavior such as trapped states, aging, and glassy dynamics. 

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