Morphology maps

Donahue KM, Krouwer HG, Rand SD, Pathak AP, Marszalkowski CS, Censky SC, Pros RW. Utility of simultaneously acquired gradient-echo and spin-echo cerebral blood volume and morphology maps in brain tumor patients. Magn Reson Med 2000 43 845-853. 

Figure 15 Morphological map of linear polyethylene fractions. Plot of molecular weight against crystallization temperature. The types of supermolecular structures are represented by symbols. Patterns a, b and c represent spherulitic structures with deteriorating order from a to c. Patterns g and d represent rods or sheet-like structures whose breadth is comparable to their length g or display a different aspect ratio d. Pattern h represents randomly oriented lamellae. Neither h nor g patterns have azimuthal dependence of the scattering. Reproduced with permission from Ref. [223]. Copyright 1981 American Chemical Society. (See Ref. [223] for full details.) Note the pattern a is actually located as o in the figure this was an error on the original.

AFM is a state of the art technique for characterizing nanocomposites. Ganguly et al. [49] used AFM for qualitative phase morphological mapping as well as for quantitative investigation of surface forces at constituting blocks and clay regions... 

Fig. 2. Morphology map of Form II of cocoa butter obtained during the isothermal experiments of the static TTT diagram presented in Figure 1. Polarized light microscope (PLM) views illustrate the morphology observed in each domain. See Figure 1 for other abbreviation.

Morphology map of the crystals observed simultaneously with the dynamic-static DSC measurements is presented in Figure 5. The mixture of Forms 111 and IV crystallizes in a line equiaxed mass (lower temperature range of Fig. 4), as does the mixture of Forms IV and V just above 18°C. For higher solidification temperatures, Forms IV and V appear also as a mass growing radially from several nucle-ation centers. This morphology becomes dominant as the temperature increases. 

Chung, H.J., Wang, H., Composto, R.J. A morphology map based on phase evolution in polymer blend films. Macromolecules 39(1), 153-161 (2006)... 

Figure 6. Approximate morphological map of the E7 NOA65 LCrpolymer blend system as a function of composition and UV irradiation temperature. (Reproduced from Ref. 11 Copyright American Chemical Society).

Mandelkern recently drew a morphological map for polyethylene (55). He showed that the supermolecular structures become less ordered as the molecular weight is increased or the temperature of crystallization is decreased. 

Mukai, S. R., Nishihara, H., Tamon, H., 2008. Morphology maps of ice-templated silica gels derived from silica hydrogels and hydrosols. Micropor. Mesopor. Mater. 116 166-170. 

Fig. 4.43. A morphological map for molecular weight fractions of linear polyethylene. A plot of molecular weight against either quenching or isothermal crystallization temperature. Reproduced from [239]. Copyright 1981, American Chemical Society.

Fig. 4.45. A three-dimensional schematic morphological map of the non-isothermal crystallization of the branchedpolyethylenes. The curved, dome-shaped regions define the volume within which spherulitic structures are formed outside this volume there is no defined supermolecular structure. Reproduced from [240]. Copyright 1981, American Chemical Society.

This Chapter describes the use of both point mapping and global imaging techniques to study subtle spatial variations in polymer chemistry and morphology. Mapping and imaging of additives and crystallinity/molecular orientation in polymer articles will be illustrated [384]. Quantitative acoustic microscopy was reviewed [385] as well as scanning acoustic microscopy [386-388]. Laser ablation mi-croanalytical techniques are discussed in Chp. 3. 

Raman and IR-microscopy are very powerful tools in polymer science and technology support activities [48]. With spatial resolutions of - 1 pm (Raman) and -- 10 pm (FTIR), they are widely used in bulk and surface contaminant fingerprinting [FTIR 48,49 Raman 50,51], laminated structure characterisations [FTIR 48,52,53 Raman 51,53], fibre analyses [FTIR 54,55 Raman 48,50,55,56], compositional and morphological mapping of processed and fabricated materials [FTIR 48,57 Raman 48,51], and the study of intractable solids or difficult samples [FTIR 48,58 Raman 48,51]. 

A morphological map for the nonisothermal crystallization of linear polyethylene is given in Fig. 17. In... 

FIG. 16 Morphological map for isothermally crystallized molecular mass fractions of PE. Regions marked with b and c denote spherulites region d, thin rods region g, rods and sheet-like crystals region h, randomly oriented lamella. (Reprinted with permission from Ref. 158. Copyright 1984 American Chemical Society.)... 

Mandelkern and coworkers [194] studied the morphology of linear and branched polyethylenes crystallized under controlled nonisothermal conditions. They proved that various morphological forms could develop by varying molecular mass, concentration of branch groups, and quenching temperature. A review of the supermolecular structures of polyethylene developed in nonisothermal crystallization conditions and the related morphological maps has been presented in a previous chapter of this handbook by Silvestre et al. [4]. 

Figure 19.5 Example of a blend morphology map that can be compiled to guide machine operation. Databases can be developed in terms of pertinent melt properties to reduce trial-and-error used typically in polymer processing. Chaotic advection blending machines are thereby referred to also as smart blenders or smart dies.

To illustrate the dynamic operation of a smart blender and use of the morphology map, the designated value of N on the process control computer can be changed to restore State 4 from State 5 in Fig. 19.5 if desired. Additionally, screw extruder flow rates can be changed to increase to 30% and reach state 6. Multilayers at State 7 can be attained by reducing N, as shown. Such dynamic operation facilitates cost and property optimization of extruded plastics and can lead to more rapid research and development for new products. 

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