Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Polymer Crystallization

Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China 

Vast natural and synthetic polymers are semicrystalline, and such a structural character dominates their physical performance, such as mechanical, optical, and thermal properties. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the process of polymer crystallization. Still, polymer crystallization appears as complicated. It can be influenced by many factors, such as chemical structures of polymer chains, compositions, temperatures, thermal history, spatial confinements, and pressures. In order to gain a better understanding about these factors in polymer crystallization, theoretical and simulation approaches are often concerted with experimental approaches. 

Semicrystalline states of polymers mean polymers partially in both the amorphous and the crystalline states. Polymer 

In the amorphous state of homogeneous polymer solutions or melt, polymer chains are fully disordered, as described by the random-coil model. The random-coil model was first proposed by Kuhn [1] as well as by Guth and Mark [2] to predict the entropic elasticity of polymer chains, and then was used to describe the amorphous state of polymers by Flory [3]. Polymer crystallization commonly chooses a pathway favoring its kinetics, which results in metastable semicrystalline states [4]. It takes a long time for people to figure out the structural 

Polymer Morphology Principles, Characterization, and Processing, First Edition. Edited by Qipeng Guo. 2016 John Wiley Sons, Inc. Published 2016 by John Wiley Sons, Inc. 

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We made a brief introduction about our current theoretical models of thermodynamics and kinetics of polymer crystallization. We first introduced basic thermodynamic concepts, including the melting point, the phase diagram, the metastable state, and the mesophase. The mean-field statistical thermodynamics based on a... 

Elyashevich, G. K. Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Orientational Crystallization of Flexible-Chain Polymers. Vol. 43, pp. 207 — 246. 

Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Orientational Crystallization of Flexible-Chain Polymers... 

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