Mechanical & Materials Engineering, Department of

 

Date of this Version

2017

Citation

Published in Macromolecules 50 (2017), pp 6396−6403

doi 10.1021/acs.macromol.7b01228

Comments

Copyright © 2017 American Chemical Society. Used by permission.

Abstract

The effect of comonomer on structure and relaxation of flow-induced precursors was investigated in a series of isotactic polypropylene and random propylene−ethylene copolymers. The polymers were subjected to flow by fiber pulling and allowed to relax above their nominal melting temperature for specific times. The type of morphology developed after cooling revealed whether flow-induced precursors were still present or the melt had fully reequilibrated. Precursors were long-lived and, at fixed temperature, decayed significantly faster with higher ethylene content. The critical time for precursor relaxation followed an Arrhenius-type dependence with temperature. The apparent energy of activation for precursor dissolution decreased with increasing comonomer content, indicating that the rate-limiting step of the relaxation process becomes less difficult with higher ethylene fraction. This effect is attributed to ethylene co-units acting as disruptors of precursor structure and is discussed in terms of quasi-crystalline nature and characteristic chain stem length of precursor bundles.

Includes supplemental materials.

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