Random coil folded chain fringed micelle

Fig. 15. Hie "random-coil" folded-chain fringed micelle grain model based on Fig. 6 of ref. 103, but first proposed by Yeh in 1972 in refs. 101 and 102. See Fig. 4 of ref. 102 for amorphous and crystalline polymers, and Fig. 6 of ref. 102 for PE.

It is now generally accepted that the morphology of a polymer depends on the contributions of three different macro-conformations (a) the random coil or irregularly folded molecule as found in the glassy state, (b) the folded chain, as found in lamellar structures and (c) the extended chain. The fringed micelle (d) may be seen as mixture of (a), (b) and (c) (see Fig. 2.12) with paracrystallinity as an extreme. 

Fringed Micelles. These are the crystals formed during crystallization from the melt, and they are the most important in terms of melt crystallization measured with DSC. The elements of all three major conformations, the folded-chain lamellae and the extended-chain crystals, and the random coil configuration of the amorphous phase are present in the fringed micelles. In fringed micelles the polymer chains pass through several crystallites and the amorphous portions surrounding these crystallites. 

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